The Glories of Mary Excerpts
Explanation of Salve Regina
by St Alphonsus Liguori
Contents:
Introduction
1. Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy
2. Our Life, Our Sweetness
3. And Our Hope
4. To Thee Do We Cry, Poor Banished Children of Eve
5. To Thee Do We Send Up Our Sighs, Mourning and Weeping in this Valley of Tears
6. Turn, then, Most Gracious Advocate
7. Thine Eyes of Mercy Toward Us
8. And After this Our Exile Show Unto Us the Blessed Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus
9. O Clement, O Loving
10. O Sweet Virgin Mary
Introduction
St. Alphonsus wrote The Glories of Mary as a defense of our Lady’s sublime position in traditional Catholic devotion. Certain writers of his time, tainted with Jansenism, were busy ridiculing devotion to Mary, singling out the Hail Holy Queen [Salve Regina] for particular criticism.
St. Alphonsus’ admirable handling of their false scandal over common Catholic practice was simple enough, but overwhelming in its effect. He quoted Saints, Doctors, popes, theologians, Sacred Scripture, the Liturgy, the mind of the Church, the whole vast treasury of Catholic tradition and said, equivalently, “Here is your answer.”
St. Alphonsus did not argue, except now and then. Where was the need for argument? His tone was quiet but devastating, full of the calm assurance which comes from reliance on unimpeachable authority. He was tender, at times rapturous, particularly when directly addressing our Blessed Lady in his beautiful prayers. He wrote with the mind of a genius and the heart of a child, a great theologian who was also a Saint.
No one will ever know the extent of his influence over those millions of genuinely Catholic spirits who want to be devoted to our Lady.
The original Glories of Mary is in two parts —– the Saint’s celebrated commentary on the Hail Holy Queen, and his discourses on our Lady’s principal feasts and special virtues, along with certain Marian devotions and practices. It is only the commentary on the Hail Holy Queen which appears in this presentation.
In Chapter 5 you will find the Saint suddenly interrupting his argument of defense of our Lady’s greatness with these gallant and courageous words:
“I may be allowed to make a short digression and give my own sentiment here. I would say that when an opinion tends in any way to the honor of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when it has some foundation and is not repugnant to the Faith, nor to the decrees of the Church, nor to truth, to refuse to hold it, or to oppose it because the reverse may be true, shows little devotion to the Mother of God.
“I do not choose to be counted in that company, nor do I wish my reader to be. I wish rather to be in the company of those who fully and firmly believe all that can without error be believed of the greatness of Mary.
“If there were nothing else to take away our fear of going too far in the praises of Mary, St. Augustine’s opinion would be enough. He declares that anything we may say in praise of Mary is little in comparison with what she deserves, because of her dignity as Mother of God.”
This admirably sums up the attitude of the great-hearted champion of our Lady, in an age which was casting scorn on centuries of instinctively Catholic devotion.
The impression that devout readers take away with them when they have read any part of the Saint’s commentary is wonder and awe at the realization of Mary’s power. But the Saint, masterful theologian and Doctor of the Church, is careful to place that power in its proper context.
It is God’s own goodness and mercy which come to us through Mary’s intercession. She is the means —– to Jesus and from Jesus —– by God’s Own arrangement.
Chapter 1. Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy
1.Our Confidence in Mary Should Be Great, Because She Is a Queen
The glorious Virgin was raised to the dignity of Mother of the King of Kings. Accordingly the Church honors her with the radiant title of Queen and asks us to do the same.
St. Athanasius says: “If the Son is a King, then the Mother who bore Him should be looked upon as a queen and sovereign.”
St. Bernardine of Siena adds: “No sooner had Mary consented to be Mother of the Eternal Word than she merited by His consent to have dominion over the whole world and over every creature.”
St. Arnold the Abbot declares further: “Since the flesh of Mary was no different from that of Jesus, how can we deny to the Mother the same royal dignity we find in the Son? . . . So I would consider the glory of the Son not as something shared with His Mother, but as her glory too.”
If Jesus is the King of the universe, then Mary is its Queen. And as Queen, she possesses by right the whole Kingdom of her Son. 1
St. Bernardine of Siena argues this way: There are just as many creatures serving Mary as there are serving God. For since Angels and human beings, all things in Heaven and earth, are under God’s dominion, so they are at the same time under Mary’s dominion.
The Abbot Guerricus turns to the Mother of God and exclaims: “O Mary, dispose with confidence of your Son’s riches! Go on acting boldly as Queen, Mother, and Spouse of the King, for you have dominion and power over all creation!”
So Mary is a Queen. And, for our consolation, we ought to remember that she is a most tender and kind Queen, eager to help us in our miseries. So much so that the Church wants us to call her in this prayer a Queen of Mercy. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy!
The title of queen implies compassion and charity for the poor. The title of empress implies severity and rigor. 2
So the greatness of kings and queens consists in relieving the wretched. 3
Tyrants have their own good in view. Kings should have their subjects’ good in view. That is why kings, when they are consecrated, have their hands anointed with oil — since oil is the symbol of mercy.
Kings then should spend themselves chiefly in works of mercy. However, they should never neglect punishing the guilty.
But it’s not that way with Mary. She is a Queen, but not the Queen of Justice, punishing the guilty. She is the Queen of Mercy, full of compassion and pardon for sinners. This is why the Church makes us call her expressly “the Queen of Mercy .”
John Gerson, Grand Chancellor of Paris, observes that the Kingdom of God, which is based on justice and mercy, was divided by our Lord. He kept the Kingdom of justice for Himself and gave the Kingdom of mercy to Mary. At the same time, He arranged that all mercies dispensed to human beings should pass through her hands and be disposed just as she pleases.
St. Thomas Aquinas confirms this. He says: “When the Blessed Virgin conceived the Eternal Word in her womb and gave Him birth, she obtained half the Kingdom of God. She became Queen of Mercy and her Son remained King of Justice.”
Is it likely that God will refuse her anything? Is there anyone who has never heard of the power of Mary’s prayers? The law of clemency is on her tongue (Prv. 31:26). Every prayer of hers is like an
established law for our Lord, obliging Him to be merciful to everyone for whom she intercedes.
St. Bernard asks why the Church calls Mary the Queen of Mercy. And his answer is: “Because we believe that she throws open the abyss of God’s mercies to anyone she pleases, when she pleases, and as she pleases. Hence, there are no sinners who will be lost — no matter how great their crimes — when this most holy Lady intercedes for them.”
But maybe you fear that Mary simply will not intercede for certain sinners because their crimes are so terrible. Or maybe we ought to feel awe before a Queen so holy and exalted!
This is not the case at all, says St. Gregory the Great. The holier she is, the greater is Mary’s compassion for sinners who come to her with the determination to do better.
Kings and queens, because they are invested with majesty, do inspire awe and make their people fear to come near them. But how can any poor sinner fear to approach this Queen of Mercy? She inspires no terror, shows no severity to anyone, but is so tender and gentle! 4
The Roman historian Suetonius relates of the Emperor Titus that he could never refuse a favor, and sometimes even promised more than he was asked. When someone blamed him for this, he said that no ruler should ever send anyone away unsatisfied when he had admitted that person to audience.
Of course, Titus must often have made promises he did not really intend to keep, or at any rate found it impossible to keep.
But our Queen can never make false promises, and certainly she has the power to obtain for her clients anything she wants. Then St. Bernard asks: “Who are the most logical candidates for mercy if not the miserable? And since you are the Queen of sinners, it follows that I am the first of your subjects. So how can you help showing me mercy, O Lady?”
Have pity on us then, Queen of Mercy, and remember our salvation.
Accordingly St. Gregory of Nicomedia exclaims: “O Blessed Virgin, never say that, because our sins are too numerous, you cannot help us. No matter how numerous they are, they can never outweigh your power and your compassion.
“Nothing resists your power. For God the Father looks upon your glory as if it were His own. And God the Son, taking delight in glorifying you, grants your every petition as if He were paying a debt.”
Mary is under an infinite obligation to the Son because He chose her to be His Mother. At the same time, it must also be allowed that the Son is under great obligation to her because she gave Him His humanity.
Hence, Jesus, to pay (so to speak) what He owes to Mary, and glorying in her glory, honors her in a special manner. He listens to all her requests and grants them.
Our Blessed Lady once said to St. Bridget in a revelation: “I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy. I am the joy of the just and the door through which sinners come to God.
“There are no sinners on earth so unfortunate as to be beyond my mercy. For even if they receive nothing else through my intercession, at least they receive the grace of being less tempted by the devils than they would otherwise be.
“Unless the last irrevocable sentence (of damnation) has been pronounced against them, there are no persons so abandoned by God that they will not return to Him and find mercy, if they invoke my aid. I am called by all the Mother of Mercy. It is my Son’s mercy toward human beings that has made me merciful too.
“I am compassionate toward all and eager to help sinners. Those who have it in their power here on earth to invoke me and yet refuse to do so are foolish. In failing to call upon me, they incur damnation and will be miserable for all eternity.”
Always turn to this most tender Queen and you will certainly be saved. Are you alarmed and discouraged at the thought of your sins? Remember that Mary was made Queen of Mercy to save the most abandoned sinners who recommend themselves to her.
These will be her crown in Heaven, according to the words which her Divine Spouse addresses to her: Come from Lebanon, My Bride, come from Lebanon, come! You shall be crowned . . . from the dens of lions, from the mountains of the leopards (Song. 4:8).
