How far do I copy my Mother in this? Are my affections set on things above, where JESUS and Mary are? Have things of earth no attraction for me in comparison with heavenly things? Am I ready to give them up to Him to Whom they belong when He asks for them? Is my whole heart in Heaven because my treasure is there? This is what is meant by going up from the desert. It means striving always after what is more perfect. It means that each day finds me _more_ charitable, _more_ faithful, _more_ careful about occasions of sin, _more_ like my Mother. And it means also _Sursum corda_ (Lift up your hearts) whenever the difficulties and sorrows of the desert seem too much. _Colloquy_ with Mary. _Resolution._ To ask myself the question often to-day: "Who is she?" _Spiritual Bouquet._ "Pulchra es et decora filia Jerusalem, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata." (Thou art fair and comely, O Daughter of Jerusalem, terrible as an army set in array.) Mary's Coronation (The Fifth Glorious Mystery) "_Thou wast made exceeding beautiful and wast advanced to be a Queen._" (Ezech. xvi. 13.) _1st Prelude._ The great sign which appeared in Heaven: "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." (Apoc. xii. 1.) _2nd Prelude._ The grace so to live and die, that I may one day be crowned. _Point I._--MARY'S CORONATION _Specie tua et pulchritudine tua, intende, prospere procede, et regna._ (In thy comeliness and thy beauty go forth, proceed prosperously, and reign.) The culminating point is reached, and Mary is led in triumph to receive her crown from the Blessed Trinity. GOD the Father crowns her as a _Victor_; GOD the Son as a _Queen_; and GOD the Holy Ghost as a _Bride_. We give our crowns on earth to victors, to queens and to brides. Mary was all of these for she had conquered the devil; she was the King's Mother, and she was the spouse of the Holy Ghost. 1. She was crowned as a _Victor_, as a sign of her courage and bravery. GOD the Father had seen the world, which He had created and had pronounced to be "very good," spoiled by sin. The Arch-fiend had entered Paradise, and had stolen away the hearts of His children, robbing them of His grace, and leaving them and all their descendants stained by sin. To Satan GOD had spoken of a woman whose Child would be his enemy; and of her He said: "She shall bruise thy head." Now the old prophecy has been fulfilled, and Mary stands before Him waiting for her crown. She has crushed the serpent; she has been terrible to all GOD'S enemies; and the crown that the Eternal Father places on the head of His daughter is a token that she is indeed a Victor. How did Mary win the Victor's crown? By her fidelity to grace. No one ever had so many occasions of grace, and she did not miss one of them.