[B.] St. IGNATIUS of LOYOLA Presentation: The ... - St. Gaspar Bertoni

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[3] It is simply a very noble reality that the Redeemer of the
World should have visited His own Mother before coming to anyone else, and before anyone else
would have been able to rejoice in His Resurrection. And even though this maternal appreciation
was hidden from the Evangelists, with all firm piety it is believed and held for certain in the entire
universal Church, according to Ludolf.
[4] There is nothing unusual about the fact that not one of
the Evangelists has written anything about this appearance to Mary, because as St. John himself
has stated, not everything about the life of the most holy Redeemer has been recorded. However,
we can say that this most holy appearance would have taken place because his whole purpose
in writing the 4th gospel was to note the witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection. It would simply not
have been fitting to draw the Mother into this with other witnesses, simply to prove the glory of
her Son. He left this appearance in the realm of the mystery in which it occurred. Nothing is
present in the Scriptures that is without purpose. And there would be no need to mention this
appearance which would have been evident in itself. He simply appeared to His Mother as her
Risen Son, to bring joy to her heart through the vision of this Encounter.
b.] Because of his references to her, St. Ignatius places this first of
all in his presentation of the Resurrected Christ. It stands to reason that for the Jesuit Founder
this appearance would have been of primordial importance. He made use of none of the
apocryphal sources, but simply placed this appearance to Mary as something self-evident,
necessary and fundamental of all that will follow.
c.] Regarding the space accorded to this appearance of the Risen
Son to His Blessed other, there are two observations to be made:
- in the first place, the appearance to Mary occupies and recurs in the Ignatian text as
ending that ‘Paschal Hiatus’ [between the Burial and His Appearance], up until that moment in
which the divinity of her Risen Son would appear to her as the principle of all life;
- secondly, this appearance is included in the Preamble of the Fourth Week and becomes
its fundamental hinge. This logically is the point that will lead to the structuring of the rest of the
contemplations which will take place as the Fourth week progresses.
[1] It needs to be noted that the “Paschal Hiatus” evident in
Ignatius’ works depends upon this. in the SE # 208, St. Ignatius describes the “Sixth Day” of the
Passion: At midnight, from the taking down from the cross to the burial exclusive [SE # 298], and
in the morning of the burial inclusive to the house to which our Lady retired after the burial of her
Son.
[2] Throughout Holy Saturday, Our Lady spent this in
solitude. The “Composition of Place” as part of the Ignatian spirit of prayer offers for the
contemplation of the Resurrection an imagination of the disposition of the sepulcher, and the
house of the Blessed Virgin. When the Blessed Mother returned to the sepulcher and there
Christ appeared to her.
[3] In the presence of the Sorrowful Mother, the Sacred
Body was taken down off the Cross and placed in the monument. Then, Mary went home. Mary’s
suffering is also that of the disciples of all times.
d.] Throughout Tradition Mary is more than merely her physical
person. She possesses a unique theological charge as Mother of Jesus. She fulfills a role in the
History of Salvation which opened itself up more and more for St. Ignatius.
[1] In the Spiritual Exercises, as well as in his life, Mary
seems to appear in the crucial moments of his spiritual experiences: