Saturday, January 30, 2010

Mary, the Mirror of Justice


The various symbolic meanings of the mirror highlight:

1.-Purity of the soul

2.-Self-knowledge and moral integrity

3.-ability to reflect reality


Mary's soul is holy and pure. She reflects the Sun of Justice, meaning God's perfection and holiness. She is the mirror without blemish of God's majesty. (Wisdom 7:6) The Sun of Justice is reflected on the image of the Madonna and the Child. The angel with balance and sword, usually a symbol of justice, signifies God's perfection. There is a second and oval mirror whose surface is tainted and marred. In it three shadowy silhouettes can be barely perceived, featuring Adam or sinful humanity between Good and Evil, that is Satan, beckoning and tempting, and the guardian angel watching over his protege. This mirror does not reflect light and perfection, but darkness and sin, or at least the blurred and human vision of God and eternity.


Thus St. Paul reminds us that "at present we see indistinctly as in a mirror, but then face to face." (1 Corinthians 13:12) Under the image is a Latin inscription in which Saint Paul said to the Corinthians, in Latin, "Videmus nunc per ipeculum."


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