A Reflection for Sanctæ Mariæ Sabbato (IV Classis)
Commemoratio: Ss. Chrysanthi et Dariæ, Martyrum
Readings:
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:14–16
“From the beginning and before the world was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before Him. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God His inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.”
Luke 11:27–28
“And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”
Today, Holy Mother Church gives us, on this Sabbatum in honorem Sanctæ Mariæ, the opportunity to pause and contemplate the mystery of Our Lady’s place in salvation history, as foreshadowed in the inspired poetry of Ecclesiasticus and confirmed by the divine lips of Christ Himself.
The first reading, from Ecclesiasticus 24, is placed upon the lips of Divine Wisdom—but in the liturgical tradition of the Church, these words have long been understood as mystically applying to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Fathers of the Church, particularly in the early centuries, often interpreted this chapter as prophetically depicting Mary’s eternal role in God’s plan.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in his Homilies on the Missus Est, draws heavily from this passage, interpreting Wisdom’s resting in Sion and taking root in an honourable people as pointing to the virginal womb of Mary, in whom the Eternal Word took flesh. “In Sion I am established,” says Wisdom; and St. Bernard remarks, “What is this Sion, if not the most exalted Virgin, raised above all creatures? There the Lord has chosen to dwell, for she is holy, immaculate, and full of grace.”
In the sacred economy, Mary is not simply a vessel used and set aside; she is the living Sedes Sapientiæ, the Seat of Wisdom, in whom Divine Wisdom found repose and from whom He issued forth to redeem mankind. “My abode is in the full assembly of saints,” we read—and truly, Mary is not merely among the saints, but Queen of All Saints, their exemplar and their Mother.
Yet it is in the Gospel that we are reminded of the deeper mystery of Mary’s greatness—not merely biological, but spiritual and interior. When the unnamed woman cries out in admiration of Christ’s earthly Mother, He responds not with denial, but with a deeper affirmation: “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.”
St. Augustine, in his Tractates on the Gospel of John, teaches:
“She conceived Him in her heart before she conceived Him in her womb. She kept truth in her mind more than flesh in her body.”
Thus, Our Lady’s truest greatness lies not only in the ineffable dignity of being Theotokos—God-bearer—but in her perfect obedience to the will of God. She is the model of the audientes et custodientes—those who hear the word of God and keep it.
St. Bede the Venerable similarly comments:
“While it is a great thing to bear Christ in the womb, it is greater still to bear Him in one’s heart.”
This Gospel, therefore, far from diminishing Our Lady’s blessedness, reveals its deepest cause: her fiat—“Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”—uttered in faith and obedience.
Today’s commemoration of Ss. Chrysanthus and Daria, virgin-martyrs, further illumines this Marian mystery. These holy ones heard the Word of God, clung to it even unto death, and thereby followed Mary’s own example. The martyrs are always Marian, for they imitate her perfect surrender to God’s will. The roots of the Virgin’s Magnificat are echoed in every martyr’s blood, every hidden “yes” to the Cross.
Spiritual Considerations:
- Do I seek to honor Our Lady merely in sentiment, or by truly imitating her obedience, her humility, her attentiveness to the Word of God?
- Do I listen daily for the Word, and strive to keep it, even when it contradicts my natural inclinations or comforts?
- Am I rooted in the communion of saints—the “full assembly” in which Wisdom abides? Or do I isolate myself from the Church’s tradition and her liturgy, where Mary is always present?
A Marian Prayer (adapted from Ecclesiasticus 24):
O Most Holy Virgin, Root of Wisdom, dwelling in the midst of the assembly of saints, grant that I may ever abide with thee, hear the Word with thee, and keep it in humble obedience. Teach me the path of holy fear, the grace of silence, and the joy of hidden sacrifice. Queen of Martyrs, pray for me, that I may share, if not in blood, then in love, the passion of thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Liturgical Note:
On this Sanctæ Mariæ Sabbato, a IV Class day in the traditional Roman Rite, the Church lifts our hearts to Mary, not as an abstract figure, but as the living Tabernacle, the obedient Handmaid, the Mother of all who believe. With the memory of the martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria, whose faith shone amid the darkness of pagan Rome, we are invited to deepen our fidelity to Christ, through Mary, in the unbroken tradition of the Church.
Let us, then, like Mary, hear the Word of God and keep it—and may Wisdom take root in us, as it did in her.
“Blessed art thou, O Virgin Mary, who didst believe: those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.” (Luke 1:45)