Respice Stellam!
Look to the Star!
Each year, on the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, we at the monastery return to the inexhaustible homily of Saint Bernard, Respice Stellam. God Himself draws us to Mary, for He wants us to receive all things through her and to be drawn to Him through her. God draws us to Mary so that she can draw us to God. To do this, He operates through one means or another: through the mediation of the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, or of the Sacraments given to His Church, or through the Angels, through the Saints in heaven, or through important events in our life. All of these are like so many voices saying: Look to the Star, call upon Mary!
God never leaves a soul in total obscurity. Even in the darkest night of faith there remains above us in the firmament the glimmer of the mariner’s faithful guiding star, the light of Mary, the Stella Maris (Star of the Sea). Thus does Saint Bernard write:
It is said: And the virgin’s name was Mary. Let us speak a few words upon this name, which signifieth, being interpreted, Star of the Sea, and suiteth very well the Maiden Mother, who may very meetly be likened unto a star.
A star giveth forth her rays without any harm to herself, and the Virgin brought forth her Son without any hurt to her virginity. The light of a star taketh nothing away from the star itself, and the birth of her offspring took nothing away from the Virginity of Mary. She is that noble star which was to come out of Jacob, whose brightness still sheddeth lustre upon all the earth, whose rays are most brilliant in heaven, and shine even unto hell, lighting up earth midway, and warming souls rather than bodies, fostering good and scaring away evil. She, I say, is a clear and shining star, twinkling with excellencies, and resplendent with example, needfully set to look down upon the surface of this great and wide sea.
Thou, whosoever thou be, that seest thyself amidst the tides of the world, tossed by storms and tempests rather than walking on the land, turn not thy eyes away from this shining star, unless thou dost wish to be overwhelmed by the hurricane.
If temptation storms, or thou fallest upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star: Call upon Mary! If thou art tossed by the waves of pride or ambition, detraction or envy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If anger or avarice or the desires of the flesh dash against the ship of thy soul, turn thine eyes to Mary. If troubled by the enormity of thy crimes, ashamed of thy guilty conscience, terrified by dread of the judgment, thou dost begin to sink into the gulf of sadness or the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary.
Let her name be ever on thy lips, ever in thy heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life: Following her, thou strayest not; invoking her, thou despairest not; thinking of her, thou wanderest not; upheld by her, thou fallest not; shielded by her, thou fearest not; guided by her, thou growest not weary; favored by her, thou reachest the goal. And thus dost thou experience in thyself how good is that saying: ‘And the Virgin’s name was Mary.’ – St Bernard of Clairvaux, Ex Homil. 2 super Missus est, circa finem.