This
admirable body, thus formed in the womb of holy Anne, was not capable of
spiritual gifts before it was animated by the soul; but it was capable of
receiving the natural ones. These were given to this body in supernatural
degree and by supernatural power, so as to accord with the high purpose and the
singular gifts for which it was formed; and in this it surpassed all others in
the order of nature and grace Thus were given to it a complexion and faculties
so excellent that all nature would never of itself be able to produce one
similar to it.
St. Anne receiving a message from an angel
Just
as the hand of our Lord formed the first parents Adam and Eve in such a way as
to befit original justice and the state of innocence and therefore also more
excellently than their descendants (for the works coming directly from the Lord
must be more perfect than those of secondary causes), so his Omnipotence, in a
more excellent and superior manner, operated in the formation of the virginal
body of the most holy Mary. And this He did with so much the greater solicitude
and abundance of grace, as this Creature was to exceed in perfection not only
the first parents, who were to sin so soon, but all the other creatures,
corporal and spiritual. According to our way of speaking, God exerted more care
in composing this little body of his most holy Mother, than in creating all the
celestial orbs and the whole universe. In accordance with this rule are to be
measured the gifts and privileges of this City of God from its first beginnings
and foundations to its highest pinnacle next to the infinity of the Most High.
Such was also the measure of the distance
between her miraculous Conception and sin and its cause, concupiscence; for not
only was She, as the dawn of grace, entirely free from sin, and always so
exhibited and treated by the Lord; but also in her parents, sin and
concupiscence was restrained and withheld in view of her Conception, in order
that nature might not be disturbed or made imperfect in this work. For nature
was to be subject to grace and served merely as an instrument to the supreme
Artificer, who is superior to the laws of nature and of grace It was here that
He commenced to destroy sin, and to lay the foundations, building up the castle
of the strong armed One who was to undermine evil and deprive it of the
possessions which it tyrannically held.
The
day on which the first Conception of the body of the most holy Mary happened,
was a Sunday, corresponding to the day of the week on which the angels were
created, whose exalted Queen and Lady She was to be. For the formation and
growth of other human bodies, according to the natural order, many days are
necessary in order to organize and fit them for the reception of the rational
soul. Thus for a man-child are required forty and for females eighty days, more
or less, according to the natural heat and disposition of the mothers. In the
formation of the virginal body of Mary the Almighty accelerated the natural
time and that, which according to the natural rule required eighty days, was
accomplished in Her within seven days. Within these seven days, by accelerated
growth, was organized and prepared in the womb of holy Anne that wonderful body
which was to receive the most holy soul of her Daughter and of our Lady and
Queen.
