Mary's Vision and the Witness of Jacob

Mary, the lover of stillness, the peculiar bee, who remains hovering near the remains of divine contemplations, having become a resident and a migrant from a shackled life to encounter a divine life that is undisturbed and peaceful. 'Where the breeze is thin, there also is the Lord' according to the oracle of Elijah, from which knowledge of both divine and human matters flows, just as it is written: 'Be still, and know that I am God.' The pure dove, having spread her wings in the desert and having rested in the quiet and happy harbor of serenity, through whom the prophets were instructed and the desires of the righteous were known. Jacob, fleeing, encountered a turbulent spear by a chance of God, and a pillar of remembrance, as it has been said many times; and Mary, having most greatly been separated from the swarms of thoughts and the violent storms of a fleeing mind, a cell most distinct of both intellect and reason, she heard the unwearied beatings of God's blessings, and was made worthy to hold the uncontrolled through the flesh.

But the Jew in blindness leaps upon the word and says: 'Do not blaspheme, Christian, for it is written: No one shall see my face and live, says the Lord.' On the contrary, O fool, in your own law it is written that Jacob said: 'I saw God face to face, and my soul was saved'; for the life of man is vision. And since these things are so, I will neither invalidate yours, nor will I leave my own witness unstated; for to comprehend the essence of God is impossible and helpless, but for God to be made known to men is easy for Him, the All-Powerful, who manifests Himself to the worthy as He wills, for it is written: 'I have multiplied visions and was made like unto the hands of the prophets.'

Jacob indeed saw God, and he did not lie, and he saw how the one seen pleased to be seen; for God knows how to manifest Himself as He wills, and there is no obstacle or interruption to His purpose, even if even the highest cannot bear His extreme glory. So also Mary saw God having become man, and she scattered a libation of sweet fragrance upon His holy and worshipful temple; that is to say, this is something she holds within herself, for the union is undivided, the mystery of piety is unmixed, and the confession to the one Lord Jesus Christ of the Trinity is indissoluble.

But you, beloved, do not be surprised by hearing something strange and loud from the strangers of the truth; for they are brothers to the blind and traitorous Judas, who foolishly allowed the goddess to remain with such an intention at the banquet. But what is this unseemly vote against this one? It exposes Judas as a thief, but accepts her as a lover of God; it proclaims the completed act as a benefit and opposes those coming against her, and says even these things through Matthew the evangelist: 'Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful work for me' (Matthew 26:13). And I weigh against the love of such a work the eternal memory: 'For wherever this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, it shall be spoken, and what she did shall be for her memorial' (Matthew 24:14).

And Mary's sowing and harvest are worthy, worthy of the good intention and the fruitfulness; she hastened to fulfill the scripture, having been foreordained by the descending divine grace; she learned the things sung in the prophets, and recognized the timely outcome of the prophecy; she heard Solomon singing how 'he whose king is in his reclining, gave the scent of nard' (Song of Solomon 1:2); and she understood the king of those reigning and lord of those ruling, foretold by the servant king.

Therefore, having hesitated in no work, she completed the learning, and having brought to pass the preordained things without regret, she carried away the glorious and beyond-calculation vote; by which vote may we all become one and know and worship the Lord, having been born from eternity consciously and in unison, and unreservedly and unspeakably from the Father, that is, from the uncreated essence, and at the end, unchangeably and without confusion through the thought and word having been made flesh by the immaculate Virgin, to obtain from him the blessing in mercy and in infinite life, because to him belongs the glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages of ages. Amen.