Dom Marmion: Sponsa Verbi - The Virgin Consecrated to Christ

[Stone]

VII. THE ADMIRABLE FECUNDITY OF A SPOUSE OF THE WORD

SUMMARY. - St. Bernard indicates fruitfulness as the highest perfection of a Spouse of the Word - How wonderful is the fecundity of a Religious united to Christ - Her influence extends over the whole Church - Final exhortation: the call to the life of union, the prelude to the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb.

When a soul utilises with fervour, the many and wonderful means that Our Lord daily puts at her disposal to draw Her to Himself, when she unites herself daily to Christ in dispositions of faith, confidence and generous love, then she produces much fruit, and attains that supernatural fecundity that St. Bernard indicates as the final perfection of the spouse: "To conceive by the Word what she should bring forth." De verbo concipere quod pariat Verbo.

What do these words mean? "To conceive by the Word," is to undertake all things helped by His grace and with the impulse of His love, "to bring forth for the Word" is to produce works for His glory.

Yes, it is precisely there that the special work of the Religious is found. Detached from creatures, detached from herself, living united to the Word, allowing herself to be directed in all things by Him, then there is nothing in her, neither thought, sentiment, desire, wish or action, which does not spring from Him and depend on His grace and love. From this arises the fruitfulness of the spouse; for" he that abideth in Me," said Jesus," and I in him, the same beareth much fruit": Qui manet in me, et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum.1

It is necessary to conceive "by the Word." Let us not forget that this union with the Word is of the divine order, both by its bond of union and origin; no natural force, no human industry could realise it in us. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," said St. John. That is to say, whatever is derived solely from nature or reason remains in the purely natural order. "The flesh profiteth nothing"; it cannot attain that position worthy of the dignity of the Word, and remains without supernatural fecundity: Quod natum est ex carne caro est2 caro non prodest quidquam.3

What is it, then, which supernaturalises our actions, gives them life, and makes them glorify God? It is the Holy Spirit. Quod natum est ex Spiritu, Spiritus est4 and the Spirit alone vivifies, Spiritus est qui vivicat.5 But how does the Spirit unite us to the Word? By grace and charity. He instils into our hearts the charity of God,"6 and by His action we conceive by the Word. It was by the Spirit that Christ was conceived in the Virgin’s womb; and it is by the Spirit, by His grace and love that the fruitfulness of all our work results. You well know that the necessary elements of supernatural fruitfulness are sanctifying grace and purity of intention; these are derived from the love that the soul bears for her Spouse, and stimulate her desire to" please Him in all things": Quae placita sunt ei facio semper.

Again, how admirable is this fecundity; it is much more wonderful than that of earthly unions. In the case of a virgin soul united to Christ, each supernatural work, each act of virtue, enriches the treasury of grace and glory, and at the same time augments her merits and her beauty. Such a soul "goes from virtue to virtue,"7 and unceasing are her interior elevations, as she approaches nearer and nearer to the time of the eternal nuptials. Her beauty also grows in measure as she nears the divine source of all perfection; it is impossible to describe her splendour; this ravishes even the Spouse Himself: "How beautiful art thou, my love": quam pulchra es.8 He seeks for this beauty: "Show me thy face, my well-beloved": Ostende mihi faciem tuam, "for thy face is comely": Facies tua decora.9 "Thy stature is like a palm tree, and I said I will go up into the palm tree and take hold of the fruit thereof."10

I will delight in those virtues whose source is my grace. St. Catharine of Siena one day had a vision of a soul which after sin had been renovated by sanctifying grace, and she declared to Blessed Raymond that she was utterly unable to describe the beauty of this soul. What shall we say, then, of the virgin consecrated to Christ, whose whole life is bathed in the rays of the Son of Justice, whose path is always guided by eternal Wisdom, the Divine Word? The angels alone are capable of fully admiring her: "Who is this that cometh up from the desert from the desert of her native poverty, who mounts like a column of smoke exhaling myrrh, incense, and all perfumes; flowing with delight, because she is supported by her Beloved": Deliciis affluens, innixa super dilectum SUUM.11

