Mary, Above the Angels
Fr. A. Raymond, SMM
”Enraptured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty . . . we cast ourselves into your arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary! . . . You are all beautiful, O Mary ! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people, Amen !”
Mary, Above the Angels
IN OUR previous talk we endeavored to show how Mary surpassed in beauty all the saints put together. But there is more: Mary’s beauty also surpasses that of all the angels in heaven.
Following the same comparative process as we have when comparing Mary to the blessed in heaven, let us now apply it to the angels.
Contemplate the Beauty of the Angels
Let us begin with the lowest of the nine angelic choirs. We begin with the Choir of Angels, and strive to catch a glimpse of their beauty. St. Thomas Aquinas, whom the Church calls the Angelic Doctor because of his classic writings on the angels, and St. Denis the Areopagite, a disciple of St. Paul (the Apostle who learned his theology in the third heavens amid the Archangels), tell us that the number of angels surpasses that of all corporeal beings. And this they prove by pointing out that God Who is infinitely perfect has willed that the more perfect beings should be greater than the less perfect. But, the angelic nature is more perfect than all corporeal natures.
But it cannot be greater in what philosophers term, continued quantity, which consists in the three dimensions of height, width and length, for these dimensions are proper to corporeal beings, and angels are purely spiritual. It being impossible for the angels to be greater than corporeal beings in continued quantity, it follows that they must be greater in what philosophers call, discrete quantity, that is, in numbers.
Moreover, St. Thomas tells us that all the angels are subordinated to one another, like numbers, and consequently that they surpass one another in grace and beauty, as the higher surpasses all the lower numbers by at least one unit that they do not possess.
Contemplate the Beauty of the Choir of Archangels
This being so, if the angels alone are more numerous than all corporeal creatures, if they surpass one another in grace and beauty, then try to imagine the beauty of the greatest angel, of the one who sums up in himself all the beauty of the angels below him! If we could behold him, in all the splendor of his glory, his beauty would so dazzle us that we might take him for God Himself and adore him, as was the case with St. John the Evangelist.
The latter tells us, in his Apocalypse, that he one day saw an angel. He was so fascinated by the beauty of the angel that he at once threw himself at his feet, in a gesture of adoration, thinking he was in the presence of God. But the angel rebuked him saying: ”Thou must not do that. I am a fellow-servant of thine and of thy brethren the prophets and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!” (Apoc. 22:9).
Yet – and I repeat it – among the angelic choir the angels are the most inferior in beauty.
Annunciation: Early Renaissance and Italian Painter: Sandro Botticelli: 1481
With this article, Father A. Raymond, a Montfort Father and seasoned Missionary of Our Lady, continues a series of sermonettes. These sermonettes were talks to sisters that were recorded and published as articles. He is leading up to Fr. de Montfort’s Total Consecration. The previous article may be found (Mary, All Beautiful) here. The next article (#5) may be found here: Mary, Full of Grace.
She alone is dearer to God, pleases Him more and, consequently, possesses more grace and beauty than all angelic nature. All the angels discover in her their virtues, their privileges, their natural and supernatural gifts. Yet, what intelligence – be it human or angelic – will ever be able to appreciate fully Mary’s beauty ? None. One must content oneself with admiration. For after the Beauty of God, which is Infinite, Mary’s beauty is the object of the admiration and rapture of all the inhabitants of heaven, and will be so for all eternity.
Let us go up higher and contemplate the choir of Archangels. Their numbers are incomparably greater than that of the angels. For the reason given above, namely, they being more perfect must be more numerous. They surpass the angels especially in grace and beauty. In such sort that the least of the archangels is more beautiful than the whole choir of angels put together.
Contemplate Each Level in Heaven
Remember also that, like the angels, the archangels are subordinated to one another. Therefore, they surpass one another in grace and in beauty. Try and imagine now what must be the beauty of the greatest archangel! Surely, you will have to admit, it is both dazzling and astounding!
Yet, there is no reason for us to stop here. Let us go up higher, to the Choir of Virtues and repeat the same process. Now, after you have computed the number of Virtues, who surpass the archangels in number by as much as the latter surpass the angels, try and conjure up in your mind’s eye the beauty of the greatest of the Virtues!
