Firstly, He united the Divine to the human nature; and so admirable and sublime is this union, that it infinitely surpasses all that human or angelic intelligence can comprehend. Nor could the Seraphim or Cherubim have ever imagined anything so wonderful. Indeed, two opposite extremes were to meet--the Divine Nature, which is essential perfection, and human nature, the deepest misery: the contraries being the greatest that can be conceived. Nevertheless, God in His Wisdom and infinite Goodness was able to find a method of uniting the two natures so intimately through His Incarnation in the womb of Our Lady that in one Person man was made God and God became Man, without disparagement to His Deity. The second union was that of Maternity with Virginity. This certainly is most admirable and beyond all the laws of nature. A virgin becomes a mother, and remains still a virgin after maternity. This miraculous and supernatural union could only be effected by the omnipotent hand of God, Who granted this privilege to Mary; and as this union has been effected in her alone, so she alone will be eternally both a Virgin and a Mother, and the Mother of a Son Who is both God and Man. The third union accomplished by God in our glorious Lady was that of the most ardent charity with the most profound humility. Reflect on these two virtues, and you will ask how it is possible that charity can be united with humility, if the nature of one is to soar on high, and that of the other to abase itself? Naturally, indeed, it is impossible but God, Who is One, and Who loves and desires unity, manifested the greatness of His power by uniting these two dissimilar virtues in the soul of Mary. In her, charity was so united to humility that one depended on the other, and whilst her charity continues humble, her humility is ever full of charity. Charity raised her soul above all creatures, and humility abased it below them all, and yet the union of these two virtues was continuous. To what a high degree of humility and charity did not the Most Holy Virgin attain at the moment of the Incarnation! Ponder her words to the Archangel: _Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum_-- 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word.' No sooner did she hear herself proclaimed the Mother of God, the Queen of Angels and of men, than she abased herself beneath all, saying: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord!' This is a great act of humility. The Most Holy Virgin in that moment had so clear a knowledge of the misery and nothingness of human nature, and of the infinite distance between God and man, that, seeing herself raised above all creatures, she abased herself beneath them all, considering her own nothingness and the infinite greatness of God Who had chosen her for His Mother. True it is, then, that Mary never humbled herself so profoundly as when she pronounced these words: _Ecce ancilla Domini_--'Behold the handmaid of the Lord!'