Conceive Within The Truth Beyond Comprehension

Last updated on: April 4, 2017 at 6:54 am by Henry Karlson

Conceive Within The Truth Beyond Comprehension 2017-04-04T06:54:00-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Our Lady of the Sign by 18 century icon painter [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

When Mary, the Theotokos, was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit so as to conceive Christ, she was graced by the ultimate revelation of God. She was elevated to the ultimate experience of the truth – and so was moved to speak through the guidance of the Spirit, the words: “”My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Lk. 1:46b-49 RSV).

She had followed the expectations of God. She had willing served God and fellow humanity with humble love; it is in and through her humility she was capable of transcending herself, of being embraced by the Spirit of truth, and conceive the Word of God. Pride had no place in her; she did not close herself from the graces of God; it is by such openness she was full of grace, the woman who was to know the truth in a way which transcended the priests and scholars who would have liked nothing better than to keep her away from all that was holy because she was a woman. She was open to God in a way all those who took pride in their studies or place in society could not be, and so she transcended them all, with a wisdom which shined bright, revealing the darkness and shadows remaining in the knowledge of wisdom of all would-be priests and scholars in comparison. She did not need to ponder the truth and reason out speculation after speculation; she emptied herself of such pretense so that instead of focusing upon human wisdom with its limitations, she could let wisdom shine through her and reveal itself to the rest of the world through her, a woman set apart because of her great love.

In this manner, Hugh of St. Victor explained that what Mary said came from her transcendent experience of the truth, a truth which revealed to her even what was best to say because if she had to judge and consider her words, she would have been stuck in discursive reasoning and so not found herself at the height of the truth:

For nothing is without a reason, because everything that she said emanated from that most secret light of highest Truth which the mind of the Virgin clung excellently. She was not able to say anything different [from what she said] — she who did not speak by thinking [meditando], but through experiencing [gustando]; she who was taught not be discursive thought, but by a devoted mind clinging to the sole font of Wisdom through contemplation. She said: My soul magnifies, and my spirit exults. [1]

The greatness of Mary was in her humility, in her willingness to let the truth reveal itself to her in its fullness, so that she could experience it instead of merely ponder it and speculate on it. She did not reason out the truth through speculation, but entered that silence of the mind which allows the suchness of the truth be revealed and penetrate her in her spirit so she could properly conceive the Word of God. Wisdom found its thrown in her because she did not let anything else in that place, including her own speculative wisdom; she was devoted to the truth and let her mind be enlightened by it.

We have in Mary the exemplar of our spiritual life. We should seek the truth, and be open to its transcendence, so that it can come to us and help us bear within the Son of God as well. We should give birth to the truth in our lives by opening itself up to the Spirit of Truth, so that our thoughts, words and deeds do not close us off from receiving the beatitude which we all seek. We must become mothers of the truth by allowing the Spirit of Truth come to us and deposit in our soul its graceful seed. We must conceive within ourselves the seed of truth which leads to the truth beyond comprehension. For only in allowing ourselves to be embraced by the Spirt of truth shall we find the truth. We must halt all pretense of grasping the truth that discursive reasoning suggests if we want to find and experience the truth itself. We must, like Mary, stop ourselves from all vain thoughts, from all clinging to derivative formulations of the truth, so that once opened up, we can receive the grace which enlightens our mind. By stopping our thought in the presence of truth, we will let it reveal itself to us, and we shall find ourselves lifted up and experiencing the absolute goodness and beauty which is found in the absolute truth.

[1] Hugh of St. Victor, “Exposition on the Canticle of Mary” in Victorine Texts in Translation: Writings on the Spiritual Life. ed. Christopher P. Evans (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 2013), 431.

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