From the Sermons of St. Jerome, Priest at Bethlehem.
Who and what was the blessed and glorious Mary, always a
Virgin, hath been revealed by God by the message of an Angel, in these words:
Hail, thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among
women. It was fitting that a fullness of grace should be poured into that
Virgin who hath given to God glory and to man a Saviour, who hath brought peace
to earth, who hath given faith to the Gentiles, who hath killed sin, who hath
given law to life, who hath made the crooked ways straight. Verily, she is full
of grace. To others grace cometh measure by measure; in Mary grace dwelleth at
once in all fullness. Verily, she is full of grace. We believe that the holy
Fathers and Prophets had grace; but they were not full of grace. But into Mary
came a fullness of all the grace, which is in Christ, albeit otherwise than as
it is in Him. Therefore, is it said: Blessed art thou among women, that is,
Blessed art thou above all women. The fulness of blessing in Mary utterly
neutralized in her any effects of the curse of Eve. In her praise Solomon
writeth in the Song of Songs, ii. 10,: Rise up, my dove, my fair one, for the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone. And again: Come from Lebanon, my
Spouse, come, thou shalt be crowned. ~iv. 8.
Not unjustly then is she bidden to come from Lebanon, for
Lebanon is so named on account of its stainless and glistening whiteness. The
earthly Lebanon is white with snow, but the lonely heights of Mary's holiness
are white with purity and grace, brilliantly fair, whiter far than snow,
sparkling with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, she is undefiled like a dove, all
clean, all upright, full of grace and truth. She is full of mercy, and of the
righteousness that hath looked down from heaven and therefore is she without
stain because in her hath never been any corruption. She hath compassed a man
in her womb, saith holy Jeremiah, but she conceived not by the will of fallen
man. The Lord, saith the Prophet, hath created a new thing in the earth; a
woman shall compass a man. xxxi. 22. Verily, it is a new thing. Verily, it was
a new work of power, greater than all other works, when God, Whom the world
cannot bear, and Whom no man shall see and live, entered the lodging of her
womb, breaking not the blissful cloister of her virgin flesh. And in her body,
He was borne, the Infinite enclosed within her womb. And from her womb He came
forth, so that it was fulfilled which was spoken of the Prophet Ezekiel,
saying: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter
in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore
it shall be shut. xliv. 2. Hence also in the Song of Songs it is said of her
iv. 12,: A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed, a
fountain sealed, thy perfumes are a garden of delights. Verily a garden of
delights, filled with the perfumes of all flowers, rich with the sweet savour
of grace. And the most holy Virgin herself is a garden enclosed, whereinto sin
and Satan have never entered to sully the blossoms, a fountain sealed, sealed
with the seal of the Trinity.
