Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (February 2)

[From a sermon of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church]

Our Lord comes to the Temple today to be offered to God His Father, subjecting Himself to the observance of the Law which He had formerly given to Moses, written on stone tablets [Exodus 24:12; 34:1; 2 Cor. 3:7]. In this Law there was a great number of particular observances to which our Divine Master and Our Lady were in no way obliged. Being King and Monarch of the whole earth, indeed of Heaven, of earth, and of all that they contain, the Saviour could not be subject to any law or commandment. Nevertheless, because He was to be placed before our eyes as a sovereign and incomparable model to which we ought to conform ourselves in all things insofar as the weakness of our nature would permit, He chose to observe the Law and to subject Himself to it. His Most Blessed Mother followed His example, as we see in the Gospel of today [Saint Luke 2:22-38], which proposes to us the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple.
On this subject I will make some considerations, which I will not dwell upon but only touch on in passing, leaving them for you to ruminate in your mind, as “clean animals” [Leviticus 11:2-3,47] do, to make a good and healthy digestion. The first consideration is on the example that our Divine Saviour and the glorious Virgin give us of a profound and true humility; the second, on obedience which is engrafted on humility.
First, what greater and more profound humility could be imagined than that which Our Lord and Our Lady practice in coming to the Temple: The One comes to be offered there the same as other children of sinful men, while the other comes to be purified! It is certain that Our Lord could not be obliged to this ceremony, since He was Purity itself, and it referred only to sinners. As to Our Lady, what need had she to be purified? She neither was nor could be blemished, having received so excellent a grace from the time of her Conception that the cherubim’s and seraphim’s is in no way comparable to it. For if indeed God prevented them with His grace from their creation to forestall their falling into sin, nevertheless they were not confirmed in grace from that moment in such a way that they could no longer deviate from it. But they were so afterwards, in virtue of the choice they made to avail themselves of this first grace and by the voluntary submission of their free will. But Our Lady was prevented with the grace of God and confirmed in it at the very moment of her Conception in such a way that she could not deviate from it nor sin. Nevertheless, both the Child and the Mother, notwithstanding their incomparable purity, come today to present themselves in the Temple as if they were sinners like the rest of men. O act of incomparable humility!
The greater the dignity of the persons who humble themselves, the more estimable is the act of humility they make. O God! How great are Our Lord and Our Lady who is His Mother! What a beautiful consideration, the most useful and profitable that could be made, is that of the humility that the Saviour so dearly loved! It seems that it was His beloved, and that He descended from Heaven to earth only for the love of it. [Saint Luke 2:48]. It is the greatest of all the purely moral virtues, for I am not speaking here of the love of God and of charity. Charity is not only a particular virtue but also a general one, which permeates all the others, and they receive their splendor from it. But as to particular virtues, there is none so great nor so necessary as humility.
Our Lord so cherished humility that He preferred to die rather than abandon its practice. He Himself said: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life” for the thing loved [Saint John 15:13]. Now He truly gave His life for this virtue, for in dying He made the most excellent and most supreme act of humility that could ever be imagined. The Apostle Saint Paul, to make us conceive in some degree the love our Saviour had for this holy virtue, says that “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient onto death, even to the death on the Cross” [Philippians 2:8], as if to say: My Master did not humble Himself for a time only or for some particular actions, but to death, that is to say, from the moment of His Conception, and then during the whole course of His life, to death; and not only until then, but He willed to practice it even in dying. And enhancing the greatness of this humility, the Apostle adds: “even to the death on the Cross” — a death more ignominious and full of abjection than any other kind of death.
By this divine example we are taught that we must not be satisfied with practicing humility in some particular actions or for a time only, but always and on every occasion: not only to death, but to the mortification of ourselves. In this way we humble the love of our own esteem and the esteem of our self-love. We must not amuse ourselves with the practice of a certain humility of demeanor and words which consists in saying that we are nothing and in making many exterior reverences and humiliations, which are anything but true humility. For humility, in order to be true, should not only make us know but also acknowledge that we are true nothings who do not deserve to live. It makes us docile, tractable and submissive to everyone, observing by this means that precept of the Saviour which orders us to renounce ourselves if we would follow Him [Saint Matthew 16:24].
