All the Saints die in the habit of holy Love; but some amongst them die in the exercise of this Divine love; others, on account of it, as the Martyrs; and others, by its power. But the most sublime degree of holy love is to die of love itself; and this occurs when the soul is so inflamed by charity that it can no longer be detained by the bonds of the flesh. If it be true that such as is _the life of a man such will be his death_, what else can have been the death of the Most Holy Virgin but the death of love? This is certain; because she who is called in the language of Sacred Scripture, the _Mother of fair Love_ could only die the death of love. We read not of ecstasies and raptures in the life of Our Lady, and for this reason, that they were continual. She loved God with so tender, so strong, and so ardent a love, at the same time so tranquilly, and with so much peace, that although her love went on increasing, the increase was not impetuous, but she continually, and almost imperceptibly, hastened towards this so greatly desired union of her soul with God, like a river that calmly flows to the ocean. The hour having then arrived when the Most Holy Virgin was to leave the earth, Divine Love separated her soul from her body, and incomparably pure as it was, it flew directly to heaven. Ah! what obstacle could detain her whom the Celestial Spouse calls 'His beloved, all fair and without spot'? Our imperfections and the stains of our sins are the only obstacle to our entrance into heaven at the moment of our death; and it is these that are the origin of the flames of Purgatory. The Saints are ever burning with the fire of Divine love; and by their exemplary lives spread a continual odour of sanctity in the presence of men and of God. This odour is incomparably increased at their death; hence the Prophet says: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the Saints.' If, then, the Saints are odoriferous and burning lamps, what shall we say of the Most Holy Virgin, whose perfection immeasurably surpassed that of all the Saints united together? If in life she was a Burning Lamp, fed with the perfumed oil of every virtue, what a fragrance must she have exhaled at the hour of her death! So great was this fragrance that young virgins, as we read in the Canticles, were attracted by it: 'We will run after thee to the odour of thy perfumes,' 'the young maidens have loved thee.' SPIRITUAL FLOWERS. The soul of Mary was released from her body as naturally as fragrance sent from a flower and as the ripe fruit falls from the tree.--_St. Francis of Sales._ As the palm conceals its flower until the heat of the sun causes it to expand, so the just soul conceals the flowers of its virtue by humility, until Our Lord, by calling her to Paradise, gives the highest degree of perfection to her love.--_The same._ The thought of death is not sad for a soul who loves God, because it is the beginning of her eternal happiness.--_St. John of the Cross._