Theological Foundations new file

160 Theological Foundations who do not always serve her with ardent love, will never get to see Mary in the heavenly fortress.” 72 The imitation of Mary’s virtues is a simple consequence of our contemplation of her person, because her life is like an image, a mirror, in which we see a model of perfection, from where come clear instructions to be honest and examples of what should be corrected and what should be avoided. “The primary thing is the nobil- ity of the teacher which we must ardently learn from. And who is more noble than the Mother of God? Who is more splendid than the one who was chosen by the Light? Who is more pure than the one whose body gave birth without prior corporal relations? This is what Mary was like and her life became a model for all.” 73 *** For Father Matulaitis-Matulewicz, Mary is the most perfect model of holiness. The higher and purer the holiness, the more universal, the eas- ier and more approachable model of holiness we have to imitate. It is not possible to imitate the Lord’s saints in everything, but Jesus and Mary are models for all people in every period. We should imitate Jesus as our Brother and Mary as our Mother. Holiness may seem too lofty, too sub- lime, but when we look at Mary, we see the ordinary, easily perceivable matters in her life. We see examples of ordinary daily virtues and duties. Yet, she surpasses the angels and the saints in everything and is second only to Jesus. There are no miracles or great penances in her life, but we can see from her example that “this one is the greatest who is great in small things.” 74 Mary always wanted to be the smallest. When she became the Mother of God, she called herself a handmaid. She did not participate in her Son’s triumph, she was not at Mount Tabor, but she did stand at the foot of the Cross. 75 Everything in Mary’s life can be imitated because everything about it is so simple and attractive. We must love more, do more for God and the salvation of souls. We do not need to do great things, we need great fidelity in small things. It is not important what we do but how we do it, in what spirit; whether we do it out of love for God, with all our hearts