174 The Faith of Our Fathers virtues of her soul, brighter than the sun, fairer than the moon, purer than angels, he sees before him, "Our tainted nature's solitary boast," one that alone escaped the taint of Adam's disobedience. As the precious diamond reflects various colors according as it is exposed to the sun's rays, so did the soul of Mary, from the moment that the "Sun of Justice" shone upon her, exhibit every grace that was prompted by the occasion. St. Stephen and the Apostles were also said to be full of the Spirit of God. By this, however, we are not to understand that the same measure of grace was imparted to them which was given to Mary. On each one it is bestowed according to his merits and needs. "One is the glory of the sun, another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars, for star differeth from star in glory;"242 and as Mary's office of Mother of God immeasurably surpassed in dignity that of the proto-martyr and of the Apostles, so did her grace superabound over theirs. "The Lord is with thee. " "He exists in His creatures in different ways; in those that are endowed with reason in one way, in irrational creatures in another. His irrational creatures have no means of apprehending or possessing Him. All rational creatures may indeed apprehend Him by knowledge, but only the good by love. Only in the good does He so exist as to be with them as well as in them; with them by a certain harmony and [176] agreement of will, and in this way God is with all His Saints. But He is with Mary in a yet more special manner, for in her there was so great an agreement and union with God that not her will only, but her very flesh was to be united to him."243 "Blessed art Thou among women. " The same expression is applied to two other women in the Holy Scripture — viz., to Jahel