Works › The Mariale: Questions on “Missus est”
Volume 37 · p. 145
Question 88 continuation. Whether goodness, which is sweetness of soul, was in her
quod vellus dulci rore repletum, post hoc totam aream implevit. Per vellus significatur beatissima Virgo, quae totum mundum dulcedine replevit: plus igitur dulcedinem habuit.
5. Item, ad Hebr. IX, 4: In arca fuit urna aurea habens manna. Per arcam beata Virgo, per manna dulcedo summa signatur: ergo et ipsa in summo habuit dulcedinem.
6. Item, Eccli. XXIV, 27: Spiritus meus super mel dulcis: sed per mel communiter intelligitur quid dulcissimum, juxta illud Judicum XIV, 18: Quid dulcius melle? ergo beata Virgo habuit majorem dulcedinem super omnem dulcedinem.
7. Item, Quanto arbor altior, tanto fructus ejus dulcior: sed fructus beatissimae Virginis fuit altissimus: ergo fuit dulcissimus, quia ipse solus dulcissimus. Sed si fructus fuit dulcissimus: ergo et rami, juxta illud Jacobi, III, 11: Numquid fons de eodem foramine emanat dulcem et amaram aquam? Quasi diceret: Qualis intra, talis et extra: ergo cum ex beatissima Virgine summa dulcedo exivit, patet quod dulcissima fuit.
Patet igitur, quod dulcissima Virgo bonitatem et dulcedinem animi habuit in summo super omnes viatores 1.
that the fleece, filled with sweet dew, afterward filled the whole threshing floor. By the fleece the most blessed Virgin is signified, who filled the whole world with sweetness; therefore she had sweetness more fully.
5. Likewise, Hebrews 9:4: In the ark there was a golden urn having manna. By the ark the blessed Virgin is signified, by the manna the highest sweetness; therefore she too had sweetness in the highest degree.
6. Likewise, Ecclesiasticus 24:27: My spirit is sweet above honey. But by honey something sweetest is commonly understood, according to that of Judges 14:18: What is sweeter than honey? Therefore the blessed Virgin had a greater sweetness beyond every sweetness.
7. Likewise, the higher a tree is, the sweeter its fruit is; but the fruit of the most blessed Virgin was highest; therefore it was sweetest, because he alone is sweetest. But if the fruit was sweetest, therefore also the branches, according to that of James 3:11: Does a spring pour forth from the same opening sweet and bitter water? As if he said: Such as within, such also without. Therefore, since the highest sweetness came forth from the most blessed Virgin, it is plain that she was most sweet.
Therefore it is plain that the sweetest Virgin had goodness and sweetness of soul in the highest degree above all wayfarers 1.
Notes
- For the solution of the objections, see below after Question 94. (Pro solutione objectorum, vide infra post Quaest. XCIV.) ↩
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