“From the dens of lions:” what does that mean but poor sinners who have made of their souls a lair for sin? For sin is, after all, the most hideous of monsters.
2. Our Confidence Should Be Still Greater, Because She Is Our Mother
WHEN Mary’s clients call her Mother , they are not using empty words, or just speaking at random. In fact, they seem incapable of using any other name and never tire of calling her Mother.
She is our Mother — not by the flesh, of course, but spiritually; the Mother of our souls, of our salvation.
Whenever sin strips the soul of Divine grace, it deprives it of life. Our Blessed Redeemer, out of an excess of mercy and love, came among us to win back this life by His own Death on the Cross. I have come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly (Jn. 10: 10).
He says “more abundantly,” for theologians tell us that the benefit of the Redemption far exceeded the injury done by Adam’s sin. Thus, by reconciling us with God, He made Himself the Father of our souls in the new law of grace.
But if Jesus is the Father, Mary is the Mother of our souls. She gave us Jesus and, with that gift, gave us supernatural life. Later, when she offered the life of her Son on Calvary for our redemption, she gave us birth in the life of grace.
On two occasions, then, according to the Fathers of the Church, Mary became our spiritual Mother .
The first is mentioned by St. Albert the Great. It occurred when Mary merited to conceive the Son of God in her virginal womb.
St. Bernardine of Siena says the same thing even more distinctly. At the time of the Annunciation, our Blessed Lady gave the consent which the Eternal Word was waiting for before He would become her Son. At the same time, she asked with all her heart [and obtained] the salvation of all the elect.
Along with her consent, Mary gave herself so completely to the matter of the salvation of all human beings that there and then she began to carry us all in her womb. And she did so with far greater love than any other mother could ever feel for the child within her.
In the second chapter of St. Luke, the Evangelist tells us that Mary “brought forth her first-born Son.” Must we suppose that she had other children afterward? No, because it is an article of Faith that Mary had no other child than Jesus. But she did have other children — spiritual ones; and we are those children.
Our Lord said this very thing to St. Gertrude one day when she was reading the text from St. Luke and was puzzled by it. God explained it to her. Jesus was Mary’s first-born according to the flesh, but all humankind was her second-born according to the spirit.
The second occasion when Mary became our spiritual Mother was on Calvary. Here she offered to the Eternal Father — with such bitter sorrow and suffering — the life of her beloved Son.
In that hour, declares St. Augustine, she cooperated through her love in the supernatural birth of the faithful. She became the spiritual Mother of all who are members of the one Head, Christ Jesus.
Mary exposed her own soul to death to save many other souls. 5
That is to say, to save us she sacrificed the life of her Son — because Jesus was the soul of Mary; He was her life and her love.
Simeon prophesied that a sword of sorrow would one day pierce her own most blessed soul. And this was precisely the lance which pierced the side of Jesus, Who was her very soul.
It was then that this most Blessed Virgin brought us forth to eternal life by her own sorrows. We can call ourselves the children of the sorrows of Mary. Our most loving Mother was always, and in all things, united to the vvill of God.
Listen to St. Bonaventure: “Mary saw that the love of the Eternal Father for human beings was so great that lie willed the Death of His Son to save them. She also saw that the Divine Son loved human beings so much that He freely submitted to this Death.
“Therefore, she joined her own heart to this excessive love of Father and Son for the human race. With all her vvill she offered, and submitted to, the Death of her Son for our salvation.”
True, Jesus chose to be alone in dying for the redemption of human beings, as Isaiah foretold: “The wine press I have trodden alone” (Is. 63:3). But when He saw Mary’s burning desire to help in human redemption, He so arranged matters that she should cooperate in our redemption by the offering and sacrifice of her Son’s life, and in this way become the Mother of our souls.
Our Lord manifested this intention when He looked down from the Cross at His Mother and St. John and said to Mary: “There is your son” (Jn. 19:26). This amounted to saying: “There is the whole human race, which right now is being born to the life of grace because you are offering My life for the salvation of all.”
Then He turned toward the disciple with the words: “There is your mother” (Jn. 19:27). With those words (says St. Bernardine of Siena) Mary became the Mother of all human beings, and not only of St. John, because she loved all of them so much.
How fortunate is everyone who lives under the protection of a Mother so loving and so powerful! David the prophet sought salvation from God by calling himself a son of Mary, even though she was not yet born: “Save the son of Your handmaid” (Ps. 86:16).
“Of what handmaid?” asks St. Augustine. “Of her who said: ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’ (Lk. 1:26).”
How good it is for us to be in the keeping of such a Mother! Who would dare to snatch us from her bosom? What temptation or tribulation can master us, when we trust in the patronage of one who is God’s Mother and ours? 6
Mother most loving! O most compassionate Mother! Thanks to you forever! And may God too be thanked, Who gave you to us for a Mother and a perfect refuge in all the dangers of this life!
Be of good heart, then, all you children of Mary. Remember that she accepts all those who want to be her children. Why be afraid of losing your soul, when such a Mother defends and protects you?
“I will rejoice,” says St. Bernard, “for whatever judgment is pronounced on me, it depends on, and must come from, my Brother and my Mother.”
The same feeling makes St. Anselm cry out with joy: “O happy confidence! O perfect refuge! The Mother of God is my Mother. What firm trust we should have, then, since our salvation depends on the judgment of a good Brother and a tender Mother!”
So it is our Mother who calls us in these words of Sacred Scripture: “Let whoever is simple come to me” (Prv. 9:4). Children always have their mother’s name on their lips, and when they are frightened, or in danger, they cry out immediately, Mother! Mother!
O most tender Mary, most loving Mother! This is just what you desire. You want us to become children and call out to you in every danger. For you long to help and save us, as you have saved all your children who had recourse to you.
Our Blessed Lady herself in a vision addressed these words to St. Bridget” As a mother, on seeing her son in the midst of the swords of his enemies, would use every effort to save him, so do I, and will do for all sinners who seek my mercy.” Thus it is that in every engagement with the infernal powers, we shall always certainly conquer by having recourse to the Mother of God, who is also our Mother, saying and repeating again and again:” We fly to thy patronage, O Holy Mother of God.”
Prayer to the Most Holy Mother
O most Holy Mother Mary, how is it possible that I, having so holy a mother, should be so wicked? A mother all burning with the love of God, and I loving creatures; a mother so rich in virtue, and I so poor? Ah, amiable Mother, it is true that I do not deserve any longer to be thy son, for by my wicked life I have rendered myself unworthy of so great an honor. I am satisfied that thou shouldst accept me for thy servant; and in order to be admitted amongst the vilest of them, I am ready to renounce all the kingdoms of the world. Yes I am satisfied. But still thou must not forbid me to call thee mother. This name consoles and fills me with tenderness, and reminds me of my obligation to love thee. This name excites me to great confidence in thee. When my sins and the Divine justice fill me most with consternation, I am all-consoled at the thought that thou art my mother. Allow me then, to call thee mother, my most amiable mother. Thus do I call thee and thus will I always call thee. Thou, after God, must be my hope, my refuge, my love in this valley of tears. Thus do i hope to die, breathing forth my soul into thy holy hands and sating, my Mother, my Mother Mary, help me, have pity on me! Amen.
3. This Mother’s Great Love for Us
Now, since Mary is our Mother, it might be well to see how great her love for us really is. The love of parents for their children is a natural and instinctive impulse. St. Thomas says that this is why God makes it one of His commandments for children to love their parents, but gives no express command for parents to love their children.
Nature itself has fixed this instinct in all creatures so strongly that, as St. Ambrose remarks, “a mother will expose herself to danger for her children — and even the most savage beasts cannot help loving their young.”
It is said that tigers, when their cubs are captured and they hear their cries, will plunge into the sea and swim out to the boat where they are. If the very tigers, says our loving Mother, cannot forget their young, will I forget to love you, my children?
And even if it were possible for a mother to forget to love her child, I can never neglect to love a soul that has become my child. Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you (Is 49:15).
Mary is our Mother — not by the flesh, as we remarked before, but by love. “I am the mother of fair love” (Sir. 24:24 — Vulgate). That is, she is our Mother by love alone. So someone observes that she glories in being the mother of love. She is all love for us, her adopted children.7
The first reason for Mary’s great love for human beings is that she loves God so much. Love for God and love for neighbor come under the same commandment, as St. John expresses it: “The commandment we have from Him is this: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 Jn. 4:21). Hence, the one increases along with the other.
Think of what the Saints have done for their neighbor because they loved God. But what Saint’s love for God can match Mary’s? She loved Him more in the first moment of her existence than all the Saints and angels ever loved Him or will love Him.
Our Lady herself revealed to Sister Mary Crocifissa that the fire of her love was most extreme. If Heaven and earth were placed in it, they would be instantly consumed. And the ardors of the seraphim, compared with it, are like cool breezes. Just as there is not one among all the Blessed who loves God as Mary does, so there is no one, after God, who loves us as much as this most loving Mother does. Furthermore, if we heaped together all the love that mothers have for their children, all the love of husbands and wives, all the love of all the angels and Saints for their clients, it could never equal Mary’s love for even a single soul.
Father Nieremberg says that the love all mothers have ever experienced for their children is but a shadow alongside the love Mary has for each one of us. She loves us more than all the angels and Saints together.
Our Mother’s love for us is as great as it is for the simple reason that her beloved Jesus commended us to her when He said to her before He died: “Woman, there is your son” (Jn. 19:25). These were His last words to her; and we always treasure the last recommendations of loved ones at the point of death — we never forget them.
