the crucified orator 712 where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 Jn 2:9-11). Thus perceives Christ’s Beloved Apostle. Therefore, if sinners are the night, then the light for them is provided by the Most Holy Virgin, whose very name means an Illuminator.60 She “looks forth” from the face of God “like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun” (Cant 6:10). Note how emphatically and beautifully the Roman Pontiff, Innocent III,61 develops this [theme] when he says, “Mary is ‘the rising dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the Sun.’ The moon shines at night, the morning star at daybreak, the sun in the day. However, the night is sin, dawn is penance, and the day is grace. Then whoever is in night, may he gaze at the Moon and entreat Mary, so that she might inspire his heart to repentance. For was there anyone who has called upon her during the night and was not heard by her?” She transformed Mary the Egyptian62 from being a vessel of disgrace into a vessel of glory. She snatched Theophil63 out of the power of the devil and sent him on to Heaven. Through a sudden blindness she brought into the light of beginning penance Wilhelm,64 the Duke of Aquitaine, who — after an earnest conversion — had inadvertently sunk into the world of darkness. I would run out of days trying to count the examples of those who, turning to this Moon from the night of sins, were restored to the light of grace by this Moon. Yet it is also for the benefit of sinners that the Virgin Mary is not only “fair as the moon,” but also as “bright as the sun.” Richard of Saint-Laurent demonstrates that “the sun is so generous that it never turns its rays away from any creature, however foul and filthy, if only it be exposed to 60 Among the various etymologies for the name of “Mary,” St. Stanislaus advocates the translation “Illuminator.” 61 Innocent III († 1216), Pope. The text is taken from the sermon on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the B.V.M. 62 Mary had to intercede for her for the grace of conversion. Cf. the account in BS, I-XIII, Rome 1961-1970, vol. VIII, pp. 982-984. 63 The verification of the story is found in BS, vol. XII, p. 340. 64 Most likely St. Stanislaus is referring to St. William of Maleval († 1157), although nothing is known about his blindness.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==