The ladder by which God came down into the world

It was Mary’s perfect humility, says St. Alphonsus, that became a ladder between heaven and earth. In admiring Mary’s humility, St. Bernard speaks beautifully: “O Lady, how could so humble an opinion of yourself be united in a heart with such great purity, with such innocence, and so great a fullness of grace as you possessed? And how, O Blessed Virgin, did this humility, such great humility, ever take such deep root in your heart, seeing yourself honored and exalted by God in this way? O blessed one, from where did your humility, such great humility, come?” 

Lucifer, seeing himself endowed with great beauty, aspired to exalt his throne above the stars, and to make himself like God: “I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. . . . I will make myself like the Most High” (Is 14:13–14). What would that proud spirit have said, and to what would he have aspired, had he ever been adorned with the gifts of Mary? 

The humble Mary didn’t act that way. The higher she saw herself raised, the more she humbled herself. St. Bernard concludes that by this admirable humility, Mary rendered herself worthy to be regarded by God with a unique love; worthy to captivate her King with her beauty; worthy to draw, by the sweet fragrance of her humility, the Eternal Son from his rest in the bosom of God into her most pure womb. 

The saint says that although this innocent virgin made herself dear to God by her virginity, yet it was by her humility that she rendered herself worthy, as far as a creature can be worthy, to become the mother of her Creator: “Though she pleased by her virginity, she conceived by her humility.” St. Jerome confirms this insight, saying: “God chose her to be his mother more on account of her humility than all her other sublime virtues.” An ancient author sums it up: “Mary’s humility became a heavenly ladder, by which God came down into the world.” —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary 

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . . Am I seeking to cultivate the kind of humility that will draw the Son of God down from heaven to make his home in my heart? 

CLOSING PRAYER From a prayer of St. Lawrence Justinian: Mary, you are the ladder of paradise, the gate of heaven, the most true mediatrix between God and man.

Thigpen, Paul. A Year with Mary: Daily Meditations on the Mother of God (pp. 236-237). Saint Benedict Press. Kindle Edition.