Angelic Sweetness

To say that Mary exhibits an “angelic sweetness” denotes a “sweetness like the angels”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines an angel as “A spiritual, personal and immortal creature, with intelligence and free will, who glorifies God without ceasing and who serves God as a messenger of his saving plan.” So, angels are spirits.  They have no bodies, and they reside in heaven.  Their sole purpose and job in the Kingdom of God is to glorify God without ceasing and to serve as God’s messenger.  TO GLORIFY GOD WITHOUT CEASING AND TO SERVE AS GOD’S MESSENGER.  Hmmm...remind you of someone?!  Ok, so we have the “angelic” part down a bit.

What is “sweetness”?  When we think of “sweet” we think of cake or cookies that TASTE sweet.  Sweetness then is associated with a feeling of satisfaction or joy.  Or, for me, when I think of sweetness, I think of my beautiful little girl, Clara.  She is just so dang sweet!  Those moments throughout the day when we are interacting together and she just gives a look, or does a certain thing (usually goo-goos and ga-gas) and I just think to myself that she is pure sweetness.  I mean, really, words cannot describe that feeling of DELIGHTING in my daughter’s sweetness.  I think we have all experienced that.  We all have seen a baby, interacted with a baby, and we experience pure sweetness when we do!  They have such an innocence to life.  They seem to marvel at the littlest things.  Going for a walk with a young child proves this point.  They stop so many times.  Every stick is fascinating.  “Oo! A rock Mommy!  Let me throw every little rock and watch how far they can go”.  They are in awe of the details of life.  

Have you seen those pictures and little statues of the babies who are also angels?!  I remember my grandmother loved them, my aunts all loved them.  They’re adorable!  Or the Precious Moments Angels?!  Ah!  I could spend so much time perusing Hallmark when I was a little girl, adoring all those statues!  Talk about Angelic Sweetness!  Putting babies AND angels TOGETHER?!  We love it, don’t we?!  I mean, I googl’ed Precious Moments and I had to fight every bone in my body not to sit on the computer for hours “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” over these adorable things!  I just couldn’t get enough.  
 

What does all this have to teach us about Mary’s Angelic Sweetness?  There is something so beautiful, so attractive, so compelling about innocence.  And Mary was innocent.  We’ve learned already that she’s free from sin, she’s pure in every sense of the word.  She is innocent.  

We can “ooh” and “awe” over Mary.  We can look on her with awe, we can look at her and be filled with satisfaction and delight FOR SHE IS GOD’S MASTERPIECE. People may object and say, “We can’t be in awe of Mary, she is not God.”  But when we are impressed with a piece of art, are we not in awe of the ARTIST who CREATED the masterpiece?  God created her without sin, God made her “full of grace”, God chose to make His dwelling place INSIDE OF HER.  She is the first tabernacle, but better yet, she is the first cathedral!  When we all enter beautiful churches, aren’t our breaths taken away?  When we look upon Mary, when we gaze upon her Angelic Sweetness and contemplate it, we are admiring God’s creation.  We are, ultimately, in awe of Him.  
 

Many, many saints will attribute this.  Mary is a marvelous creature, a beautiful soul.  God delights in her.  Here are two Scripture verses that the church uses in her celebration of her feast days:

Psalm 45:11-12 “Listen my daughter and understand pay me careful heed.  Forget your people and you father’s house, that the king might desire your beauty.”

Song of Songs 2:13-14 “Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come...let me see you, let me hear your voice.  For your voice is sweet and you are lovely.”  

Have you ever imagined Mary walking about her daily life?  Or Jesus for that matter?  If we take all that we’ve learned about Mary, that she’s free from sin and all it’s effects, that she was a perpetual virgin, that she was obedient, humble, patient, etc, what would we imagine her like?  Her mannerisms, her way of walking and talking, speaking to Jesus and Joseph.  I just find it so lovely to sit and imagine these things.  And I imagine she was just SWEET. There was a joy about her, yes, I’m sure.  But a sweetness, too, that made people maybe just want to look upon her, observe her.  Oh gosh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to just observe Our Lady, interacting everyday with Jesus?!  Talk about satisfaction and delight!

I think her virtue of Angelic Sweetness does have to do with how she carried herself, how she interacted with others.  But, every outside action of Mary’s was motivated by her inward beauty.  A beauty that the King desired.
I would like to look at 3 more Scripture verses that can teach us more about Angelic Sweetness, and we can impose what we already know about Mary and see how these verses apply to her.

The first is 1 Samuel 16:6-7, "As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the anointed is here before the LORD.” But the LORD said to Samuel: Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The LORD looks into the heart."  Samuel has the task of finding God's anointed one to be the next great leader of Israel.  Jesse has many sons, some who are incredibly strong and seem fit for the job.  But it's not outward appearances that matter; it's the heart. 

