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Whereas Christ received in the first moment of His conception,
absolute fullness of grace, for the Second Council of Constantinople
says, "He never was made better in the advancement of good
works,"[2493] the Blessed Virgin Mary always was made better
until death, increasing in the grace of the virtues and the gifts.
Just as a stone falls more swiftly as it approaches the ground, so,
says St. Thomas, the just soul more promptly goes to God the more
it approaches Him and is attracted and drawn by Him.[2494]
Thus there was always an increase of progress in the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
This spiritual progress in the Blessed Virgin Mary was the fruit of
merit and prayer.
It was especially on the day of the Annunciation at the moment of the
Incarnation that she received a great increase of grace. Then when
the Word was made flesh, she received this Word with the greatest
fervor, and the Incarnation by reason of the operation effected (ex
opere operato) produced in her a great increase of grace more so than
Eucharistic Communion does in a person very well disposed.
The spiritual joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary was made manifest on
the day she uttered her canticle of praise, when visiting
Elizabeth.[2495]
The Church has defined[2496] that the holy Mother of God was a
virgin before her parturition, in her parturition, and after
parturition, and always remained a virgin; wherefore she did not need
to be purified.[2497] The Fathers of the Church have often
said this.[2498] St. Thomas says: "The error of
Helvidius, who dared to assert that Christ's Mother, after His
birth, was carnally known by Joseph, and bore other children... is
derogatory to Christ's perfection..., is an insult to the Holy
Ghost..., and is derogatory to the dignity and holiness of God's
Mother, for thus she would seem to be most ungrateful, were she not
content with such a Son, and were she of her own accord, by carnal
intercourse to forfeit that virginity which had been miraculously
preserved in her."[2499]
Then the grace of the virtues and the gifts was in a special manner
increased in-Mary on the day of our Lord's birth, on the day when
Jesus was presented in the Temple, during His flight into Egypt,
afterward when the holy family lived in Nazareth. But this grace was
especially increased in her on Mount Calvary, when the mother of our
Savior was intimately associated with the sacrifice of her Son, also
on the day of Pentecost, and when she most fervently received Holy
Communion from the hands of St. John the Evangelist.
Therefore the Blessed Virgin Mary had the greatest of faith,
illumined by the gifts of understanding, wisdom, and knowledge, and
hence her knowledge of Sacred Scripture was profound, especially as
regards those things that are more closely related to the mysteries of
the Incarnation and Redemption.
It is commonly held that she was exempt not only from error, but also
from ignorance in the strict sense, which is a privation in a fit
subject. Certain things she did not know, but she was not ignorant of
those things which it befitted her to know.
It is more probable that she had infused knowledge for the use of
reason and free will from the first moment of her conception, and
afterward was not deprived of this use, because she would have become
less perfect through no fault of her own.
From her Canticle of the Magnificat it is evident that she had the
gift of prophecy. Like many of the saints, she also received the gift
of discernment of spirits, especially in giving counsel to those who
appealed to her. Finally, perhaps toward the end of her life, she
had the beatific vision in a transient manner, as St. Augustine and
St. Thomas affirm that St. Paul probably had.
The principal virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary were her most firm
hope, especially her heroic charity on Mount Calvary, eminent
prudence, enlightened by the gift of counsel, justice always tempered
by the greatest mercy, the greatest of piety, invincible fortitude,
most renowned virginity, exceeding meekness, and most profound
humility. Thus she is the exemplar of the contemplative life in the
hidden apostolate made most fruitful by prayer and sacrifice.
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