There are some who greatly deceive themselves in thinking that the practice of humility is proper only to novices and beginners, and that as soon as they have made a little progress in the way of God they can easily relax in this practice. In fact, esteeming themselves already sufficiently wise, they turn into fools instead [Romans 1:22]. Do they not see that Our Lord humbled Himself even to death, that is to say, during the whole course of His life? Oh, how this Divine Master of our souls knew well that His example was necessary for us! He had no need of abasing Himself. Nevertheless, He desired to persevere in doing this because the necessity was in us! Oh, how extremely necessary is perseverance in this matter, for how many have there been who, having begun very well in the practice of humility, have been lost through lack of perseverance. Our Lord did not say: “He who begins,” but “he that shall persevere unto the end” in humility will escape death [Saint Matthew 10:22; 24:13].
What made the angels sin except a lack of humility? Although their sin was one of disobedience, nevertheless, to consider it in its origin it was pride which made them disobey. The miserable Lucifer began to look at and contemplate himself. Then he went on to admire and delight in his beauty, after which he said: “I will not serve,” and thus he threw off the yoke of holy submission [Isaias 14:13-14; Jeremias 2:20]. He had good reason to look at himself and consider his excellent nature, but not to delight in it and take empty pride in it. There is no evil at all in considering oneself in order to glorify God for the gifts that He has given us, provided that we do not pass on to vanity and self-complacency. There is a maxim of the philosophers which has been approved as good by Christian Doctors: “Know thyself” – that is to say, know the excellence of your soul in order not to disparage nor despise it. However, we must always remain within the terms and limits of a holy and loving acknowledgement before God, on whom we depend and who made us what we are [Psalm 99:3].
Our first parents and all others who have sinned have almost all been moved to do so through pride. Our Lord, as a good and loving Doctor of our souls, takes evil in its root, and in place of pride He plants first the beautiful and useful plant of most holy humility. This virtue is so much the more necessary as its contrary vice is more general among all people. We have seen how pride was found among the angels and how the lack of humility was the reason for their being lost forever. See how, among men, some, having begun well, are miserably lost through lack of perseverance in this virtue. What did not King Saul do at the beginning of his reign? Scripture says that he had the innocence of a child of one year [1 Kings 13:1]. However, he was perverted to such a degree through his pride that he merited to be condemned by God. What humility did not Judas evince while living in the company of Our Lord? And yet see what pride he had when dying. Being unwilling to humble himself and perform the acts of penitence, which presuppose a very great and true humility, he despaired of obtaining pardon [Saint Matthew 27:4-5]. It is an insupportable pride to be unwilling to abase oneself before the Divine Mercy, from which we ought to expect all our good and all our happiness.
In short, this is the evil common among all people. That is why we can never preach enough and impress upon their minds the necessity of perseverance in the practice of the most holy and most lovable virtue of humility. For this purpose, Jesus and Mary come today to take upon themselves the mark of sinners — they who could not sin. They subject themselves to the Law which was made neither for the One nor the other. Great humility to abase oneself thus!
The humility practiced by little people is no great thing, nor is it an abasement of much importance in comparison with that of giants. Cats, rats and other such animals which almost crawl on the earth have no great difficulty in rising again when they have fallen or dropped to the ground. But elephants, once they have lowered themselves or fallen, have very great trouble and difficulty in rising and getting back on their feet. Likewise, it is no great thing to see us abase and humble ourselves — the likes of us who are only nothings and deserve only abjection and humiliation. But the humiliations of our dear Saviour and the sacred Virgin, who are like giants of incomparable magnificence and eminence, are of inestimable value. From the moment they first humbled themselves they persevered during the whole course of their lives and never desired to rise again; for Our Lord — and His Most Blessed Mother in imitation of Him — “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient onto death, even to the death on the Cross” [Philippians 2:8]. But the likes of us miserable creatures who, like rats, cats and other such animals, only crawl and drag ourselves along the ground, as soon as we have abased and humbled ourselves in some trifling circumstance, immediately rise up again, become haughty, and seek to be esteemed something good.
We are impurity itself and we desire that others believe us to be pure and holy. Great folly—greater indeed than can be expressed! Our Lady, who never sinned, nevertheless was willing to be accounted a sinner. Consider, please, a daughter of Eve: how ambitious she is for honor and to be esteemed. Indeed, although this evil is general among men, it nevertheless seems that women are more inclined to it than men. Our glorious Mistress was by no means a daughter of Eve according to the spirit, but only according to blood: For she was never anything but extremely humble and lowly, as she herself says in her sacred canticle; “He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” [Saint Luke 1:48].