But over and above that, we are exceedingly dear to Mary because we cost her such untold suffering. Normally a mother feels a very special love for a child whose life has been spared only at the price of great suffering and anguish on her part.
We are such children — because Mary , to obtain the life of grace for us, had to endure a most bitter agony. She offered her beloved Jesus to an ignominious Death, and watched Him die before her eyes in cruel and unexampled torments.
Thus, as it is written of the Eternal Father, that God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son (Jn. 3: 16), so also we can say of Mary , that she so loved the world as to give her only-begotten Son. 8
And when did she give Him? When she gave Him permission to deliver Himself to death. She gave Him to us when she might have pleaded with the judges for His life.
It is perfectly conceivable that the words of so wise and loving a Mother would have had great weight, at least with Pilate, who knew Jesus to be innocent anyhow, and had declared as much. But Mary forbore to say one word in favor of her Son, lest she prevent that Death on which our salvation depended.
Again, she gave Him to us over and over during the three hours of His agony. She stood at the foot of His Cross, unceasingly, and sorrowfully, and lovingly offering His life for our benefit.
She did this with such constancy that, if there had been no executioners, she herself would have crucified Him, to fulfill the wish of His Eternal Father. 9
Surely, if Abraham had enough courage to be ready to sacrifice his son with his own hand, then Mary (far holier than Abraham, and more obedient) would have sacrificed her Son with even greater resolution.
This suggests another motive for Mary’s love for us. She sees in us something which was purchased by the Death of Jesus Christ.
Suppose a mother knew that her son had ransomed a servant at the cost of twenty years of hard labor and imprisonment. Imagine the regard she would have for that servant on this account alone.
Mary knows only too well that her Son came into the world simply to save poor sinners, as He Himself protested: “The Son of Man has come to search and to save what was lost” (Lk. 19: 10). And to save us He went the length of laying down His life.
If Mary loved us only a little, she would be showing small respect for the blood of her Son, which was the price of our salvation.
Mary is incredibly good to all, even to the ungrateful and indifferent who love her but little and rarely turn to her. Hence, think of the love she must have for those who love her generously and often call upon her!
She “is readily perceived by those who love her and found by those who seek her” (Wis. 6: 13). Though she loves all human beings as her children, she has a special love for those who love her with particular tenderness.
Blessed Raymond Jordano asserts that those who find the most Blessed Virgin Mary find all. She does more than merely love those who love her — she serves those who serve her.
Sister Domenica del Paradiso, whose life was written by the Dominican Father Ignatius del Niente, was born of poor parents in a village near Florence. From early childhood she began to serve the Mother of God.
She fasted every day in her honor, and on Saturdays gave away her own food to the poor. Every Saturday she gathered all the flowers she could find in the garden and the fields round about, and brought them home to an image of our Lady with the Child in her arms.
How did this most gracious Lady respond to the devotion of her little servant? One day, when Domenica was ten years old, she was standing at the window and saw in the street a noble-looking lady, accompanied by a little child. They were holding out their hands and begging.
Domenica went to get some bread, but suddenly, though the door had not opened, they were standing by her side. She noticed wounds in the child’s side and in his hands and feet. She asked the lady who had wounded him. The mother answered: “Love.”
Domenica, thrilled by the child’s beauty and modesty, asked him if the wounds pained him. His only answer was a smile. They were standing by a statue of Jesus and Mary, and the lady said to Domenica: “Tell me, little one, what makes you bring flowers to those images?” She answered: “My love for Jesus and Mary.”
“How much do you love them?” “As much as I can.” “How much is that?” ” As much as they help me to love them.” “Keep loving them,” said the lady; “they will more than repay your love in Heaven.”
The little girl then perceived a wonderful fragrance coming from the wounds and asked the mother what ointment she had used for them and where she could buy it. The lady replied: “You buy it with faith and good works.”
Then Domenica offered them the bread. “Love is my son’s food,” said the mother . “Tell him you love Jesus and that will satisfy him.” At the word “love” the child seemed filled with joy and asked the little girl how much she loved Jesus.
She loved him so much, she answered, that she was thinking of Him night and day and wanted nothing better than to give Him as much pleasure as she could. “Love Him,” said the child, “and love will teach you what to do to please Him.” The fragrance of the wounds had grown sweeter , and Domenica cried out: “O God, the sweetness makes me die of love . . .”
Then came a sudden change: the Mother was standing there dressed like a Queen and the Child was shining with the beauty of the sun. He took the flowers and scattered them on the head of the little girl — who was now lying prostrate in adoration, knowing she was in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Then the apparition vanished. The little girl later became a Dominican nun and died in the odor of sanctity in the year 1553.
“O most dear Mary!” St. John Berchmans exclaimed, “blessed is the person who loves you! If I love Mary I am certain of perseverance, and will obtain from God whatever I want.”
I wish that all who call themselves Children of Mary would consider St. Stanislaus Kostka. So tenderly did he love this dear Mother that all his words about her inflamed others to something like his own love.
He made up new words and titles to honor her. He never did anything without first turning to her image to ask her blessing.
When he said her Office, or the Rosary , or other prayers in her honor, he said them with the same affection he would have shown if he were speaking to her face to face. When the “Hail, Holy Queen” was sung his whole soul and his whole face were lit up with love.
One day one of his Jesuit confreres, going with him to a certain shrine of our Lady, asked him how much he loved Mary. “Father,” he answered, “she is my Mother. What more can I say ?”
We ought to love Mary as Blessed Herman did. He called her his heart’s spouse — because Mary herself had called him by the same title. We should love her as St. Philip Neri did. Just to think of her filled him with joy, and so he called her his Delight.
St. Bonaventure called Mary his Lady and Mother — but added more: “My Lady, my Mother — or rather, my heart and my soul!” And St. Bernard, that giant among lovers of our Lady, hailed her with the daring words, “Ravisher of hearts!”
Or think of the love of St. Francis of Solano. His love was like a holy madness. He would sing before her picture, and accompany himself on a musical instrument, saying, that like worldly lovers, he serenaded his most sweet Queen . . .
The Blessed Alphonsus Rodriguez, of the Society of Jesus, once prostrate before an image of Mary, felt his heart inflamed with love towards this most Holy Virgin, and burst forth into the following exclamation: “My most beloved Mother, I know that thou lovest me, but thou dost not love me as much as I love thee.” Mary, as it were, offended on the point of love, immediately replied from the image: What dost thou say, Alphonsus — what dost thou say? O, how much greater is the love that I bear thee, than any love that thou canst have for me! Know that the distance between Heaven and earth is not so great as the distance between thy love and mine.”
St. Bonaventure, then, was right in exclaiming: Blessed are they who have the good fortune to be faithful servants and lovers of this most loving Mother. “Blessed are the hearts of those who love Mary; blessed are they who are tenderly devoted to her.”
Prayer of St. Alphonsus Liguori to Our Lady
Based on St. Bonaventure and St. John Berchmans
O Lady, O Ravisher of Hearts! I will exclaim with St. Bonaventure:
“Lady, who with the love and favor thou showest thy servants dost ravish their
hearts, ravish also my miserable heart, which desires ardently to love thee.
Thou, my Mother, hast enamored a God with thy beauty, and drawn Him
from Heaven into thy chaste womb; and shall I live without loving thee?
“No, I will say to thee with one of thy most loving sons, John Berchmans of the
Society of Jesus, I will never rest until I am certain of having obtained thy love;
but a constant and tender love towards thee, my Mother, who hast loved me
with so much tenderness,” even when I was ungrateful towards thee. And what
should I now be, O Mary, if thou hadst not obtained many mercies for me?
Since then, thou didst love me so much when I loved thee not, how much more
may I not now hope from thee, now that I love thee? I love thee, O my Mother, and
I would that I had a heart to love thee in place of all those unfortunate creatures
who love thee not. I would that I could speak with a thousand tongues, that all
might know thy greatness, thy holiness, thy mercy, and the love with which thou
lovest all who love thee. Had I riches, I would employ them all for thy honor.
Had I subjects, I would make them all thy lovers. In fine, if the occasion presented
itself I would lay down my life for thy glory. I love thee, then, O my Mother; but at the
same time I fear that I do not love thee as I ought; for I that love makes lovers like the
person loved. If, then, I see myself so unlike thee, it is a mark that I do not love thee.
Thou art so pure, and I defiled with so many sins; thou so humble, and I so proud;
thou so holy, and I so wicked. This, then, what thou hast to do, O Mary; since thou
lovest me, make like thee. Thou hast all power to change hearts; take, then, mine
and change it. Show the world what thou canst do for those who love thee. Make
me a saint; make me thy worthy child. This is my hope.
4. Mary Is the Mother of Repentant Sinners
OUR Blessed Lady told St. Bridget that she was the Mother of more than just the saintly and the innocent. She was the Mother of sinners too, if they really wanted to repent.
Those who want to be children of this great Mother must first give up sin — and then they can expect to be accepted as her children. Persons in mortal sin do not deserve to be considered children of such a Mother.
Mary is humble, and they are proud. Mary is pure, and they are defiled. Mary is full of love, and they hate their fellow human beings. What arrogance that they should want to be called children of Mary, while they go on disgusting her by a life of sin!
A certain sinner once said to Mary: “Show yourself a mother. ” But the Blessed Virgin replied: “Show yourself a son.” Another sinner invoked our Lady, calling her the Mother of mercy. But she answered: “You sinners call me Mother of mercy when you want my help; at the same time you make me a Mother of sorrows with your sins.”
