The Morning Star

The morning star shines when the obscure power of the night darkness seems finally broken but the shadows of daybreak have not yet withdrawn ; it shines when the dawn is breaking and is preparing to conquer the immensity of the heavens. And it reappears when the light fads away at the slipping away of day, except then we call it "the evening star".

It is like a mysterious comfort between the luminosity and the obscurity; a passage, which would like to assure us that the light can never completely disappear. It is the herald of the light and the announcer of its victory without end. Almost as if it would not allow us to be frightened by the strong and powerful flames of the sun, it offers a sweet and amiable light; one can gaze at it easily, because it does not blind, in fact the sweet light silently and peacefully invites our eyes and our heart.

The sick, who have laid awake suffering in the night, calm themselves, if they spy it through the window. The navigator, who has lived through the horrible storms under a leaden sky, breaths easy when the morning star shows itself.

The morning star has always been an object of particular attention by man; he has felt it as something special, different from all the other stars. Some have called it "Venus" seeing in it the symbol or the reality of the goddess of love, but not of low or carnal love, but of noble love. Others have called it "Lucifer", bearer of light, precisely because the light of day follows it immediately. Astronomy has, for so long, told us that it is a planet between Mercury and earth, which traces its rotation around the sun. Between Mercury, the messenger of the gods, and us inhabitants of the earth, stands the goddess, giver of love and invitor to the love of the light! How profoundly the ancients have explained what one finds expressed so coldly in astronomy books.

The path from the image to reality is not very long. Between the loss of paradise and the coming of the Redeemer was night in souls. Yes, they were illuminated by particular rays; the great figures of the history of the Old Testament and the other blessed spirits of other peoples and cultures pointed out to many a path, even if tiresome, but in brief, all were living "in the darkness and the shadow of death" (cf. Lk.1,79), and the very chosen people", notwithstanding all the teachings and the appeals, had "a veil over the heart", which gave a foretaste of the truth in the better souls, but did not allow this people to understand it in a convincing way.

When the shining star of day draws near, "the light of the world", "the light of lights" -Christ, "the sun of justice" -the night begins to recede in the amiable appearance of "the morning star": this happened when Mary was created in her purity and unique nobility. . .

(Franz Moschner)

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Immortal Morning Star! Mary! You are as reassuring to our eyes, as you are radiant and sparkling. If you did not, like the sun, shed torrents of light which illumine, warm and fructify all nature, you, at least, shine like the star which heralds the sun's approach (Ps.18,6)!

But who can tell the beauty of that new day which you announced to the earth, O glorious star of Jacob (Num.24.17), who appeared on the horizon of idolatrous humanity, "to enlighten them who sat in the shadow of death" (Lk.1,79)? Who can describe the happiness of the world at being able to salute you as the herald of its deliverance, the august and holy dawn of that adorable "sun of justice" (Mal.4,2), who, after having, as it were, veiled His splendour in thy chaste womb, manifested Himself gloriously to the eyes of men, diffusing on all sides His radiant beams, giving to those who were misled by error the light of truth, communicating to the unhappy "sons of death" (1Kg.26,16),the only true life, that is, life everlasting?

Star of salvation, you shone "as the sun when it shineth" (Eccles.50,7); you are truly "the bright and morning star" (Ap.22,16) of the divine orbit of its redemption and ineffable regeneration! Oh be thou for ever blessed by every heart and by every tongue! for you were, the inestimable pledge of the reconciliation of earth and heaven (Col.1,20), of our sanctification through Christ (1Cor.1,30), of our eternal salvation (Heb.5,9), of our vocation to the kingdom and glory of God (1Thes.2,12).

And even now, is not that mystical Morning Star the pledge of our hopes, and of our salvation? "Without Mary", says St. Bonaventure, "what should we be, unfortunate as we are? what should become of us amid the darkness of this world, were we to be deprived of her mild light" (In Spec.B.V.M.)? Alas! all know that there are perilous moments when the light of faith appears eclipsed by thought contrary to her divine teachings; moments when we feel strongly inclined towards what our will hates and despises; when the imagination takes fire, and is induced to delight in things which the soul abhors. But if we raise our suppliant voice to that Star of benediction, she fails not to show her consoling rays, and all will again be quiet.

Who also does not know, by sad experience, that there are hours of bitter disgust, of consuming weariness, of dark gloomy dejection, of profound sadness, when the heart seems ready to fail, if it be not sustained by a supernatural power? But if, in those hours of gloom and despondency, our fervent sighs ascend to Mary, her radiant brow speedily dispels the storm, and restores us to ourselves; for "in all the tempests that assail us here below", says St. Bernard, "it suffices to regard that tutelary Star, and we are saved from shipwreck" (Hom. super Missus).

Let us, then, fervently implore the assistance of Mary; let us entreat her to disperse "the powers of darkness" (Eph.4,12), as the first rays of day drive back the wild beasts to their dens (Ps.103,22); let us beseech her to guide us safely over the stormy sea of this life to the shore of a happy eternity.

Mary takes pleasure in saving the mariner who trusts in her protection; and the grateful mariner takes pleasure in repeating to the winds and waves the praises of "Star of the Sea", and singing, with enthusiasm, the name of the Virgin of Safety, the Virgin of the Watch, the Virgin of Good Aid.

Ah! how much more does the sweet Mary love to sustain, to direct, to save the pious Christian who invokes her amid the storms of the heart, the storms of the mind, the storms of the senses! And we, who have, perhaps very often, been consoled by the cheering rays of that beloved Star, how grateful and how faithful should we be to our celestial benefactress, honouring her by a life pure as the changeless beams of her light!

O Thou, sure refuge of the tempest-tost mariner, Virgin ever helping, shield us from the storms and quicksands of this perilous ocean on which is launched the frail bark that bears our eternity, happy or unhappy. Heavy clouds, surcharged with calamity, may lower above us, but they shall never hide thee from our loving eyes!

"Star ever radiant, ever consoling, ever protecting! following thy mild light, we never go astray; imploring thee, we never lose hope; with thy support, we cannot fail; under thy shield, no more fear; under thy guidance, no more fatigue; under thine auspices, we are sure to gain the wished-for haven (St.Bernard, Hom.2 sup. Missus); and as the sea-star guides the mariner to the port, so dost thou conduct Christians to glory (St. Thomas,op.8)". Deign, then, to work all these wonders, O Mary, on behalf of those who, in calm and in storm, will always say to thee, with tenderest love:

Morning Star, Pray for us.

Stella Matutina, Ora pro nobis

(Abbe Edouard Barthe)