Keeping that in mind, let's look at the next verse from Psalm 34:2-6, 9 : "I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be always in my mouth. My soul will glory in the LORD; let the poor hear and be glad. Magnify the LORD with me; and let us exalt his name together.  I sought the LORD, and he answered me, delivered me from all my fears. Look to him and be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush for shame. Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the stalwart one who takes refuge in him."  Do you see how this could be Mary speaking here?  Doesn't it sound quite familiar, like the Magnificat?  God's praises were always in her heart; she glorified him in all things.  You could go line by line and apply it to her.  But I love verse 6, "Look to him that you might be radiant with joy".  I think that "sweetness" and "radiant with joy" could almost be synonymous here. 

Finally, Psalm 105:1-6, "Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the peoples his deeds! Sing praise to him, play music; proclaim all his wondrous deeds! Glory in his holy name;

let hearts that seek the LORD rejoice! Seek out the LORD and his might; constantly seek his face. Recall the wondrous deeds he has done, his wonders and words of judgment, You descendants of Abraham his servant, offspring of Jacob the chosen one!"  Again, this has many similarities to Mary's Magnificat.  I think that her Angelic Sweetness comes from her ability to give thanks to God so often.  But the verse that I want to highlight here is, "constantly seek his face". 

 

For me, what I get from these verses, is that first, our hearts are what will make us “sweet”.  Don’t we desire to be sweet?  There are many times that I long for the days when I was an innocent child.  I desire so much to see myself as a child before the Lord.  Being “sweet” and imitating Mary’s Angelic Sweetness is not about always having a nice, content, sweet look on your face.  Any radiance that might shine forth from our physical appearance will only come through if our hearts are equally radiant.  

 

And what does the Psalms teach us?  LOOK TO GOD that you might be radiant with joy.  The biggest thing I am learning about this virtue is that it only comes from PRAYER.  

 

We’ve been studying Mary for some while (or you’re new to us from the retreat!).  So many, many times I am tempted to think that I CANT be like Mary.  BUT WE CAN.  Right here in our scripture verses it tells us!  We must “constantly” seek his face.  We must look to Him.  We must make the state of our hearts pleasing TO HIM.  It’s possible ladies!  Just this week, I’ve been aware that somehow, out of nowhere, I think I’ve changed.  I’m noticing that I really am growing in virtue.  It’s a little easier to take up my daily crosses of endless, monotonous responsibilities.  I’m not moaning and groaning as much as I used to.  I noticed I’ve changed in the way I interact with my husband.  I really do think I am more patient with him and more sweet with him.  Slowly, over these past 9 weeks, I’ve said yes to grace at probably just a few moments, and Mary has done wonders with the little I’ve given her!  She certainly has been “sweet” with how much grace she has given me!

 

I think in order to grow in this virtue of Angelic Sweetness, we must grow in prayer, we must gaze upon his face.  We must frequent Adoration and Mass more often.  There’s no way around it.  We must.  

 

Second, we must get rid of anger.  We must let go and we must forgive.  We cannot regain innocence in our heart if we are holding onto anger.  This is a rough process, I know, but it is very pivotal for those of us who are new to this journey, or who are starting over in this journey.

 

Last, we must serve the poor.  Psalm 34:2-4 says, “ will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be always in my mouth. My soul will glory in the LORD; let the poor hear and be glad. Magnify the LORD with me; and let us exalt his name together." We must bring glad tidings to the poor.  When I was praying about and thinking about this virtue for the past couple weeks, I instantly thought of Mother Teresa.  Talk about someone who exhibited sweetness.  Other than Mary, Mother Teresa was the first to come to mind about actually living this out.  She often quoted the scripture verse, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).  Mother Teresa was so well known for her relentless, committed, faithful service to the poor and sick.  She showed up every single day to serve God’s people.  Here is a quote of hers that I love:

“Have a deep compassion for people.  To be able to have a heart full of compassion we need to pray.  Especially be kind, be loving to the poor.  We think we do so much for the poor, but it is they who make us rich.  We are in debt to them.  Do you want to do something beautiful for God?  There is a person who needs you.  This is your chance.”

 

How can we serve the poor?  This time of year, there are many "drives" to collect supplies for the poor and sick, and that's always a great place to start.  I, myself, am always so humbled when I see men and women begging on the side of the road.  I don't usually have cash on me so I automatically assume I don't have anything that I can give to them.  So, I just ignore them.  But, a dear friend of mine shared with me her experience of serving homeless veterans.  She is their landlord.  She said that they really are just so hungry for love and attention; someone who will sit and chat with them, smile at them, offer them companionship.  Now, that is something I CAN do.  I can roll down my window and say hi.  I can offer to pray for them, encourage them to have a blessed day, etc.  That is what being "sweet" is all about, I think.