Accursed of his Creator [is] he who angers his mother (Sir. 3: 16). God curses those who afflict this tender Mother by their wicked life —- or more particularly, by their obstinacy in sin.
I say, by their obstinacy in sin; for if sinners, though they have not yet given up their sins, nevertheless make efforts to do so, and for this purpose seek the help of Mary , this good Mother will not neglect to help them and make them recover the grace of God.
This is exactly what St. Brigid heard one day from the lips of Christ when, speaking to His Mother, He said: “You help anyone who makes an effort to return to Me, and your consolations are never wanting to anyone.”
Thus, as long as sinners remain obstinate, Mary cannot love them. However, when they find themselves in the chains of some passion that keeps them slaves of Hell, they should recommend themselves to the Blessed Virgin, and with confidence and perseverance beg her to lift them out of the state of sin.
Then there can be no doubt about it. This good Mother will reach out her strong hand to them, break loose their chains, and lead them to salvation.
The Council of Trent condemned as heretical the doctrine that all prayers and works performed in a state of sin are themselves sin. St. Bernard says that, even though prayer in the mouth of a sinner has no beauty of itself, because it is not elevated by the theological virtue of charity, it is still useful and obtains for the sinner the grace to abandon sin.
Thus too St. Thomas teaches: the prayer of a sinner, without merit in itself, is an act which obtains the grace of forgiveness, since the power of prayer does not depend on the merits of the one praying but on the Divine Goodness and the promises of Jesus Christ Who said: “Whoever asks, receives” (Lk. 11:10).
The same thing must be said of prayers offered to the Mother of God. If those praying do not merit to be heard, the merits of the Mother to whom they pray will intercede effectually .”10
Suppose a mother (says Adam, the Abbot of Perseigne) knew that her two sons had a mortal hatred for each other, and that each was planning the other’s murder. Would she not do everything in her power to make peace between them? Any good mother would consider it her duty to do this.
Mary acts in the same way, for she is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of human beings. When she sees a sinner at enmity with Jesus, she cannot bear such a state of things — she does all in her power to reconcile them.
This kindest of Ladies demands only one thing — that sinners recommend themselves to her and be determined to change their ways. When she finds sinners at her feet imploring mercy, she does not fix her attention on their crimes, but she looks only at the motive that brings them to her. If the motive is good, and even though they have committed every conceivable sin, this most loving Mother takes them in her arms to heal the wounds of their soul.
She is not only called the Mother of Mercy. She is the Mother of Mercy. And she proves herself such by the loving tenderness with which she helps us all.
Mary, the Mother of sinners who wish to mend their lives, seems to feel the miseries of her poor children as if they were her own. When the Canaanite woman begged our Lord to deliver her daughter from diabolical possession, she said: “Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is terribly troubled by a demon” (Mt. 15:22).
Have pity on me, she said. And she was right to put it that way, for mothers feel the sufferings of their children as if these were their own. And it is thus that Mary too cries out for the sinful soul: “Have pity on me!” 11
In the Second Book of Samuel (14:6) we read how that wise woman of Tekoa addressed King David: “Your majesty, I had two sons, and to my misfortune one killed the other, so that I have now lost one and justice demands the life of the other, the only one that is left. Have mercy on a poor mother and let me not lose both my sons.”
In a similar way we may imagine Mary pleading with God, when His justice is directed against a sinner who has recommended himself or herself to her.
“My God, I had two sons, Jesus and Mankind. mankind took the life of Jesus on the Cross, and now your justice would condemn the guilty one. O Lord, my Jesus is already dead. Have pity on me; if I have lost the one, do not let me lose the other also.”
It is absolutely certain that God win not condemn those sinners who have recourse to Mary and for whom she prays. For did He not Himself commend them to her as her children?
FOOTNOTES:
1. The Abbot Rupert
2. St. Albert the Great
3. Seneca
4. St. Bernard
5. The Abbot William
6. St. Robert Bellarmine
7. Paciucchelli
8. St. Bonaventure
9. Sts. Anselm and Antonine
10. St. Anselm
11. Richard of St Lawrence
Chapter 2. Our Life, Our Sweetness
1.
Mary Is Our Life:
She Obtains Pardon for Our Sins
Just as the soul gives life to the body, so grace gives life to the soul. And so our Lady, obtaining grace for sinners through her intercession, brings back life to their souls.
They who find me find life, and win favor from the Lord (Prv. 8:35). All you who hunger for the Kingdom of God, honor the most Blessed Virgin Mary and you will find life and eternal salvation. 12
St. Bernardine of Siena says that the reason why God did not destroy the human race after the first sin was His singular love for this holy Virgin, who was eventually to be born of the race.
Indeed, he says, all the mercies granted under the old dispensation were no doubt granted only in consideration of this most Blessed Lady.
In the Song of Songs (6: 10) Mary is called the dawn: Who is she that comes forth as the dawn? Dawn is the end of night and the beginning of day; the Blessed Virgin is the dawn of day, because she is the end of vice. 13
When devotion to Mary begins in anyone, it produces the same effect that our Lady’s birth produces in the world: it ends the night of sin and leads a person along the bright path of virtue.
St. Germanus once said in a sermon that to pronounce the name of Mary with affection is a sign of life in the soul, or at least a sign that life will soon return there.
Do not be afraid (Bernardine de Bustis encourages every sinner), even if you are guilty of every crime possible. Go with trust to this most glorious Lady.
You will find her hands filled with mercy and bounty. She longs to do you good much more than you could ever long to receive good from her.
No sinner who turns to this compassionate Lady should ever be afraid of being spurned — she is the very Mother of Mercy and, because she is, it is her ambition to save the most miserable of all.
Mary is the ark which saves from eternal destruction anyone who takes shelter in it. 14
In the great Deluge even beasts were saved in Noah’s ark. Under the shelter of Mary even sinners are saved.
St. Gertrude once had a vision of Mary with her mantle spread out wide, and under its folds were many wild beasts. And she noticed that Mary did more than just accept the beasts; she welcomed them and caressed them with the most delicate tenderness.
Then let us go to this Ark; let us take cover under Mary’s mantle. Surely she will do more than merely receive us; surely she will welcome us and secure our eternal salvation.
2. Mary Is Our Life:
She Obtains Perseverance for Us
The grace of final perseverance is such a great and precious gift that (as the Council of Trent declares) God gives it only gratuitously. We cannot merit it.
Yet St. Augustine tells us that all who seek it obtain it. And, according to Suarez, they can be absolutely sure of obtaining it if they keep on asking for it to the end of their life.
I hold it as certain, according to the common opinion today, that all the graces God gives to human beings pass through the hands of Mary. By the same token it is equally true that only through the hands of Mary can we hope for this crown of all grace — perseverance.
We can be absolutely sure of obtaining it if we always seek it with confidence through Mary. She herself, in the words of Sirach (traditionally applied to her by the Church), promises this grace to everyone who serves her faithfully through life:
They who obey me will not be put to shame, they who serve me will never fail. (24:21)
Again in the words of Sirach (24:14), the Blessed Virgin is called a plane tree: I am raised aloft like a plane tree growing beside the water.
Cardinal Hugo, in explaining these words, says that the plane has leaves like shields, showing how Mary defends all who take refuge in her.
Surely, we ought to feel sorry for those persons who abandon this refuge, giving up their devotion to Mary, and no longer recommending themselves to her in the occasions of sin.
If the sun failed to rise, what would the world be but a chaos of horrible darkness? Take away the sun, and where is the day? Take away Mary, and what is left but the darkest night? 15
If Mary ignores and condemns someone, that person is inevitably lost. Therefore, woe to those who turn their back on this Sun! 16
Woe to those who despise its light — who make little of devotion to Mary!
St. Francis Borgia always doubted the perseverance of anyone in whom he did not find particular devotion to the Blessed Virgin. One time he questioned some novices about the Saints for whom they had special reverence and discovered that there were some who had no personal devotion to our Lady.
The Saint immediately warned the novice master and suggested that he keep a very watchful eye on these novices. Just as he had feared, they eventually lost their vocation and gave up the religious life.
So it was perfectly natural for St. Germanus to style the Blessed Virgin the Breath of Christians. “As breathing is not only the sign but even the cause of life, so the name of Mary, continually on the lips of her clients, not only proves the presence of supernatural life, but also causes and preserves it, and gives them strength for everything.”
Blessed Allan one day was assaulted by a violent temptation and had all but yielded (for he had not turned to Mary for help), when she appeared to him. To teach him to be more alert the next time, she struck him and said: “If you had prayed to me, you would not find yourself in such trouble.”
In the case of those who listen to her voice and watch daily at the posts of her doors (to make use of the words of the Book of Proverbs, which the Church applies to her), Mary always does her part and obtains for them the light and strength they need to abandon sin and walk the path of virtue.
“The moon at night, the dawn at break of day, the sun at noon” — this is the way Innocent III beautifully speaks of Mary .
When exhorting his penitents, St. Philip Neri used to say: “If you want to persevere, have devotion to our Blessed Lady .” And St. John Berchmans also used to say: “Whoever loves Mary will persevere.”
Then consider this beautiful reflection from the pen of the Abbot Rupert on the parable of the prodigal son: “If the prodigal’s mother were living, he would never have left home; or at any rate he would have returned much sooner than he did.”