Repeat the same up-grade comparison as you mount successively through the Choirs of Principalities, Dominations, Powers, Thrones, Cherubim and finally Seraphim. Contemplate for a moment the beauty of the least of the Seraphim, who in himself is more beautiful than the eight other choirs of angels put together; then admire at your leisure the beauty of the tenth Seraphim. This Seraphim, who in turn is already ten times more beautiful than the afore-mentioned; then the hundredth, the thousandth, the hundred thousandth. Keep climbing for their numbers run up into the billions. Finally, look upon the beauty of the highest of the Seraphim.
She Alone is Dearer to God
Is this not a blinding, dizzying sight! Does not this beauty completely overwhelm and captivate you! Re-capitulate, in your mind’s eye, the incalculable number of beautiful creatures, whose beauty – from that of the least angel to the highest of the Seraphim – rises before the throne of God like a glorious crescendo in honor of its Creator. Yet, after all this, you have seen nothing compared to Mary’s beauty. In fact, you have seen but servants, and Mary is the Mother, the Queen of all the angelic choirs !
She alone is dearer to God, pleases Him more and, consequently, possesses more grace and beauty than all angelic nature. All the angels discover in her their virtues, their privileges, their natural and supernatural gifts. Yet, what intelligence – be it human or angelic – will ever be able to appreciate fully Mary’s beauty? None. One must content oneself with admiration. For after the Beauty of God, which is Infinite, Mary’s beauty is the object of the admiration and rapture of all the inhabitants of heaven, and will be so for all eternity.
It is related that Alexander the Great, owed by the great reputation Diogenes had won for himself the world over, wished to visit him in his place of retirement. After having observed his mode of life, his morals, his peacefulness, his profound erudition, his mind so free from all earthly attachments, his sentiments so noble and so generous. not only esteemed but marveled at him. Envying his happiness which he considered greater than his own, Alexander the Great spoke these words; ’ ‘If I were not Alexander, I would like to be Diogenes”.
After God Alone, O Holy Virgin, You are the First in Beauty
Permit me to say, with Father D’argentan, that not only is all of heaven in admiration at Mary’s beauty but that God Himself rejoices so much at its sight that He might readily say: ”If by some impossibility I were not God, I would like to be Mary. ” For it is true that after God there is nothing greater than Mary in the world of beings.
Is it any wonder then that saints, like St. Epiphanius, could cry out :
”After God alone, O holy Virgin, you are the first in beauty; the Seraphim, the Cherubim, the nine choirs of angels lose all their luster when compared to you. In your presence they seem like the stars in the heavens who lose all their brightness in the presence of the sun”.
All the blessed in heaven might well say: If, by some impossible event, our beatitude did not consist in contemplating the infinite beauty of God, we would then find it in contemplating Mary’s beauty and we would be very happy to contemplate it eternally.
Is it not fitting, therefore, that we should cry out: O Mary, beauty superior to all created beauty! How little attention we would pay to mortal beauty if we could but get a glimpse of your immortal beauty! Was not Bernadette of Lourdes right when she one day exclaimed: ”Once a person has seen Mary, he can no longer love this earth of ours”!
Mary’s Beauty
Oh, if the worldly-minded only knew the truth about Mary! If those who pursue earthly beauty with the greatest passion could only get a glimpse of the beauty of the Mother of God! How quickly they would abandon all earthly love and spurn the things they now adore!
Few there are, it is true, who have been privileged to see Mary with their bodily eyes; but we can see her with the eyes of our soul, if we would but meditate on her beauty. And it is this spiritual contemplation of Mary that is the safest and the surest, since it is founded on truth. It is the most consoling also, since it brings Mary’s true image right into our soul where it can be kept free from any illusion of the senses. It is this picture or ”spiritual image” of Mary that Fr. de Montfort wishes us to form in our souls when he tells us that we must ”try to form within us some idea or spiritual image of Mary”. (Secret , No. 47).
With Pope Pius XII, let us love to say to Mary, as we gaze upon her beauty: ”Enraptured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty . . . we cast ourselves into your arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary! . . . You are all beautiful, O Mary ! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people, Amen !”