But all these riches, all this splendour, the soul brings back to the Spouse who is their source: Parit Verbo. Living in the truth illumined by wisdom, she knows that the Spouse works within her; full of humility like the Blessed Virgin who conceived the Divine Word in her immaculate womb, the Spouse makes redound to the glory of God all she has received from Him, all that by His grace and love she has conceived through Him. "My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour": Magnificat anima mea Dominum.12

The soul may rejoice not only at the works operated in her by Christ, but her life of union with Jesus extends its influence far beyond "the garden enclosed " where the Spouse has placed her - it extends over the entire Church.

Our Lord enlightened St. Catharine of Siena on this point: "O how sweet is this dwelling (of the soul in the Word), this perfect union of the soul with Me is beyond all other delights. The will is no longer an intermediary between the soul and Myself, seeing that it has become one with Me." Then, as if having laid down the principle, He comes to the conclusion and adds: "Like a perfume, the fruit of her humble prayers spreads all over the world. The incense of her desire mounts towards me in its incessant supplication for the salvation of souls. It is a voice which without human words cries continually before My Divine Majesty."13

We who live by faith, shall we be astonished at such wide-spreading power? Is not God the sole guardian of souls, the sole supporter of the edifice of the Church? Is it not the Word who holds in His hands the eternal destinies of souls? Is He not for every man coming into this world, the only way, the sole truth, the true life? But what credit, what power that soul enjoys which is wholly given up to Him? She is all-powerful with her divine Spouse, because she knows the ways of approach to His divine Heart: and her whole life is a constant appeal for the graces and benedictions of God in favour of His people.14

Already we see in the Old Testament the power of holy souls with God. In the time of Abraham, the presence of ten just men in Sodom would have been sufficient to spare that terribly guilty city.15

On Sinai the prayer of Moses alone saved the people from the strokes of divine justice. Moses has just received the tables of the Law on the mountain; he is on the point of descending to the camp of the Israelites. God then reveals to him the iniquity of the people, who have aroused His anger by idolatry: "Let me alone," says the Lord, "that My wrath may be kindled against them": Dimitte me! Leave me alone! God, as it were, seems to fear that the supplication of Moses will drag from Him a pardon. And this is precisely what happened. Moses stretches forth his hands for the Israelites, reminds God of His promises, and implores Him not to give vent to His wrath. The sacred text then adds: "The Lord was appeased from doing the evil which He had spoken against His people": Placatusque est Dominus.16 Moses had saved the guilty. In this mysterious struggle he had triumphed over the Divine resistance because he was pleasing to God, who talked to him "as a man is wont to talk to his friend."17

If it was thus under the law of fear, what will it be under the law of love when, through the Incarnation, the members of Christ’s mystic body are thus united so closely together?

Even though a virginal soul be not called to exterior work by her vocation and dwells in solitude on the mountain, yet she remains always the "fountain sealed up"18 belonging to the Spouse, yet such a soul leading a life of pure union exercises great influence in the supernatural world. Have we not, as the witnesses of the fecundity of such lives, St. Gertrude, St. Catharine, St. Teresa? Because their wills were entirely united to Christ, the Divine Spouse granted their desires: Voluntatem timentium se faciet.19

We know with what infinite condescension Our Lord was pleased to grant the prayers of St. Gertrude, conferring on her a species of sovereign power: "I heap up in your soul as a treasure the riches of my grace so that each may find in you what he searches for. You shall be like the spouse who knows the secrets of her husband, having lived so long with him as to divine his wishes."20