If only all persons loved this kind and most loving Lady — if only they had re- course to her always and instantly in their temptations — would they ever fall into sin? Would anyone ever be lost ? Those souls will fall and be lost who do not have recourse to Mary.
When we are tempted, says St. Thomas of Villanova, all we need do is what little chicks do. As soon as they see a hawk, they run under the wings of the mother hen. And this is the way we should act when tempted — not linger to reason with the danger, but immediately fly and take cover under Mary’s mantle.
A certain man who had committed a grievous sin was so ashamed that he refused to go to confession. Driven by remorse of conscience, he went to drown himself in the river. On the point of doing so, he changed his mind and begged God, with tears, to forgive him the sin without his having to confess it.
One night, as he was sleeping, he felt someone shake his arm and heard a voice: “Go to confession.” He went to the church — but shame kept him from making his confession.
Another night he heard the same voice. He returned to the church; but when he got there he felt he would rather die than confess the sin. But before leaving church he went to the shrine of the most Blessed Virgin to put himself in her hands. He had no sooner knelt down than he felt himself completely changed.
He got up immediately, asked for a priest, and, through the grace he had received from Mary, made a full confession of his sins, weeping bitterly. He said afterwards that he experienced greater satisfaction than if he had been given all the wealth of the world.
To conclude with the words of St. Bernard: “Remember that in this world you are tossed about on a stormy sea; you are not walking on solid ground. Remember that if you don’t want to be lost at sea, you must keep your eyes fixed on this bright star and call on Mary.
“In danger, in trials, in doubts, think of Mary and cry out to her. Following her, you will never lose your way. Calling out to her, you will never despair.
“If Mary holds you, you can never fall. If she protects you, fear nothing, for you can never be lost. If she guides you, you will never know weariness, for you will work out your salvation with ease. If she is propitious, you will infallibly reach your Heaven.”
So, if Mary takes up our cause, we are certain of reaching the Kingdom of Heaven.
3.
Mary Is Our Life: She Makes Death Sweet
The person who is a friend is always a friend, and a brother or sister is born for the time of stress (Prv. 17: 17) .We never really know our friends and relatives when all is going well with us. It is only when we are in trouble that we see them in their true colors.
People of the world never desert friends as long as those friends are riding high in prosperity. But if such friends run into misfortune — above all, if they are brought to death’s door — people leave them to themselves.
Mary does not deal that way with her clients. In all our misfortunes, and especially in death, which is our greatest affliction here on earth, this good Lady and Mother is our life and our sweetness — our life during our exile, our sweetness in the last hour, securing for us a calm and happy death.
For on that day when Mary had the sad privilege of witnessing the death of her Son Jesus, Who was the head of the elect, she was granted the further privilege of assisting at the death of all the elect themselves. So in the Hail Mary the Church teaches us to beg our Lady to help us now, and particularly at the hour of our death.
Consider the anguish of the dying. They suffer remorse over past sins. They are filled with fear of the coming judgment and have no absolute assurance of their eternal salvation.
Then Hell arms itself and battles for the soul as it approaches the doors of eternity. The devils know that they have but a short time to gain that soul, and if they lose it, then they lose it forever.
But how quickly the devils flee from the face of this Queen! If at the hour of death we have our Lady to protect us, we need fear nothing from all the rebel Angels of Hell.
When Father Manuel Padial, S.J., lay dying, Mary herself came to him to console him. “See,” she said, “the hour has finally come when the angels congratulate you and exclaim: “O happy sufferings, O mortifications now at last rewarded!’ ” At that moment an army of demons was seen rushing away in despair and crying out: “We are powerless — the Immaculate defends him!”
Similarly Father Jasper Haywood was assailed by devils at his death and severely tempted against faith. But he commended himself at once to the Blessed Virgin and was heard exclaiming: “I thank you, Mother, for coming to my aid!”
The Blessed Virgin assured St. Bridget of this. Speaking of her devoted clients at the point of death, she said: “Then I, their dear Lady and Mother, will come hurrying to them, to bring consolation and relief.”
Like a loving Queen, she takes them under her mantle and brings them with her to the Judge. And with absolute certainty she obtains their salvation.
This really happened to Charles, St. Bridget’s son, who died in the army, far from his mother. She feared for his salvation because of the dangers that normally go with a military career .
However, our Lady revealed to her that because of his love for her he had been saved, and that she herself had helped him at death and suggested the acts that should be made at the critical moment. At the same time St. Bridget saw Jesus seated on His throne and the devil bringing two accusations against the most Blessed Virgin.
The first accusation was that Mary had prevented the devil from tempting Charles at the moment of death. The second was that without offering any proof or reason for claiming him as her own, she herself presented Charles to be judged and thus saved him.
St. Bridget then saw Jesus driving the devil away and Charles’s soul being transported to Heaven.
St. Mary Oignies saw the Blessed Virgin by the pillow of the devout widow of William Brock, who was suffering from a violent fever. Mary stood by her side, comforting her, and cooling her with a fan. 17
Sirach says that Mary’s fetters are a throne of majesty, and that [in the latter end] you will find rest in her (6:30, 29).
Happy for you, my brother or sister, if death finds you bound with the sweet chains of the love of the Mother of God. These are the chains of salvation, and they will bring to you in death that blessed peace which is the beginning of your eternal peace.
Father Suarez had such devotion to Mary that he used to say he would gladly exchange all his learning for the merit of a single Hail Mary. As a consequence of that devotion, he died with such peace that in that moment he said: “I never knew death could be so sweet.”
Mary will not refuse her comfort at death even if you have led a sinful life for a time, provided that, from this day on, you take care to lead a good life and serve this most gracious and benignant Lady. In your agony, and in the temptations to despair which the devil will send you, she will come and encourage you.
Devout reader, you too will taste the same joy in death if you can then fall back on the memory of how you have loved this good Mother. She cannot help being loyal to her children when they have been loyal to her, serving and honoring her by their visits, rosaries, and feasts, and especially by often thanking and praising her, and commending themselves to her powerful protection.
Therefore let us be of good heart, even though we be sinners. Let us feel certain that Mary will come and help us at death, if only we serve her with love for the remainder of our life.
FOOTNOTES:
12. St. Bonaventure
13. Pope Innocent III
14. St. Bernard
I5. St. Bernard
16. St. Anselm
17. Father Crasset
3. And Our Hope
CHAPTER 3
AND OUR HOPE
1.
Mary Is the Hope of All
People outside the Church cannot endure our calling Mary our hope. They say that God alone is our hope, and that He curses those who put their trust in creatures, according to the prophet Jeremiah: Cursed is the person who trusts in human beings (Jer. 17:5).
Mary, they argue, is a creature, and how can a creature be our hope? But in spite of this the Church recommends that all priests and religious raise their voices every day in the name of all the faithful and call Mary by the sweet name of “Our Hope” — the hope of all.
St. Thomas says that we can place our hope in a person in two ways — as a principal cause and as a mediate cause. Thus those who expect something from a king put their trust in him as their sovereign, and in his ministers or his favorite as intercessors.
When the favor is granted, it comes really from the king, though the favorite is the intermediary. Hence the petitioners have a right to call the minister or favorite through whom they received it their “hope.”
The King of Heaven, being infinite Goodness, desires in the highest degree to enrich us with His graces. But because confidence is a necessary condition for being heard, and because He wants to increase our confidence, He has given us His own Mother as our Mother and intercessor, and has granted her all power to help us. So it is that He wishes us to place our hope for salvation and every blessing in her.
Those who put their hope in creatures alone, apart from God, as sinners do, and who do not hesitate to outrage the Divine Majesty, just to gain the friendship and patronage of another human being, are certainly cursed by God in the sense intended by Jeremiah.
But those who put their trust in Mary, who (being the Mother of God) is able to secure grace and eternal life for them, are truly blessed and acceptable to the heart of God. Surely He desires to see this greatest of His creatures honored, since she loved and honored Him in this world more than all human beings and angels together .
Therefore it is perfectly reasonable to call the Blessed Virgin our hope. We trust, as St. Robert Bellarmine says, that we shall obtain through her intercession the graces we would not obtain through our own unaided prayers.
We pray to her so that the dignity of the intercessor may make up for our own lack of worthiness. And so our recourse to Mary in such a spirit does not come from any want of confidence in the mercy of God, but rather from fear of our own unworthiness.18
“Hail then, O hope of my soul!” exclaims St. Ephrem; “Hail, O sure salvation of Christians; hail, helper of sinners; hail, fortress of the faithful and salvation of the world!”
St. Ephrem, reflecting on the present arrangement of Providence, by which God wills that all who are saved should be saved by the instrumentality of Mary, addresses her in these words: “O Lady, never cease watching over us. Keep and guard us under your wings of mercy, for, after God, we have no hope but in you.”
St. Thomas of Villanova calls her our only refuge, help, and asylum.
St. Bernard expounds the reason behind this when he says: “See the designs of God — designs which make it possible for Him to dispense His mercy more abundantly. For, desiring to save the whole human race, He has laid the full price of redemption in Mary’s hands, letting her dispense it at her pleasure.”
Hence we need not be surprised if St. Antonine applies to Mary this verse of the Book of Wisdom (8: 11): All good things together came to me in her company. And St. Bonaventure writes: “We ought to keep our eyes fixed on Mary’s hands, that through them we may receive the graces we desire.”
“Poor children of Adam,” says our Lord, addressing the world, “living among so many enemies, so many trials, take care to honor My Mother in a special way. She is also your Mother .
