MARY, OUR MOTHER

Meditation 27

THE ANNUNCIATION

MARIAN SLAVERY

1. In what it consists.

I must have an intimate knowledge of the strict meaning of this word. a slave depends on somebody else in such a manner that all that he is and has does not belong to him but to his master. (Such was the barbaric law of old.) He disposes of nothing and of nobody, not even of himself. He has no freedom. He must do only what his master orders. He has no self-will. He must limit his desires to the wishes of his master. He has no juridical personality. He is a thing rather than a person. The master does with him what he pleases. He can sell him, or present him to another. He can punish him even without reason, kill him even for a whim. Nobody can call the master to task for what he does with his slave. The slave is merely at his mercy and caprice.

Now this slavery of man to man as it existed in pagan times is brutal and unworthy, degrading, forbidden by God. It was abolished by Christ. But if this slavery is practiced towards God, and if a man freely and voluntarily renders himself a slave to Him, this slavery is the greatest, the most worthy and beautiful possible. It is a proof of a most profound humility based on the formula: "All belongs to God, nothing is mine. Consequently, everything for God and nothing for myself." So then, my body with its senses, my soul with its powers and all the actions and movements of my being, all my sensations, thoughts, affections, loves, all my words, as well as my silences, my laughter, whatever I suffer, whatever I do, whenever I walk, sleep, eat, or pray, all is for God. This most sublime slavery is the highest possible sanctity. The more independently of God I live and work, the greater my faults and my imperfections; whereas the more God dwells and works within me, the greater will my perfection be. Is this not slavery? Well, thus my own slavery to Mary ought to be. I must live as Her son. I must depend on Her for everything. My intentions must always be Hers. The means I use must be Hers. I must hide in Her Heart in order to live in Her presence so that, by living in this manner, I shall finally direct all my activities, not to my own glory of profit, but only to Her glory, and to Her service.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]