Here is to be found one of the deeper aspects of the dogma of the Communion of Saints. The closer one of these privileged souls is to God, the author and source of every good which can adorn and rejoice souls, the greater is her beneficent action on those around. What graces she can demand from the Spouse, wresting them from Him for the whole Church! How powerfully she can co-operate in the conversion of sinners, the perseverance of the just, the salvation of those agonising, the entrance of the holy and suffering souls into the bliss of heaven! What a wonderful fruitfulness is hers! The fecundity of nature is limited; hers is unlimited, it is as a radiance emanating from her soul; those who approach her are embalmed "in the good odour of Christ;"21 there is, as it were, a divine virtue which goes out from her to touch souls, obtain their pardon, console, strengthen, raise, tranquillise, gladden, and make them show forth the glory of her Spouse. In fact, it is the Word who lives in her, and always living is never inactive, for His action is love, by which He enlightens, vivifies and saves souls. She is a true co-operator in the redemption. The extent of her actions, of her fecundity, cannot be measured. Their action resembles the snow which, covering the heights, is melted by the warm rays of the sun, and descends in life-giving streams to fertilise the valleys and plains.

Without doubt God alone knows the powers of action of the soul He has chosen. Those unillumined by faith understand nothing of these invisible realities; they imagine that such souls separated from the world are in active and sterile for God’s work, and their preference is all for those who devote themselves to external and tangible works. Certainly such works are necessary, indispensable, clearly willed by Heaven, and required by the Church. But what gives their fecundity? God alone. "I have planted," writes St. Paul, "another has watered the plant, but it is God who gives the increase": Deus incrementium dedit,22 and again, "Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."23

As a general rule in God’s providential order, this growth is caused by ardent prayer and a pure life; and was it not this special intention that St. Teresa proposed to her daughters in founding her various Carmels? When, then, you really live this life of union with the Word, a life which is the definite end and motive of your vocation, how much you can do for the salvation and sanctification of souls! ... If this is true for one virginal soul, wholly given up to the goodwill of her Spouse, what a supernatural power does a monastery possess, where all the members live in a generous and continual forgetfulness of themselves, in a donation of their whole life to God, and in continuous union with Jesus Christ? Such an assembly possesses an incalculable power in the world of souls. And what a fruitful source of light and grace it is for the Church of Christ! What a cause of joy to the heart of the Spouse! What a pure glory it brings to the Father.24

Let us then live in these verities. Each must have a keen and continual desire to attain to this blessed state, and so participate in the ardent zeal which animates the heart of the Word incarnate for the glory of the Father and the sanctification of souls. Let us seek to realise this ideal, an elevated one without doubt, but one which is the natural, normal and also obligatory term of our vocation. Do not content yourselves with being correct religious keeping exact exterior observances; that, without doubt, is necessary and indispensable, but yet is only the husk of the religious life. Do not limit yourselves to being simply pious souls, with limited ambitions easily satisfied: such an existence will not respond to God’s special love manifested in your vocation, neither to the grandeur of the promises you have made, the height of the duties demanded of a spouse, or the abundance of the favours lavished upon you. Aspire, then, without ceasing, with the help of grace, by a life of humility and humble devotion, to attain the height of that intimate union Our Lord wishes to contract with your souls: there is nothing which can please His Sacred Heart more.

If you strive to live this life of union, you will realise to the full the sublimity of your vocation, you will attain the supreme goal of the religious life. Thus prepared, the soul can await undismayed "in the middle of the night," the cry announcing the Spouse. "Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet him."25 Or, rather, it is the Bridegroom Himself whose voice you will hear: "Arise, come quickly, come from Libanus, my spouse, come, thou shalt be crowned": Veni sponsa mea, veni de Libano, veni, coronaberis;26 "Come, for the winter is now past, the rain is over and gone, the time of singing has arrived,"27 the time for the chants of eternity. ... The virgins alone can chant these, enjoy their inexhaustible and mysterious sweetness28 and the inexpressible delights that are reserved for them: thus it is that having quitted all things to follow Christ alone, with a virginal love, unique, undivided, and without reserve, they have acquired that incommunicable privilege to "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." Quocumque ierit ...29