“I have given her to the world to be its pattern, to teach you how to lead good lives, and to be your refuge in all trials and afflictions. I have made My Daughter with such care that no one could be afraid of her or in the least degree repelled.
“So I gave her such a kind and compassionate disposition that she does not know how to despise anyone who runs to her, nor how to refuse her favor to anyone who asks. The mantle of her mercy is spread for all, and she lets no one leave her feet without consolation.”19
Praise and benediction to the infinite goodness of God, because He gave us a Mother and advocate so strong, so tender, so loving!
How touching are the sentiments of confidence expressed by the enamored St. Bonaventure toward Jesus our most loving Redeemer and Mary our most loving advocate!
“Whatever lot God foresees for me, I know He can never go against His own nature and refuse Himself to any who love Him and seek for Him with all their heart.
So I will cleave to Him with my love; and if He does not bless me, I will still cling to Him so passionately that He will not be able to move away without me.
“I will hide in the clefts of His wounds, so that if He looks for me it will be within Himself that He must find me. I will stay prostrate before the feet of His Mother that she may implore pardon for me.
“For Mary does not know how to refuse compassion. She has never learned how to let the comfortless go away uncomforted. And so, if not from any sense of justice or obligation, at least from her great sense of compasson she will persuade her Son to pardon me.”
2.
Mary Is the Hope of Sinners
God made the two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to rule the night (Gn. 1: 16). Christ is the greater light to rule the just, and Mary is the lesser light to rule sinners. 20
Since Mary is this auspicious light, created for poor sinners, what should people do if they find themselves in the darkness of sin? Let them cast their eyes on the moon. Let them pray to Mary. 21
One of the most comforting titles of our Lady — and one which the Church teaches us to use in the Litany of Loretto — is that of “Refuge of Sinners.”
In Judea in ancient times there were cities of refuge where criminals fled to escape punishment. Nowadays such cities do not exist; there is only one, and that is Mary, of whom the Psalmist sings: “Glorious things are said of you, O city of God” (Ps. 87:3).
However, there is one difference. In the old cities of refuge protection was not extended to every class of crime. But under Mary’s mantle all sinners without exception find refuge for every sin they have committed, if only they go there to seek this protection.
We may even say with St. Basil that God has given us Mary as a public infirmary to receive the sick, the poor, the destitute. But in hospitals which are erected expressly for the poor, who have the first claim to admission? Surely those who are sicker than others.
Say then, with St. Thomas of Villanova, “O Mary, we poor sinners know no other refuge but you; you are our only patroness, and we all look to you!”
In the revelations of St. Bridget, Mary is called the “Star that rises before the Sun.”
When a soul in sin begins to show signs of devotion to Mary, it is a clear indication that before very long God will enrich it with His grace.
The glorious St. Bonaventure, to build up the confidence of sinners in our Lady’s protection, calls up before them the picture of a storm at sea. Sinners have fallen into it from the ship of God’s grace. They are tossed about by remorse and the dread of God’s judgments. They have no light, no mark to guide them, and are on the point of despair.
Then our Lord, pointing out Mary to them, the Star of the Sea, raises His voice and says: “Poor lost sinners, do not despair. Lift your eyes to this star of beauty. Breathe freely again, for this Star will save you out of the storm and bring you at last to the harbor of salvation.”
In another work the same Saint remarks how Isaiah complained of the times in which he lived: “Behold, You are angry, and we are sinful; there is none who rises up to cling to You” (Is 64:4, 7).
Then he comments: “It is true, O Lord, that in those days there was no one to raise up sinners and hold back Your wrath, for Mary was not born yet . . . But now she restrains her Divine Son, lest He destroy sInners . . .
“There is no one more capable of seizing and holding the sword of God’s vengeance than you, Most Beloved of God!”
The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget that there is no sinner in the world, however far from God, who does not come back to Him and recover grace, if such a sinner has recourse to her assistance.
And one day St. Bridget heard Jesus speaking to His Mother in these words: “You would offer mercy even to Lucifer, if he humbled himself to ask for it.” That proud spirit will never humble himself to that degree. But, if such a thing were possible, Mary would show instant compassion, and her prayers would have sufficient power to obtain his forgiveness and salvation.
In Sacred Scripture we read that Boaz allowed Ruth to gather the ears of grain after the reapers
(Ru 2:3). Mary, like Ruth, having found favor with her Lord, is likewise allowed to gather the ears of grain after the reapers — i.e., after all the evangelical laborers, missionaries, preachers, and confessors, who are constantly reaping souls for God.
However, there are some hardened and rebellious souls who are abandoned even by these. Mary alone has the special privilege of saving them by her powerful intercession. 22
It was with good reason therefore, my most sweet Queen, that St. John Damascene saluted you as the “hope of those who have no hope.” St. Lawrence Justinian called you “the hope of the condemned,” and St. Ephrem called you “the protectress of the damned.”
St. Bernard, full of joy and tenderness, exclaimed: “O Lady, who can lack confidence in you, since you help even those who are in despair? And I have not the least doubt that, whenever we run to you, we shall obtain all we desire. Let those then who have no hope, hope in you.”
Lady, Ravisher of hearts! ravish my poor heart that really longs to love thee. Mother, thou didst beguile God Himself with thy beauty and drew Him down from Heaven into thy chaste womb; and shall I go on without loving thee?
I will join with one of thine most loving sons, St. John Berchmans; I will say with him: “I will never rest until I am sure I have mastered love for thee — a constant and tender love for thee, my Mother.”
What would I be now, O Mary, if thou hadst not secured so many mercies for me? Since thou didst persist in loving me when I had no love for thee, there is so much I can expect from thee, now that I do love thee.
I love thee, my Mother. And I wish I had a heart to make up for all those unhappy creatures who do not love thee. I wish I could speak with a thousand tongues, so that all the world might learn about thy greatness, and holiness, and mercy, and the love thou hast for all who love thee.
If I were rich, I would use my riches for thy honor. If I had subjects, I would make them all love thee. And, if the occasion ever came, I would lay down my life for thy glory.
And so I love thee, my Mother. But I cannot help feeling that I do not love thee as I should: I hear that love makes a lover resemble the beloved. And if I find myself so different from thee, that means that I do not really love thee.
Thou art pure; I am darkened with sin. Thou art humble; I am proud. Thou art holy, and I am sinful. This then is what thou hast to do, O Mary: since thou doth love me, make me resemble thee.
Thou hast the power to change hearts; take mine and change it. Show the world what thou canst do for anyone who loves thee. Make me holy; make me a child worthy of his Mother. Amen. So I hope. So may it be.
FOOTNOTES:
18. St. Anselm
19. Lanspergius
20. Cardinal Hugo
21. Pope Innocent III
22. St. Bonaventure
4. To Thee Do We Cry, Poor Banished Children of Eve
1.
How Promptly Mary Helps All
Who Invoke Her
We are the poor children of Eve. Inheriting her guilt and condemned to the same penalty, we have to wander about in this valley of tears, exiles from our country, weeping over our many afflictions of body and soul.
But happy are they who, in spite of their sorrows, turn often to the comfortress of the world, to the refuge of the miserable, to the great Mother of God, and devoutly invoke her.
The Church is careful to teach her children with what attention and trust they should pray to this loving protectress. For this purpose she commands them to have special devotion to her.
She has instituted many feasts of Our Lady, and she sets aside one day in the week for her special honor. She recommends that all priests and religious in their daily Office invoke her in the name of the whole Christian body, and she recommends that all the faithful pray to her three times a day at the sound of the Angelus.
See the confidence which the Church places in Mary: in all public calamities she invariably calls upon the faithful to enlist her protection through novenas, through prayers and processions, through visits to her churches and shrines.
Our Lady herself desires this. She wants us to seek her always and invoke her aid. It is not as if she were begging us for these marks of veneration, for they cannot come up to her deserving. She desires them so that our confidence and devotion may be increased by them and move her to answer us with greater help and comfort.
St. Bonaventure observes that Ruth, whose name means “seeing and hastening,” was a figure of Mary; “for Mary, seeing our miseries, mercifully hastens to help us.”
Novarinus adds that “Mary, in her intense desire to help us, can brook no delay, for she is not at all an avaricious hoarder of the graces at her disposal, but a Mother of Mercy, and instantly showers down the treasures of her liberality on her servants.”
Richard of St. Lawrence assures us that Mary pours out her compassion on everyone who prays for it, even if the prayer be only a simple Hail Mary.
How quickly this good Mother helps all who pray to her! She not only runs, but flies, to our assistance. 23
God has wings when He comes to His own; Mary too has wings. Hers are the wings of an eagle; she flies with the love of God. 24
With speed more than that of the seraphim she goes everywhere to aid her children. 25
When she went into the hill country to Elizabeth, bringing grace with her, she went, we are told, in haste (Lk. 1:39).
Remember what Bernardine de Bustis says: She is more eager to grant us graces than we can be to receive them.
Nor should the multitude of our sins diminish our confidence. Mary is the Mother of Mercy. But there would be no reason for mercy if there were no one who needed it. No good mother shrinks from applying a remedy to her children when they are infected with some disgusting skin disease, however nauseating the sight may be. Neither does our good Mother shrink from us when we come to her to heal the wounds of sin, no matter how loathsome they are. 26
So great is this good Mother’s compassion, and her love so urgent, that she does not even wait for our prayers — she anticipates them. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of people’s desire (Wis. 6:14).
