While commenting on the text: “Feed my goats”, an ancient interpreter of the Song of Songs has no difficulty in applying it to Mary with regard to sinners.
They, indeed, are the he-goats, he says; and very correctly they are called the goats of Mary. No, certainly not because She would like them as they are in their present condition, to be placed on the left side of the Judge. They are goats of Mary because She adopts them in order to ensure for them a place on His right by transforming them into faithful sheep. […]
Of course, a lamb is preferable to a goat. So also, nothing is worth the straightforwardness of an innocent soul. Happy are they who like spotless lambs are worthy of being fondled by the Virgin of the virgins, aptly called the Divine Shepherdess. This truth remains a great consolation for sinners. They admit that their crimes have merited for them a place like the accursed goats, to the left of the Judge. And yet it depends on them alone to approach Mary with confidence, and become “her goats”, soon to be changed into lambs. […]
However weak we are, however desperate the state of our soul, Mary will adopt us as her patients if we wish it. And inasmuch as no spiritual infirmity here on earth is incurable, because none can resist the treatment of the all-powerful Mother of God, She will heal us. Her glory, like that of an expert doctor, will shine in proportion to the seriousness of the evil She has to cure.
Then, after being healed and snatched from death, this loving Mother will love us and watch over us, all through the weakness and dangers of a life-long convalescence, like a doctor who checks on his patients after their cure. We will now have a special right to her motherly protection. ◊
TISSOT, Fr. Joseph. “How to Profit
from Your Faults”. 6.ed. Strongsville, OH:
Scepter, 2014, p.130-131
In the featured photo: The Divine Shepherdess, by Miguel Cabrera – National Art Museum, Mexico City