Let us pray to Our Lady, Queen of the Angels, that we may share in her "sweetness" and generosity and bring Christ to all we encounter.

 

 

 

 

 

Heroic Patience

This week, we contemplated this writing from St. Alphonsus di Ligouri from "The Glories of Mary":

"This world being a place of merit, is rightly called a valley of tears; for we are all placed in it to suffer, that we may, by patience, gain our own souls unto life eternal, as our Lord Himself says, In your patience you shall possess your souls. [Luke 21 19] God gave us the Blessed Virgin Mary as a model of all virtues, but more especially as an example of patience. St. Francis de Sales, amongst other things, remarks, that it was precisely for this reason that at the marriage-feast of Cana Jesus Christ gave the Blessed Virgin an answer, by which He seemed to value her prayers but little: Woman, what is that to thee and to Me? [John 2:4] And He did this that He might give us the example of the patience of His most holy Mother. But what need have we to seek for instances of this virtue? Mary's whole life was a continual exercise of her patience; for, as the Angel revealed to St. Bridget, "as a rose grows up amongst thorns, so did the Blessed Virgin grow up amongst tribulations." Compassion alone for the Redeemer's sufferings sufficed to make her a martyr of patience. Hence St. Bonaventure says, "that a crucified Mother conceived a crucified Son." In speaking of her dolors, we have already considered how much she suffered, both in her journey to Egypt, and during her residence there, as also during the time she lived with her Son in the house at Nazareth. What Mary endured when present at the death of Jesus on Calvary is alone sufficient to show us how constant and sublime was her patience: There stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother. Then it was that precisely by the merit of her patience, as Blessed Albert the Great says, she brought us forth to the life of grace."

If we, then, wish to be the children of Mary, we must endeavor to imitate her in her patience: "For what," says St. Cyprian, "can enrich us with greater merit in this life, and greater glory in the next, than the patient enduring of sufferings?" God said, by the prophet Osee, I will hedge up thy way with thorns. [2:6] To this St. Gregory adds, that "the way of the elect is hedged with thorns." As a hedge of thorns protects a vineyard, so does God protect His servants from the danger of attaching themselves to the earth, by encompassing them with tribulations. Therefore St. Cyprian concludes that it is patience that delivers us from sin and from Hell.

It is also patience that makes Saints: Patience hath a perfect work, [James 1:4] bearing in peace, not only the crosses which come immediately from God, such as sickness, poverty, but also those which come from men---persecutions, injuries, and the rest. St. John saw all the Saints bearing palm branches---the emblem of martyrdom---in their hands; After this I saw a great multitude, and palms were in their hands; [Apoc. 7:9] thereby denoting that all adults who are saved must be martyrs, either by shedding their blood for Christ or by patience.

 "Rejoice then," exclaims St. Gregory, "we can be martyrs without the executioner's sword, if we only preserve patience." "Provided only," as St. Bernard says, "we endure the afflictions of this life with patience and joy." O what fruit will not every pain borne for God's sake produce for us in Heaven! Hence the Apostle encourages us, saying, That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. [2 Cor. 4:17]

St. Teresa's instructions on this subject are beautiful. She used to say, "Those who embrace the cross do not feel it;" and elsewhere, "that if we resolve to suffer the pain ceases." When our crosses weigh heavily upon us, let us have recourse to Mary, who is called by the Church "the Comfortress of the afflicted;" and by St. John Damascene, "the Remedy for all sorrows of the heart."

Ah, my most sweet Lady, thou who wast innocent didst suffer with so much patience; and shall I, who deserve Hell, refuse to suffer? My Mother, I now ask thee this favor---not, indeed, to be delivered from crosses, but to bear them with patience. For the love of Jesus, I entreat thee to obtain at least this grace for me from God; from thee do I hope for it with confidence."

I find it very interesting that St. Alphonsus points out that it is patience which can make us saints and martyrs!  The patient bearing of our crosses.  Suffering can have a purpose, most specifically, it CAN make us saints.  It is ironic, I know.  Many people struggle with the question of how a good God can allow bad things to happen.  At the end of the day, I really don't have an answer for that that speaks to our hearts.  I can tell you the theological answer, but I know that that does not provide comfort at times when people are in the midst of their darkest times.  But what I do know is that our Lord TOOK ON SUFFERING and from His suffering and death, came new life.  And what Christ suffered physically, Mary suffered emotionally and spiritually.  Both are martyrs who experienced sufferings unimaginable, but they embraced that suffering with patience, with a HEROIC patience.  They embraced these crosses with a sort of ease that we can only implore God to grant us.