The Three Mirrors

There is no real beauty without virtue.

A young girl, writing home, asked her mother to send her a mirror.

Her mother, a sensible and Christian lady, answered in a letter:

“I am sending you a parcel by post in which are three mirrors.

The first will show you to yourself as you are;

The second will show you what you will be;

The third will show you what you ought to be.”

When the box arrived, the girl opened it filled with curiosity...

The first thing she took out was an ordinary mirror;

Then there was one with the representation of a skull;

Below both of these was a beautiful image of Our Lady.

Thus the pious mother sought to impress upon her daughter’s mind that personal beauty is transitory and is effaced by the hand of death.

For this reason a maiden ought to imitate the virtues of the Mother of God, since this alone will attain true loveliness, a beauty which does not pass away with this mortal life, the beauty of the soul, which lasts eternally.

Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, says Holy Writ, for “the beauty of the King’s daughter is from within.” (Psalm 45:13)

Adapted from Father Francis Spirago’s Anecdotes and Examples Illustrating the Catholic Catechism (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1904), p. 10.