Theology teaches us that the differences we see in things are a result of Divine Wisdom. As Wisdom establishes order in things, it must also bring about the differences without which there can be no order. We see that this was the way of things from the very beginning, when, poured out upon a matter only half formed, Wisdom separated light from darkness, divided the waters below from the waters above, and sorted out the confusion of the elements.
What was done once in the Creation, Wisdom does every day in the regeneration of our nature. The material parts of the world were once separated out from what had been “without form” (Gen. 1:2); now a similar separation is made within mankind, which is one great mass of guilt. Grace saves us by a blessed separation that sets us apart from the spoiled mass, and that is the work of Wisdom, because it is Wisdom who chose us from eternity and who prepares the means by which we are justified.
Thus was the Blessed Virgin set apart, and this she has in common with all the faithful. To see what is extraordinary about her, we must consider her alliance with Jesus. This mystery may be appreciated with the help of the words of a venerable sermon on the Nativity: “How happy you are, peerless Mother, because you were the first to receive what was promised to all the faithful, and you alone possess the common joy of the universe.” What do these words mean? If Jesus Christ is a common good, if his mysteries belong to the whole world, in what way could the Blessed Virgin possess them all alone? His death is the public sacrifice, his blood the price for all sins, his preaching the instruction for all people. And what clearly shows that he is the common good of the whole earth is that this divine Child was no sooner born than the Jews were called to him by the angels and the Gentiles by the stars.
This article is from Meditations on Mary.
Amid this universal liberality, Mary has a private right to possess him all alone, because she possessed him as a son. No other creature can share in this title. Only God and Mary can have the Savior for a son, and by this holy alliance Jesus gives himself to her in such a way that it may be said that the common treasure of the human race became her private property.
Thus, the Blessed Virgin was set apart, and in her separation she possesses something in common with all men and something all her own. To understand this, we must realize that we have been set apart from the rest of men and women because we belong to Jesus and have an alliance with him. But Jesus made two alliances with the Blessed Virgin: one as Savior and another as Son. The alliance with Jesus as Savior means that she must be set apart like the other faithful; the special alliance with Jesus as her Son means that she must be set apart in an extraordinary fashion.
Divine Wisdom, in the beginning you separated the elements out of the original confusion; here too there is confusion to dispel. Here is the whole of guilty mankind from which one creature must be set apart so that she may become the mother of her Creator. If the other faithful are delivered from evil, she must be preserved from it. And how? By a special communication of the privileges of her Son. He is exempt from sin, and Mary must also be exempt. O Wisdom, you have set her apart from the other faithful, but do not mix her together with her Son, because she must be infinitely beneath him. How shall we distinguish her from him, if they are both exempt from sin? Jesus was by nature, and Mary by grace; Jesus by right, and Mary by privilege and indulgence. See her thus set apart: “he who is mighty has done great things for me” (Luke 1:49).
Although we are not set apart in as eminent a way as the Blessed Virgin, we must not fail to be in some way. For who are the faithful people? They are a people set apart from the others, drawn forth from the mass of perdition and the universal contagion. They are a people living in the world, but not of the world. They have their treasure stored up in heaven, their home and patrimony. God has marked the foreheads of the faithful with the sacred character of baptism so that they may be set apart for him alone. Yes, Christian, if you have bound yourself to the love of this world, if you do not live as one set apart, you will lose the grace of Christ.
How shall you set yourself apart? We live in the world and are surrounded by its distractions. Must we banish ourselves from society? Must we exclude ourselves from all worldly affairs? No, but what we must do is set our hearts apart. It is by the heart that we are Christians: “man believes with his heart” (Rom. 10:10). It is the heart that must be set apart. Yet this is the chief difficulty, for it is the heart that is beset on all sides. The world flatters it and beckons to it. On one side are honors, on the other pleasures. Someone offers love; another demands it of us. How shall the heart defend itself? The task is arduous: to be always in the world but to keep one’s heart set apart from its attractions. Is there any other gospel for us to follow?
From the many useless hours that you devote to the affairs of this earth, set aside at least a few so that you may retire into yourself. Make some place of solitude for yourself, where you can meditate in secret on the sweetness of eternal goods and on the vanity of mortal things. Set yourself apart with Jesus; pour out your soul before him. Beseech him to give you the grace that will allow the attractions of heaven to draw you forth from those of this world, the grace that set apart the most holy Virgin.
Editor’s note: This article is adapted from a chapter in Bp Bossuet’s Meditations for Mary, which is available from Sophia Institute Press.
