supernatural order

THERE is a phenomenon in the natural order which illustrates a great principle of the supernatural order: It is the structure and the growth of crystals. Each crystalline substance has its own characteristic shape; wherever complete crystals occur, not only the whole crystal, but also each unit of it, has that particular shape. If a crystal be suspended in a suitable solution of the substance of which it is composed—the “mother liquor” as it is called—that crystal will grow by drawing to itself material from the solution, forming it to its own image and likeness, and then uniting it to itself, yet so that the new and greater unity is an exact replica of the original nucleus and of each of the component units. 

So it is with Christ. Lifted up on the cross, He draws all things to Himself;

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If Christ be the crystal, Mary is the mother liquor, at least insofar as all comes to us through her, and through her we all go to Christ. There is no more certain or more easy way of being united to Christ than by 

“dissolving” ourselves in Mary. But we must remember that all her power of “dissolving” us is due to her intimate union with Christ. Yet, the chemist who remembers the part played by the solvent in promoting chemical action and union between two substances, cannot help being reminded of Mary’s part in the process of uniting men with God. And the illustration of 

“solution” is even more obviously applicable to our entering into union with God.