Her heart is full of pity for poor sinners, and scarcely has she noticed our miseries when she lavishes her tender mercies on us. 27
For any who doubt whether Mary will help them when they come to her, Innocent III has this encouraging reminder: “Who ever called upon her and was not heard by her?”
If there are any, O most Blessed Virgin Mary, who can recall having been refused by you when they came to you in their hour of need, let them no more speak in praise of your mercy! 28
Sooner would Heaven and earth be destroyed than Mary would fail to assist anyone who turned to her with the right dispositions to ask her help. 29
St. Anselm, to increase our confidence, says this: “When we pray to the Mother of God we are heard more quickly than when we call directly on the name of Jesus — for her Son is not only our Lord but our Judge. But when we call on the name of His Mother, though our own merits will not insure an answer, yet her merits intercede for us and we are answered.”
This does not mean that Mary is more powerful than her Son to save us. We know that Jesus is our only Savior, and that he alone by His merits has obtained and will obtain salvation for us.
However, when we have recourse to Jesus, we regard Him at the same time as our Judge, whose business it is to chastise ungrateful souls. Therefore the confidence necessary before we can be heard may fail us.
When we go to Mary, however, she has no other office but to show compassion as Mother of Mercy, and to defend us as our advocate. Hence our confidence is more easily aroused and is often greater than when we go directly to Jesus.
Many things are asked of God and are not granted; they are asked of Mary and are obtained not because she is more powerful than God, but simply because God decrees to honor her in this way. 30
Once St. Bridget heard our Lord make a most sweet and consoling promise: “You shall bring Me no petition,” He said to His Mother, “that will be denied. Ask what you will; I will never refuse you anything.
” And remember — I promise to give grace to those who ask it in your name, even though they be sinners, if they re solve to change their lives.”
“Remember, O most holy Virgin Mary, that never was it heard of in any age that anyone having recourse to your protection was abandoned!” Forgive me therefore, O Mary, if I say that I do not care to be that first unfortunate creature to have recourse to you and be abandoned.
2.
Mary’s Power Is Great in Time of Temptation
The most Blessed Virgin Mary is Queen of more than heaven and all
the Saints. She is Queen also over hell and all evil spirits, for she has gloriously routed them with her virtues.
From the very beginning God foretold the victory and empire that our Queen would one day win over the serpent: I will put enmity between you and the woman . . . ; she will crush your head (Gn. 3:15).
Who could this woman be — this enemy of the serpent, but Mary, who beat down his strength by her beautiful humility and holy life? The Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ was promised in that woman, as St. Cyprian says.
God did not say, I put, but I will put, to signify that the serpent’s opponent was not Eve, who was then living, but some other woman descended from her — One who would bring our first parents (says St. Vincent Ferrer) far greater advantages than they had lost by their sin.
She will crush your head: some question whether this refers to Mary, and not rather to Jesus, since the Septuagint translates it, He shall crush your head. But in the Vulgate, which alone was approved by the Council of Trent, we find She.
Thus too St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and a great many others understood it. Be that as it may, it is certain that either the Son through the Mother, or the Mother through the Son, has conquered Lucifer.
I am raised aloft like a palm tree in Engedi (Sir. 24: 14) . . . to defend, adds St. Albert the Great. Recourse to Mary is a most certain way to overcome all the assaults of Hell, for she is Queen even over hell and all the devils, taming and crushing them. 31
So Mary is described in the Song of Songs as awe-inspiring as bannered troops (6:4). She knows how to draw up her powers, her mercies, and her prayers, and thus humiliate her enemies and defend her servants.
In Judea victories were won by means of the Ark. Thus it was that Moses conquered his enemies; thus too, Jericho was conquered, and the Philistines were overthrown. It is well known that the Ark was a figure of Mary.
Cornelius a Lapide says, “In time of danger, Christians should turn to the Most Blessed Virgin, who contained Christ in her womb as the Ark contained manna, and who brought Him forth to be the saving food of the world.”
When Mary, the Ark of the New Testament, was raised to the dignity of Queen of Heaven, Hell’s influence over human beings was weakened and scattered. 32
It was revealed to St. Bridget that God made Mary so powerful against the devils that, whenever they assail anyone who begs her help, with one glance she terrifies them and they take to instant flight. They would rather have their pains in hell redoubled than fall under her dominion.
St. John Damascene used to say: “As long as I keep alive my hope in thee, O Mother of God, I shall be safe. I will fight and overcome enemies with this one shield — thy protection and thy all-powerful help.”
A young man, who was a slave to habits of vice, went to confession to a certain priest in Rome. The confessor received him with kindness and, filled with compassion for him, assured him that devotion to our Lady could free him from his shameful habits.
Accordingly, he imposed on him as his penance that he say a Hail Mary to the Blessed Virgin every morning and evening, when he got up and when he went to bed, until his next confession; also, that he offer her at the same time his eyes, his hands, and his whole body, asking her to
preserve them as if they were her own, and that he kiss the ground three times.
He performed the penance, but at first there was only slight improvement. However, his confessor insisted that he continue with the practice, advising him never to abandon it and encouraging him to trust in the power of Mary .The young man then left Rome with a few companions and spent several years traveling here and there.
When the young man came back to Rome he returned to his confessor, who found, to his great relief and wonder, that he was a changed man, completely free of his sinful habits. “How did you secure so wonderful a change from God?” he asked.
The young man answered, “It was our Blessed Lady who obtained this grace for me, because of those simple acts of devotion you taught me. “
This was not the end of the graces. The priest related the story in one of his sermons. A certain captain in the army, who had been committing sin with a woman for years, heard the sermon and made up his mind to try the same practice.
He determined to break the chains that kept him a slave of the devil (for every sinner must have the purpose of amendment, otherwise the Blessed Virgin is powerless to help him), and he too gave up his habit of sin and changed his life.
But there was still more. After six months, relying too much on his own strength, the captain made the mistake of going back to the woman, to see if she too had changed her ways.
But as he came up to the door of the house, where he was in certain danger of falling again, some unseen power forced him back and he found himself at the other end of the street, standing before his own door. He had no doubt that it was our Lady who had done this for him and saved him from perdition.
This should be enough to show how anxious our good Mother is, not only to lift us out of the state of sin if we pray to — her for deliverance, but also to save us from
the danger of falling back.
God guided His chosen people from Egypt to the Promised Land by day in a column of cloud, by night in a column of fire (Ex 13:21).
This stupendous column was a type of Mary fulfilling a double office: as a cloud, she shades us from the heat of the sun of Justice; as fire, she protects us from the devil. 33
As wax melts before fire, the devils melt away before all who keep our Lady’s name in mind, devoutly invoke her, and work at imitating her. 34
Full of glory and wonder is your name, O Mary (exclaims St. Bonaventure), and whoever pronounces it at death need fear nothing from all the forces of Hell!
Our Blessed Lady revealed to St. Bridget that the devil flies from even the most abandoned sinners — from those farthest from God and fully possessed by the devil, if only they invoke her most powerful name with a true purpose of amendment. But our Blessed Lady added at the same time that, if such persons do not amend and wash away their sins in sorrow, the devils return and begin again to possess them.
FOOTNOTES:
23. Novarinus
24. Ribera
25. Blessed Amadeus
26. Richard of St. Lawrence
27. Richard of St. Victor
28. St. Bernard
29. Blosius
30. Nicephorus
31. St. Bernardine of Siena
32. St. Bernardine of Siena
33. Richard of St. Lawrence
34. St. Bonaventure
5. To Thee Do We Send Up Our Sighs, Mourning and Weeping in this Valley of Tears
The Necessity of Mary’s Intercession
for Our Salvation
It is an Article of Faith that it is not only allowable but useful to invoke the Saints, and especially the Queen of Saints, that they may obtain grace for us. This doctrine was defined by General Councils against heretics who said that such a teaching was injurious to Jesus Christ, our only Mediator.
In addition, Jeremiah prayed for Jerusalem after his death, the ancients of the Book of Revelation presented the prayers of the Saints to God, St. Peter promised his disciples that after his death he would be mindful of them. And St. Stephen prayed for his persecutors, and St. Paul for his companions.
Hence, if the Saints can themselves pray for us, why can we not beseech them to pray for us?
Indeed, St. Paul commended himself to the prayers of his disciples and St. James exhorts us to pray for one another. Then we can do the same.
No one denies that Jesus Christ is our only Mediator of justice. By His merits He has won our reconciliation with God.
But, on the other hand, it is impious to maintain that God is not pleased to grant graces at the intercession of His Saints — and particularly of Mary His Mother, whom Jesus desires so much to see loved and honored by all.
Who will pretend that the honor bestowed on a mother does not redound to the honor of her son?
So St. Bernard says, “Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son.”
By the merits of Jesus, Mary was made the mediatrix of our salvation; not a mediatrix of justice, of course, but of grace and intercession — as St. Bonaventure expressly calls her: “Mary, the most faithful mediatrix of our salvation.”
And St. Lawrence Justinian asks: “How can she be otherwise than full of grace? She has been made the ladder to paradise, the gate of heaven, the most true mediatrix between God and human beings.”
Only those who have no faith will deny that it is very useful and commendable to have recourse to the intercession of Mary. But what we intend to prove here is that Mary’s intercession is not only useful but necessary for salvation: not absolutely, but morally, necessary.
This necessity goes back to the very will of God Himself, Who had decreed that all the graces He gives human beings should pass through Mary’s hands. This is the opinion of St. Bernard — an opinion which we may now safely call the general opinion of Theologians and Doctors.