And the Spirit and the Bride say: come.30


1. John XV, 5.
2. John. III, 6.
3. Ibid. VI, 64.
4. Ibid. III, 6.
5. Ibid. VI, 64.
6. Cf. Rom. V, 5.
7. Ps. LXXXIII, 8.
8. Cantic. IV, 1.
9. Ibid. II, 14.
10. Ibid. VII, 7,8.
11. Cantic. VIII, 5.
12. Luke I, 46.
13. Dialogue, traité des larmes, Chap. IX, Traduct. Hurtaud, p. 347, 348.
14. This apostolic zeal for the glory of the Spouse and the sanctification of souls, in the entirely mystic order, is one of the principal effects of divine marriage. St. Teresa has insisted on this in particularly clear language. See The Interior Castle: 7th Dwelling, Chap. IV.
15. Gen. XVIII, 32.
16. Exod. XXXII, 7-14.
17. Ibid. XXXIII, 11.
18. Cantic. IV, 12.
19. Ps. CXLIV, 19.
20. The Herald of Divine Love, L. I, Chap. XVII: One day Christ said to St. Gertrude, "Give Me thy heart." The Saint offered it with joy, and it seemed to her that God filled it with the effusions of the divine bounty. Christ then said: "Henceforth I shall take pleasure in making use of your heart. It will be the channel conveying the streams of divine consolation from my Sacred Heart to all those who shall have recourse to you in faith and humility" (Ibid. LIII, Chap. LXVII. See also L.I, Chap. XIV, and above all, L. III, Chap. XXXIII.) The life of the great Benedictine shows how frequently she exercised her power in favour of those who had recourse to her. ... Christ also said to St. Mechtilde: "Behold Me here, I put Myself in your power to do what you will. ... I shall obey your commands." Le Livre de la Grâce Spéciale. L. II, Chap. XXXI.
21. II Cor. II, 15.
22. Cf. I Cor. III, 6.
23. Ps. CXXVI, 1.
24. "The Church has raised in the state of virginity a holy mountain, a mountain which accumulates grace, a mountain where it pleases God to dwell: Mons ... in quo beneplacitum es Deo habitare in eo. It is there that are poured out the gifts that are given to Christian society to strengthen it in the continual struggle of good against evil; there it is that the continual miserere is heard, which arrests in their path the Divine punishments. Without these virginal prayers society would be continually visited by the Divine Justice." Monsabré Conférences à Notre-Dame, Carême, 1887. ... St. Gregory pictures the virgin religious at Rome protecting the city, as it were, for several years against the invasion, of the Lombards. Harum talis vita est atque in tantum lacrimis et abstinentia districta, ut credamus quia, si ipsae non essent, nullus nostrum per tot annos in loco hoc subsistere inter Longobardorum gladios potuissent (Epistol. 26, lib. VII.)
25. Matt. XXV. 6.
26. Cantic. IV, 8. - Here is how Our Lord told St. Mechtilde that virgins were received in Heaven. ‘As soon as the news has resounded, Behold, here is a virgin! all the powers of Heaven rejoice. ... I Myself hasten to rise and meet her, calling her by these words, 'Come, My friend, come, My spouse, come to receive the crown.’ And My voice is then of such amplitude that it resounds through the length and breadth of heaven. ... Arrived in My presence, the bride regards herself in My eyes as in a mirror. We contemplate each other with ravishment. Then in a loving embrace I imprint, fill and penetrate her wholly with My Divinity." (Le Livre de la Grâce Spéciale, I, II, Chap. XXXVI.)
27. Cantic. II, 11,12.
28. Et nemo poterat dicere canticum nisi ... qui empti sunt de terra ... virgines enim sunt. Apoc. XIV, 1-5. Gaudia virginum ... a ceterorum omnium gaudiorum sorta distincta ... Gaudia propria virginum Christi non sunt eadem non virginum, quamvis Christi. (S. Augustin, De Sancta Virginitate, Chap. XXXVII, n. 27.)
29. Apoc. XIV, 4.
30. Ibid. XXII, 17.

GLORIA TIBI DOMINE QUI NATUS ES DE VIRGINE