I know well that she meant that God had looked upon her littleness and her lowliness, but it is precisely in this that we recognize still more her profound and sincere humility. Listen to her, please, as she always depreciates herself, and particularly when the angel announces to her that she is to be the Mother of the Son of God: “Behold”, she says, “His handmaid” [Saint Luke 1:38]. Therefore, to conclude this first point (for we must be brief since this subject comes up so often), we are taught by our Divine Master of the esteem that we ought to have for most holy humility, which has always been His “well-beloved.” Moreover, it is the basis and foundation of the whole edifice of our perfection. This can neither stand nor be raised higher except by means of the practice of a profound, sincere and true acknowledgement of our littleness and stupidity. This practice leads us to a true humiliation and contempt of ourselves.
Let us go on to the second point. The humility of our Divine Saviour and His Most Blessed Mother was always accompanied by a perfect power over both of them that they would rather have died, and even by death on a cross, than fail to obey. Our Lord died on the Cross through obedience. And Our Lady — what remarkable acts of obedience did she not make at the very hour of the death of her Son, who was the Heart of her heart? In no way whatever did she resist the will of the Heavenly Father, but rather remained firm and constant at the foot of the Cross [Saint John 19:25], completely submissive to the divine good pleasure. We can use the same words of St. Paul for obedience as we have for humility: Our Lord became obedient onto death, even to the death on the Cross [Philippians 2:8]. He never did anything throughout His entire life except through obedience, which He Himself made known to us when He said: “I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” [Saint John 6:38]. Therefore, always and in all things, He looked to the will of His Heavenly Father in order to follow it, and not for a time, but always and even unto death.
As to Our Lady, examine and consider the whole course of her life. You will find there nothing but obedience. She so esteemed this virtue that, although she had made a vow of virginity, she nevertheless submitted herself to the command that was given her to marry. Ever afterwards she persevered in obedience, as we see today, since she comes to the Temple to obey the law of purification, even though there was no necessity for her to observe it, nor her Son either, as we have already mentioned in the first point. Her obedience was purely voluntary. It was not less for being voluntary and unnecessary. She so dearly loved this virtue, which her sacred Son had engrafted as a divine graft on the trunk of holy humility, that she recommended no other. We do not find in the Gospel that she spoke except at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee, when she said: “Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye” [Saint John 2:5], thus preaching the observance of obedience. This virtue is the inseparable companion of humility. One is never found without the other, for humility makes us submit to obedience.
Our Lady and sacred Mistress was not afraid of disobeying, because she was in no way obliged to the Law, which was not made for her or for her Son. Rather, she feared the shadow of disobedience. For though she, being all pure, had no need of being purified, if she had not come to the Temple to offer Our Lord and to be purified, there could have been found those who would wish to investigate her life in order to find out why she had not done as the rest of women. Thus, she comes today to the Temple to remove all suspicion from men who might have wondered about her. She comes also to show us that we ought not to be satisfied with avoiding sin, but that we must avoid even the shadow of sin. Neither must we stop at the resolution we make not to commit such and such a sin; rather, we must fly even from the occasions which could serve as a temptation to fall into it. She also teaches us not to be satisfied with the testimony of a good conscience, but to take care to remove every suspicion in others that will make them disedified by us or by our conduct. I say this for certain people who, being resolved not to commit some sins, are not careful enough to avoid the suggestion they give that they would willingly commit them if they dared.
Oh, how this example of most holy obedience that Our Lord and Our Lady give us should incite us to submit ourselves absolutely and without any reserve to the observance of all that is commanded us, and, not satisfied with that, to observe also the things which are counseled in order to make us more pleasing to the Divine Goodness! My God! Is it such a great thing to see us obey, we who are born only to serve, since the Supreme King to whom all things should be subject [Psalm 118:91] was pleased to subject Himself to obedience? Let us then meditate on this sacred example that Our Saviour Jesus Christ and the glorious Virgin Mary give us, and learn to submit ourselves — to make ourselves docile, pliable and easy to turn in any direction through most holy obedience; and not for a time nor for certain particular acts, but always, during the whole course of our life, even unto death.