18ème Rose — L'excellence du saint rosaire dans les prières dont il est composé
The Abundant Blessing of the Angelic Salutation
The Angelic Salutation is a powerful means of drawing down divine blessings, as Jesus and Mary reward those who honor them with a hundredfold return.
52. This divine Salutation draws down on us the abundant blessing of Jesus and Mary, for it is an infallible principle that Jesus and Mary reward those who glorify them magnificently; they return a hundredfold the blessings given to them. I love those who love me.✦1 . . so that I may enrich those who love me and fill their treasuries (Prov 8:17, 21).✦2 That is what Jesus and Mary were proclaiming: "We love those who love us; we enrich them and fill their treasures." Whoever sows in blessings will also reap in blessings (2 Cor 9:6): "Those who sow blessings will harvest blessings."✦3
The Gracious Reciprocity of Mary
By reciting the Ave Maria, we offer honor to Mary, who in turn greets us with grace and surpasses all human gratitude in her response.
Isn't loving, blessing, and glorifying Jesus and Mary exactly what it means to recite the Angelic Salutation as we should? In every Ave Maria, you offer two blessings to Jesus and Mary. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.✦ With every Ave Maria, you pay Mary the same honor God paid her when He greeted her through the archangel Gabriel. Who could believe that Jesus and Mary, who often do good to those who curse them, would curse the people who bless and honor them through the Ave Maria? The Queen of heaven, according to Saint Bernard and Saint Bonaventure, is no less grateful and gracious than well-bred people of rank in this world; she even surpasses them in this virtue, as in every other perfection. Therefore, she will never let us honor her with respect without returning that honor a hundredfold.4 Mary, says Saint Bonaventure, greets us with grace if we greet her with the Ave Maria: "She will greet us with grace if we greet her with the Ave Maria."5 Who could grasp the graces and blessings that the Holy Virgin's greeting and kindly gaze work in us?
The Visitation of Grace
Just as Mary's greeting filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit, our faithful recitation of the Rosary brings spiritual consolation and grace into our souls.
The moment Saint Elizabeth heard the greeting from the Mother of God, she was filled with the Holy Spirit, and the child in her womb leaped for joy. If we make ourselves worthy of the Holy Virgin's greeting and blessing in return, we'll undoubtedly be filled with grace, and a torrent of spiritual consolations will pour into our souls.6
Read the original Latin
52. Cette divine Salutation attire sur nous la bénédiction abondante de Jésus et de Marie, car c'est un principe infaillible que Jésus et Marie récompensent magnifiquement ceux qui les glorifient: ils rendent au centuple les bénédictions qu'on leur donne. Ego diligentes me diligo. . . ut ditem diligentes me et thesauros eorum repleam (Pr 8,17,21). C'est ce que Jésus et Marie criaient hautement: «Nous aimons ceux qui nous aiment, nous les enrichissons et nous remplissons leurs trésors.» — Qui seminat in benedictionibus, in benedictionibus et metet (2 Co 9,6): «Ceux qui sèment des bénédictions recueilleront des bénédictions.»
Or n'est-ce pas aimer, bénir et glorifier Jésus et Marie que de réciter comme il faut la Salutation angélique? En chaque Ave Maria, on donnera deux bénédictions à Jésus et à Marie. Vous êtes bénie entre toutes les femmes et béni le fruit de votre ventre, Jésus. Par chaque Ave Maria, vous rendez à Marie le même honneur que Dieu lui rendit en la saluant avec l'archange Gabriel. Qui pourrait croire que Jésus et Marie, qui font du bien souvent à ceux qui les maudissent, donnassent leurs malédictions à ceux et celles qui les bénissent et les honorent par l'Ave Maria? La Reine des cieux, disent saint Bernard et saint Bonaventure, n'est pas moins reconnaissante et honnête que les personnes de qualité bien élevées en ce monde: elle les surpasse même en cette vertu comme en toutes les autres perfections; elle ne souffrira donc jamais que nous l'honorions avec respect, qu'elle ne nous le rende au centuple. Marie, dit saint Bonaventure, nous salue avec la grâce, si nous la saluons avec l'Ave Maria: Ipsa salutabit nos cum gratia si salutaverimus eam cum Ave Maria. Qui pourrait comprendre les grâces et les bénédictions qu'opèrent en nous le salut et les regards bénins de la Sainte Vierge?
Dans le moment que sainte Élisabeth entendit le salut que lui donna la Mère de Dieu, elle fut remplie du Saint-Esprit, et l'enfant qu'elle portait dans son sein tressaillit de joie. Si nous nous rendons dignes du salut et de la bénédiction réciproques de la Sainte Vierge, sans doute nous serons remplis de la grâce et un torrent de consolations spirituelles découlera dans nos âmes.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Prov.8.17 — I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
- ↩Prov.8.17 — I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
- ↩2Cor.9.6 — But remember this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
- ↩Luke.1.42 — And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb."
Notes
- 1 ↩Latin scriptural citation (Prov 8:17): Ego diligentes me diligo. Rendered in solemn uncontracted English as quoted Word.
- 2 ↩Continuation of the Latin Wisdom citation (Prov 8:17, 21): ut ditem diligentes me et thesauros eorum repleam. Purpose-clause force of ut preserved as 'that I may'.
- 3 ↩Bilingual unit: Latin of 2 Cor 9:6 with French expansion. English renders both the Latin sense and the French gloss without archaic diction.
- 4 ↩French honnête here is classical moral sense (honorable, gracious, refined), not merely 'honest'; rendered 'gracious' with 'grateful'.
- 5 ↩Embedded Latin (Ipsa salutabit nos cum gratia si salutaverimus eam cum Ave Maria) is rendered in English for the modern-readable target; sense matches the preceding French paraphrase.
- 6 ↩«salut et … bénédiction réciproques» means the greeting and blessing Mary returns when we greet her (Ave Maria), not mutual exchange among equals; rendered as 'greeting and blessing in return'.
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