Cornelius a Lapide

And when they saiv him , they were amazed. His parents, who were seeking Him, wondered and rejoiced at finding him alone disputing with the doctors, manifesting such wisdom, while the doctors, and all the rest who were present, wondered at Him. And His mother said unto Him , Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us t behold , Thy father and / have sought thee sorrowing — the Arabic adds, “ with labour.” Such are the words of His mother, not as finding fault with Christ, but in wonder and in sorrow, and sorrowfully unfolding her grief. The reverence felt by this mother for her Child — the God-Man — assures us of this ; so it is most likely that she said this to Him, not publicly in the assemblage of doctors, but privately, calling Him aside, or when the assembly had dispersed. So Jansenius, Maldonatus, and others. Thy father and I. S. Augustine (Serm. 63 De JDwersis9 xi.) remarks upon the humility of the Virgin, who, knowing that she Digitized by Google THE HUMILITY OF MARY. 133 was in every sense (in solidum) the Mother of Christ, and, therefore, of God, and that Joseph had no part in begetting Him, yet modestly puts herself after Joseph as her husband. “ She expresses herself always,” says an anonymous writer in the “ Catena Graeca,” like a mother, with trustfulness, humility, and affection.” Tropologically, let the soul that has separated itself from Jesus by mortal sin, or from its wonted communion with Him by venial negligence, seek Him again (1) with the sorrow and tears of a penitent heart, for, as S. Gregory Nazianzen says {Orat. 3), “ The tears of righteous men ” (and of sinful too, if they repent) “ are the flood that covers sin, and the expiation of the world, as was Noah’s flood; (2) with earnestness and solicitude, as the Blessed Virgin did, and that in the Temple, by passing some time in prayer and in spiritual reading and meditation ; (3) among the doctors, among learned and good men, who shall instruct the soul as well in knowledge as in piety