Her present grief is measured by what this Son was for Mary. He was her God, and He was flesh of her flesh. He was part of her, and He was one of the three divine persons. She has fed Him in the name of earth and Heaven; she has lived for Him, who willed to have life from her, and for whom she herself was born. She has watched His earliest tears, smiled at His first words; she has guided His first steps, faltering like our own. She has lifted in her hands the treasure of this soul which gave radiance to our flesh which once was darkness, and in which God manifested Himself.
