“And a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of
twelve stars.” (Rev. 12:1)
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| She is clothed with sun |
The sun, which is mentioned as clothing
the Woman, is the true Sun of Justice. The Most High was to remain with this
Woman by his grace in order to overshadow and defend Her by the protection of
his invincible right hand. Therefore no impurity could touch Her.
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| She is protected by the brightness of the invisible right hand of God from original sin |
The moon was beneath her feet; for as the two planets, the sun and the
moon, divide night and day, therefore the moon, being the symbol of the
darkness of sin, is beneath her feet, and the sun, being the symbol of the
light of grace, clothes Her for all eternity. Thus also the deficiencies of
grace in all mortals must be beneath her feet, and never must rise either to
her soul or to her body, which on the contrary were to be ever superior to all
angels and men. She alone was to be free from the darkness and the warnings of
Lucifer and of Adam, treading them under foot without their being able to gain
any advantage over Her. And just as She rose above all the guilt and the
effects of original and of actual sin, God now placed these in a symbolical
manner under her feet, in order that the good angels might know, and the bad
ones, (though they did not attain full knowledge of the mysteries), might fear
this Woman even before She came into actual existence.
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| The moon Was under Her feet |
The crown of twelve stars are evidently all the virtues, with
which that Queen of heaven and earth was to be adorned. But the mystery of its
being composed of twelve stars has reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, by
which all the elect and the predestined are designated, as is mentioned in the
seventh chapter of the Apocalypse by the Evangelist (Apoc. 7, 4). And since the
gifts, graces and virtues of all the elect were to crown their Queen in a most
eminent and exalted degree, a crown of twelve stars was placed around her head.
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| And a crown of twelve stars around Her head |
of the wrath of the All powerful (Sophon 1,
14). This Woman, too, shall be placed in solitude, where She will have a place
assigned by Me” (Apos. 12, 6). This
solitude, to which the Woman fled, is the position which our great Queen holds,
as being only and alone, unsurpassed in sanctity and exempt from all sin. For She, being of
the same nature as mortals, far excelled all the angels in grace, merits and
gifts attained in common with them. Thus, She who was the only One and without
a compeer among creatures, fled and was placed in a solitude exalted above all
the rest. This solitude was so far removed from all sin that the dragon could
not even attain sight of it, nor could he from the time of her Conception
discern anything of Her. The Most High placed Her alone and as the only One in
the world, who never had intercourse with, and never was in subordination to
the serpent. On the contrary, with solemn promise and assurance He affirmed and
decreed: “This Woman, from the first
instant of her existence, shall be my only One, chosen for Myself; I exempt Her
even now from the jurisdiction of her enemies and I will assign to Her a
position of grace most eminent and incomparable, in order that there She may be
nourished one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Apos. 12, 6). That
number of days the Queen was to remain in an interior and spiritual state of
most exalted and extraordinary graces, which were to be more memorable and
wonderful. This happened in the last years of her life. In that state She was
nourished in such a divine manner, that our understanding will never be able to
grasp it. And because these graces were in a certain measure the end toward
which others of the life of the Queen of heaven were ordained, and, as it were,
their culmination, the Evangelist makes a special mention of them.
