is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.” (Luke 1:50–51)
The moment that the soul enters into the fear of displeasing God, He acts and fills and blesses her with mercy, as one sees a father soothing a child with caresses after a moment of displeasing him. The father fills the child with goodness and caresses, so that she loses the fear but keeps a loving respect. There are some souls who filled with respect and love do not fear. Their generous love banishes all fear, and gives them a strong and vital boldness.
These souls speak of his rigorous mercy. Justice is their portion and God is pleased when they exercise the courage that he has given them. He shows them, the strength of his arm. But, I say O God! You content some souls with the simple touch of your justice. You touch them with your hand like a father and caress them like a tender and timid infant. Yet God places on his strong and courageous children a heavy weight. Does this mean that he loves them less? No, to the contrary God will give them a whole other part of an inheritance. The mercy and caresses are for the weak and timid infant. God pours his mercy on those who fear but he is pleased to extend his power on those who love him with a strong love, vigorous and pure. God leads these devoted and strong souls. God also scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts who would limit divine power and prevent his arm from being heard.
Mary speaks here of our Savior who pours out his favor on all people, extending his mercy from generation to generation. God’s salvation passes in succession through all centuries, as Adam passed his sin down through all the ages. The Savior came to bring salvation to all those who have the sin of Adam. Mary sees that God sent Jesus Christ with all the strength of his arm who is the Word, Jesus Christ, the Son with all the strength of the Father. The Father’s power is incarnated and deployed in Jesus Christ the man. God is all in his Word, as his Word is all in him. God in this incarnation has sent Jesus Christ with all the strength of his arms.
God extends justice through Jesus Christ with all his strength and power to suffer for the sins of the whole world. What courage God has given one human and what strength he has placed in him. Divine justice touches simply. The souls with the purest love also have divine justice. Jesus Christ was entirely devoted to divine justice, because he was entirely devoted to the glory of God the Father and only to God’s interests. This is why God deploys Jesus with all the strength of his arm and his character, to support all the weight of a just God. The excessive suffering of Jesus Christ was so extreme because he presented this justice. Therefore God’s arms were outstretched, enough to consume and carry millions of worlds for God.
When bearing divine justice, all torments are sweet with the prize of divine justice. The justice of God contains all his attributes and character. Therefore it is jealous because all the attributes look at God alone. The greatest glory that God can have is when the person with contentment enters into this justice. Humanity alone can never enter into divine justice because humans are small and weak creatures, and they may not carry the weight of divine justice. This is the weight of God. This weight is given more or less according to the gradations of strength of the human being. This justice is given to a few souls by a simple touch of God. It was necessary therefore that Jesus Christ contain all justice as he glorifies his Father. This is how souls in whom Jesus Christ lives and operates are the souls devoted to divine justice in a particular manner. They do not serve any particular self-interest, not even for their own salvation and perfection. Instead, they remain in God to exercise for him his justice in a way that pleases him. He does not spare them: to have mercy on them would be painful for them. Though human nature trembles and agonizes at the sight of divine justice, they continue to pray that they will not be spared. O God! They say, change me and reduce me to dust and do not spare me.
God extends justice only to accomplish the designs for the soul. The door to the justice of the Father is Jesus Christ. Mercy is for sinners and for mercenary souls. But justice is for the souls devoted only to the interests of their Father. O divine justice, you have been fully sent in Jesus Christ. You have put all glory into Jesus Christ. A heart freed from all propriety loves only divine justice and cannot fail to suffer. This person will be in him and with him throughout all eternity. Those overwhelmed with divine justice do not have the ire and wrath of God but unrepentant sinners do. But divine justice is for chosen souls in whom Jesus Christ lives and reigns. God takes pleasure in removing their pride and propriety, and then he executes the power of his will by leading these simple and abandoned souls, who have no other design but to remain in perfect abandonment in God.
“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.” (Luke 1:52)
Mary describes here in a few words the way of Jesus Christ. He has brought down the powerful. He removes those who appear extraordinary from their thrones where they believe they are established forever. He lifted up those who are the lowly who are low and annihilated. God is pleased to lower those who are raised and to raise those who are lowly.
“He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:53)
When the soul is empty, God fills it with himself. God alone, the sovereign good, has goodness. God brings a perfect refinement of goodness to those have suffered hunger and strange deprivations. God sends the rich away empty. His strength in doing this explains the economy of the spiritual life. God gives hunger to those who are full and fills those who are hungry. These two words contain all that we need to say about the interior life. We remain in God to fill the emptiness and to empty the fullness. When we remain in God, he fills our emptiness easily, but if we do not remain in God, he empties our fullness.
When God fills those who are empty, what is he doing? He fills them with himself. But when he empties those who are filled with their own richness, he seems to send them away from him and this distance from God causes little by little their emptiness. When we understand this secret, that in remaining we are filled and in leaving we are empty, there is no more difficulty in the interior life.
“He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1:54–55)
Israel is an abandoned soul, who God helps with his protection in a totally special way. When we abandon ourselves to God, he cares for the soul in a way not done for those in the world. God does this in remembrance of his mercy. He exercises his justice. The soul is never in a moment without feeling the effects of his particular and special protection. God grants his protection in favor of the person’s faith and abandon, according to the promise he made never to abandon those who trust in him.
And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. (Luke 1:56)
Oh, the advantages of Mary’s stay with Elizabeth! It is inconceivable. Oh, the wonderful exchange they had! The sweet communication! It was at this time that this holy family was united in wonderful holiness.
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” 61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. (Luke 1:57–63)
God gives the name to John, to the voice who will announce his Son to all humanity. God will also give the name to Jesus Christ. When the soul is consummated and arrives in God, before entering into the apostolic state, she is given a new name, which confirms and establishes her in this state. John receives a new name as soon as he is born to mark that he is sanctified, he was drawn out of propriety, not like other infants, but by losing all of
