A Little Litany
“When God turned back eternity and was young,
Ancient of Days, grown little for your mirth
(As under the low arch the land is bright)
Peered through you, gate of heaven–and saw the earth.
Or shutting out his shining skies awhile
Built you about him for a house of gold
To see in pictured walls his storied world
Return upon him as a tale is told.
Or found his mirror there; the only glass
That would not break with that unbearable light
Till in a corner of the high dark house
God looked on God, as ghosts meet in the night.
Star of his morning; that unfallen star
In that strange starry overturn of space
When earth and sky changed places for an hour
And heaven looked upwards in a human face.
Or young on your strong knees and lifted up
Wisdom cried out, whose voice is in the street,
And more than twilight of twiformed cherubim
Made of his throne indeed a mercy-seat.
Or risen from play at your pale raiment’s hem
God, grown adventurous from all time’s repose,
Or your tall body climbed the ivory tower
And kissed upon your mouth the mystic rose.” by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
One of the titles of Our Lady is Mary, Mother of Divine Providence. She was painted under this title in 1580 by the Italian painter, Scipione Pulzone (image above). There is a long and rich history of devotion to Our Lady under the title of Mother of Divine Providence beginning at the wedding feast of Cana, and continuing to the present where she is known by the Faithful under this title as Queen of the Home. The image of Our Lady under the title of Mother of Divine Providence is lovely as it visually captures the work of Our Lady: mother.
Dale Ahlquist of the American Chesterton Society examines the poem (above), A Little Litany, where G.K. Chesterton captures the beauty of Our Lady as Mother of Christ:
“In the poem called ‘A Little Litany,’ Chesterton paints a word picture of the Madonna and child, with the baby Jesus crawling up from his mother’s lap, and looking her in the eye…
‘[He] found his mirror there; the only glass
That would not break with that unbearable light
Till in a corner of the high dark house
God looked on God, as ghosts meet in the night.’Can we find in all of literature a more profound and provocative image than God looking at God in the reflection of his mother’s eye? The marvelous images go on for ever. That is why there are thousands of different Madonnas throughout the history of art, and why Chesterton says in another of poem, ‘In all thy thousand images we salute thee,’ and why in another poem he muses that if all the statues of Mary were smashed, we would still carve her image with a song. It is an inexhaustible profundity.” source
Mary is the Mother of Christ, but she is also the mother of all Catholics, and, as such, she is always active in prayer, and deed, to see to the temporal and eternal needs of her children. As St. John Vianney (b. 1786- d. 1859) stated, “Only after the last judgement will Mary get any rest; from now until then, she is much too busy with her children.” There is never a need which is too small, or too large, for Mary. Jesus Christ trusted in Our Lady’s maternal care while He lived on Earth: dwelling in her womb for nine months, resting in her arms in infancy, and spending His childhood under her watchful eye.
The Church has repeatedly declared that Mary is the mother of all Catholics, and this has been attested to by the Fathers of the Church, the saints, and Tradition. To be a child of Mary is an honor, and a person is richly blessed when he is being mothered by her. When Catholics rest in the arms of Mary, in confidence, they are living what it means to be consecrated to Mary, to be consecrated to Jesus through Mary.
Mary, Mother of Divine Providence, pray for us.
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