_Colloquy_ with my Mother as we walk along "the way" together--a colloquy about correspondence to grace, about being never alone in my work, about the blessedness of being chosen by Him, about humility. _Resolution._ To let my Rosary recall some of these thoughts to-day. _Spiritual Bouquet._ "Among the blessed she shall be blessed." (Ecclus. xxiv. 4.) Mary's First Word "_And Mary said to the Angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?_" (St Luke i. 34.) _1st Prelude._ A picture of the Annunciation. _2nd Prelude._ That my love for GOD may be great enough to separate me from all else. _Point I._--MARY'S SILENCE We do not know what Mary was doing when the heavenly visitor arrived with his message. She is generally represented as kneeling in contemplation. She may have been: or she may have been about her work. In any case, she was engaged in prayer, for Mary's heart and mind were ever lifted up to GOD; and that is prayer. And GOD can reveal His secrets just as easily to those who are working as to those who are given up to contemplation. No wonder Mary's attention is arrested, for not only does she see one of GOD'S Archangels, but it is to _her_ that he has come, to _her_ that he is showing such reverence and honour, to _her_ that he is now delivering his message: "Hail! ... full of grace; the Lord is with thee.... Blessed art thou among women." Each sentence of the message seems more wonderful and startling than the last. Mary does not speak, but she is _troubled_, as she thinks within herself what manner of salutation this is. Her intelligence is perfect, and she knows at once what the message means. It means that she, the one woman who has cut herself off from every prospect of being the Mother of the Messias; that she, who has felt herself so utterly unworthy that legend tells us she used to pray that she might be His Mother's _servant_; that _she_ has been singled out by GOD as the one who was to be blessed among women. And she is _troubled_. It is not the presence of the Angel nor the dignity of his message which is disquieting her--her trouble goes deeper; but still she does not speak--she waits in silence for GOD to explain Himself or to direct her. How much wiser in _most_ cases it would be for me, if I kept silence, for a time at any rate, when I am face to face with trouble, or difficulty, or perplexity. Of one thing I may be sure--that the trouble is a message from GOD, and if I wait patiently, He will reveal more to me, and throw light upon what seems so obscure. Nothing is gained by making complaints, and losing my calm and self-possession. Much is gained by silence; for silence to man, at such times, generally means converse with GOD, and to obtain this more intimate union with my heart is one of His chief reasons for sending me His messages.