Newsletter #75 – Our Lady of Mount Carmel USA

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

The Heart of God The Father is The First Foundation of The Devotion to The Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Throne of King Solomon is the nineth symbolic picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the Queen of heaven and earth.

MARY’S HEART, THE THRONE OF KING SOLOMON

Among the many beautiful qualities attributed by the Holy Ghost to the Blessed Virgin Mary, one stands out preeminently. It is contained in these words of the eighty-sixth psalm, which Holy Church and her Doctors apply to the Mother of God: “Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.” (Ps. 86, 3)

Mary is indeed the great and glorious city of God, the holy city, the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, the royal city, “the city of the great King” (Ps. 47, 3). O Holy City of God, what high and admirable things must be said and thought of thee! Thou are not only the city of the great King, O incomparable Virgin, thou art also His royal and eternal palace. “Yes,” says St. Bonaventure, “this heavenly maiden is the sacred palace of the great God! (In Carminibus super Salve Regina). Now, if Mary is the palace of the King of Kings, her Immaculate Heart must be the King’s imperial throne.

This magnificent throne is perfectly represented by the throne of King Solomon, as described in the Book of Kings. (3 Kings 10, 18-20.) We read there that this great king erected a throne of ivory in his house on Lebanus and covered it with brilliant gold. Six steps led up to this throne; the top of it was rounded at the back, and there were two hands on either side to hold the seat, with two large lions standing near, while small lions stood upon either side of the six steps. Never was any similar throne made in any kingdom of the world.

There is another throne of King Solomon which also represents Our Lady’s Heart most perfectly. The third chapter of the Canticle of Canticles describes it as follows: “King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus. The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.” (Cant. 3: 9-10)

In the same chapter, immediately before the description of this throne mention is made of Solomon’s bed (verses 7, 8) with the following words: “Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, surrounded the bed of Solomon. All holding swords, and most expert in war; every man’s sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.

What does all this mean? Here is the answer.

The throne and the couch of Solomon symbolize the Immaculate Heart of the Queen of heaven and earth, the couch representing the Heart in contemplation, the litter describing it in action. Mary’s Heart is at once the throne and the bed of the true Solomon, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. It is the bed on which He rests in the sweetness and calm of contemplation. It is the litter in which love and charity that set Him on this throne, carry Him from place to place, that He may reign everywhere for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. An illustrious commentator expresses a similar thought when he says: “The bed of Solomon represents the heart resting in the sweetness of contemplation. His litter is the heart going about in the exercise of good works.” (Hugh of St. Victor, Erudit, Theolog., lib. 1, tit. 61.)

Who are the valiant ones surrounding Solomon’s bed well-armed and expert in war? According to St. Bernard and several other learned Doctors, they are the angels and the mightiest among the angels, namely the Seraphim, who armed with God’s strength and expert in combat against His enemies, always kept watch around the seraphic Heart of their Empress, in the world’s dark night. They kept guard against the fears in the night, that is, they prevented the powers of darkness to approach and in any way trouble the divine Solomon as He rested on this holy couch. (S. Bern, in Deprecat. ad Virgin; Honorius Augustodum. Presbyter.)

But let us return to Solomon’s litter. He designed it with his own hands like the throne of the palace on Libanus: Fecit sibi. (Cant. 3: 9.) In like manner, our adorable Solomon is Himself the author of the
incomparable masterpiece of Mary’s Immaculate Heart. He prepared for Himself a throne worthy of His infinite grandeur and eternal majesty in the august Heart of His glorious Mother.

We have good reason to call Solomon’s litter a figure of the throne of the King of Kings, namely of the Heart of the most holy Mother of this great King. St. Gregory of Nyssa tells us that this throne of Solomon is “a figure of the heart of every faithful Christian,” (Homil. 7.) and a famous Doctor says that “the heart of the true Christian is the litter of the Son of God, because it goes where the one it bears wills that it should go, and never elsewhere.” (Richard of St. Victor.) This was fulfilled more perfectly in the Heart of the Holy Virgin than in the hearts of even the holiest of creatures. Her virginal Heart never experienced inclinations or affections other than those it derived from the Master who held absolute sway over it.

Solomon’s throne was made of incorruptible wood of the cedar of Libanus, to show that the Immaculate Heart of the Mother of God was not only preserved from the corruption of sin, but also that its superabundance of heavenly graces rendered it incapable of sin by grace, as God is incapable of sin by nature.

The four columns of Solomon’s throne are the four cardinal virtues, which sustain the throne of the true Solomon, namely justice, prudence, fortitude and temperance. The pillars made of silver denote the candor of innocence preserved in the heart that possesses them. This symbol was eminently verified in the most pure and innocent Heart of the Queen of all virtues.

The gold seat represents free-will transformed by love into the adorable love of God. Every human will attaining this state of submission becomes the seat and the throne of Jesus, and in the will of His Blessed Mother this was accomplished in a most perfect manner. Therefore St. Peter Damian calls her “the golden seat on which, after the tumult and disorder occasioned by the sins of angels and men, He sought and found His rest.” (Serm. de Annunt.)

The “going up” or back of purple represents ardent desire for the glory of God, for the sanctification of His name and the accomplishment of His will on earth as it is accomplished in heaven. It symbolizes the divine love that constantly urged the zealous Heart of the Mother of Love upward and onward to do and suffer great things towards the fulfillment of the designs of the Creator.

Finally, our beloved Christ prefigured by Solomon, filled His throne with Charity for the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, for all souls, especially for each Christian soul, and more particularly still for the beloved children of His Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Heart. These are the humble, pure and charitable souls who entertain a singular Devotion to the Immaculate heart of Mary. He set His throne in her Heart for two purposes, both equally useful and profitable to us; Our Saviour made Mary’s Immaculate Heart a throne of honor and glory and established it as a throne of grace and mercy.

Her Heart is a throne of honor and glory, where Our Lord wills to be honored and glorified more than in the hearts of all angels and saints, even though they also are thrones of glory given to Him by His omnipotent Father. On this throne, Christ wills to receive our homage and humble respects, and the children of the Church Militant must join those of the Church Triumphant in adoring and glorifying Him.

Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart is also a throne of grace and mercy (the confessional), where Christ absolves all sinners who approach Him in a spirit of humility and penance, where He abundantly dispenses His gifts and graces to those who ask Him. Our Lord grants with extraordinary goodness the requests presented by those who render to Him, in the Immaculate Heart of His most honored Mother, the homage He desires to receive there. He wishes to be praised and glorified in the hearts and even in the bodies of His saints. (“Glorify and bear God in your body” – 1 Cor. 6, 20.) How much more, then, should we not honor and magnify Our Saviour in the Immaculate Heart of His Blessed Mother?

Let us approach with humility and confidence this throne of grace and mercy, and the Son of God will grant us every blessing we ask through the Immaculate Heart of His glorious Mother. “Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy and find grace.” (Heb. 4, 16.)

Fr. Pancras Raja
Spiritual Director
April 1, 2022

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Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Posted in Newsletters and tagged 2022, April, Father Pancras Raja, Newsletter