Mediation of justice by way of merit (and this is Christ’s mediation) is one thing, and mediation of grace by way of prayer (our Lady’s mediation) is another. Besides, it is one thing to say that God cannot, and another that He will not, give graces without the intercession of Mary.
We grant that God is the source of every good and the absolute master of all graces, and that Mary is only a creature, who receives whatever she obtains as a pure favor from God.
But no one can deny that it is reasonable and fitting for God to decide that all graces given to those He has redeemed should pass through Mary’s hands and be dispensed by her.
For so God wishes to exalt this great creature, who loved Him and honored Him during her life more than all others have ever done, and whom He chose to be the Mother of His Son, our common Redeemer.
We readily admit that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator of justice, according to the distinction above. By His merits He obtains for us all grace and salvation. But we also say that Mary is the Mediatrix of grace.
She does indeed receive through Jesus Christ all she obtains, and prays for it in the name of Jesus Christ. Yet, whatever graces we receive, they come to us through her intercession.
There is certainly nothing against faith in this; quite the reverse, as a matter of fact. It is in perfect accord with the sentiments of the Church.
In her public and approved prayers, the Church is always teaching us to have recourse to the Mother of God, and to invoke her as “Health of the Sick, Refuge of Sinners, Help of Christians, and Our Life and Our Hope.”
Again, in the Office for the feasts of our Lady, the Church applies the words of Sirach to the Blessed Virgin and thus gives us to understand that in her we find all hope: In me is all hope of life and of virtue.
In Mary is every grace: In me is all grace of the way and of the truth. In Mary we shall find life and eternal salvation: Those who serve me shall never fail. Those who explain me shall have life everlasting (Sir. 24:25, 30, 31— Vulgate).
And in the Book of Proverbs: Those who find me find life and win favor from the Lord (8:35). Surely such expressions are enough to prove that we require the intercession of Mary.
I may be allowed to make a short digression and give my own sentiment here. I would say that when an opinion tends in any way to the honor of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when it has some foundation and is not repugnant to the faith, nor to the decrees of the Church, nor to truth, to refuse to hold it, or to oppose it because the reverse may be true, shows little devotion to the Mother of God.
I do not choose to be counted in that company, nor do I wish my reader to be. I wish rather to be in the company of those who fully and firmly believe all that can without error be believed of the greatness of Mary.
If there were nothing else to take away our fear of going too far in the praises of Mary , St. Augustine’s opinion would be enough: he declares that anything we may say in praise of Mary is little in comparison with what she deserves, because of her dignity as Mother of God.
Let us see what the Saints say on the subject. Take St. Bernard: “God has filled Mary with all graces, so that human beings may receive through her, as through a channel, every good that comes to them.
” Mary is an aqueduct filled to capacity, that others may receive of her fullness. Before the birth of Mary there was no constant flow of graces, because this aqueduct did not exist.”
Holofernes, to gain possession of the city of Bethulia, ordered the aqueducts to be destroyed. So too the devil tries with all his power to destroy in souls devotion to the Mother of God, for if this channel of grace is closed, he has no trouble in gaining possession of them.
So St. Bernard continues: “See the tender devotion our Lord wants us to have for Mary , so that she may be honored. He has poured into her the fullness of every good, so that we might acknowledge that whatever hope or grace or other token of salvation we possess, we receive it through her fullness.”
St. Antonine says the same thing: “Whatever grace the world has received has come down from Heaven through her.”
And St. Bonaventure: ” As the moon, standing between the sun and the earth, transmits to the earth whatever light it receives from the sun, so Mary stands between God and human beings and pours His grace upon us.”
Again, the Church hails her as the “happy Gate of Heaven.” And St. Bernard comments thus: “Just as every rescript of grace or of pardon that is sent by a king passes through the palace gates, in the same way every grace that comes from Heaven to the world passes through the hands of Mary.”
St. Bonaventure says Mary is called “the Gate of Heaven because no one can enter that blessed Kingdom without passing through her.”
The fullness of grace was in Christ as in the head, from which it flows to the whole body, and in Mary as in the neck, through which it flows. 35
Since the fullness of the Divine Nature dwelt in Mary’s womb, the Blessed Virgin thereby acquired a kind of jurisdiction over all graces, for all the streams of Divine grace flow from her womb as from the ocean of Divinity which was within her. So says St. Bonaventure.
Repeating the same idea in more distinct terms, St. Bernardine of Siena asserts that from the moment when this Virgin Mother conceived the Divine Word in her womb, she acquired a special jurisdiction, so to say, over all the graces of the Holy Spirit. No creature has since received any grace from God except through the hands of Mary.
Another author speaks about this theme in a commentary on a passage of Jeremiah, in which the prophet, referring to the Incarnation of the Eternal Word and to Mary His Mother, says that the woman must encompass the man (Jer. 31:22).
He states: “No line can be drawn from the center of a circle without passing through the circumference. Similarly, no grace proceeds from Jesus, the center of every good thing, without passing through Mary, who encompassed Him when she received Him into her womb.”
St. Bernardine of Siena says that for this reason all gifts, all virtues, and all graces are dispensed through Mary’s hands to anyone she pleases, when she pleases, and as she pleases.
Richard of St. Lawrence also accepts that God wills that every good He bestows on His creatures should pass through Mary’s hands.
Therefore, the Venerable Abbot of Celles exhorts all to go to the Blessed Virgin, because through her the world is to receive every good.
It is quite clear that when these Saints and authors tell us in such terms that all graces come to us through Mary, they do not mean simply that we received Jesus Christ, the source of every good, through Mary (as a certain writer pretends).
They mean that God, Who gave us Jesus Christ, wills that all graces that have been, are, and will be dispensed to human beings to the end of the world through the merits of Jesus Christ, should be dispensed by the hands and through the intercession of Mary.
A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him (Is. 11:1,2).
St. Bonaventure makes a beautiful comment on these words: Whoever yearn to possess the grace of the Holy Spirit, let them seek for the Bud in the Shoot (that is, for Jesus in Mary). For by the Shoot we find the Bud, and by the Bud the Holy Spirit . . . And if you long to have this Bud, bend down the Shoot of the Bud by prayer.
Since a man and a woman cooperated in our ruin, it was proper that another man and another woman should cooperate in our redemption, and these two were Jesus and His Mother Mary. 36
There is no doubt that Christ alone was more than sufficient to redeem us. Yet it was much more becoming that the two sexes should work together to repair the evil which the two had worked together to bring about. So St. Albert the Great calls Mary the “Co-helper of Redemption.”
Our Blessed Lady made this revelation to St. Bridget: “Adam and Eve sold the world for a single apple; my Son and I bought it back with a single heart.”
God was able to create the world out of nothing, but He is unwilling to restore it without the cooperation of Mary. 37
No person can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (Jn. 6:44). In similar words, says Richard of St. Lawrence, Jesus speaks of His Mother: “No one comes to Me unless My Mother draws that person by her prayers.”
Jesus was the fruit of Mary. Whoever wants the fruit must go to the tree. Whoever wants Jesus must go to Mary. whoever finds Mary will most certainly find Jesus.
Are we then going to scruple to ask her to save us when (as St. Germanus says) no one is saved except through her?
St. John Damascene had no hesitancy in addressing our Lady in these words: “Pure and Immaculate Queen, save me, and deliver me from eternal damnation. St. Bonaventure called Mary the salvation of those who invoke her.
Cassian tells us, without. qualification, that “the whole salvation of the human race depends on the great favor and protection of Mary.” Whoever is protected by Mary will be saved; whoever is not will be lost.
Thus, Richard of St. Lawrence had good reason for saying: ” As a stone falls into the abyss when the ground goes from under it, so a person deprived of Mary’s help falls first into sin and then into Hell.”
St. Bonaventure says: “God will not save us without the intercession of Mary.” And again: ” A child cannot live without a nurse to suckle it; neither can a person be saved without the protection of Mary.”
And St. Germanus exclaims: “No one, O most holy Mary, can know God but through you. No one can be saved or redeemed but through you, O Mother of God. No one obtains mercy but through you, O full of all grace! . . .
“Human beings cannot be free from the effects of the concupiscence of the flesh, unless you open the way for them . . . Then what will become of us if you abandon us, O Life of Christians?”
But, a certain author objects, if all graces come through Mary, then when we ask the intercession of other Saints, they have to have recourse to the mediation of Mary. But no one, he argues, has ever believed or dreamed of such a thing.
As to believing it, I answer that there is no problem at all. What difficulty can there be in believing that God, to honor His Mother, after making her Queen of all Saints and wishing to have all graces pass through her hands, should also will that the Saints come to her to obtain favors for their clients?
Take, for one example, what Suarez says: ” Among the Saints, we do not make use of one to intercede with the other, because they are all of the same order. But we do ask them to intercede with Mary, because she is their Sovereign and Queen.
Or consider St. Bonaventure: “Whenever the Most Blessed Virgin goes to God to intercede for us, she commands all the angels and Saints to accompany her because she is their Queen, and to unite their prayers to hers.”
And as to saying that no one ever dreamed of such a thing, I find that St. Bernard, St. Anselm, St. Bonaventure, Suarez, and others expressly teach this doctrine.
Luther said that he “could not endure the thought that the Church of Rome should call Mary, who is only a creature, ‘our hope,’ for God alone [he said], and Jesus Christ as our Mediator, is our hope.” But the Church does teach us to invoke Mary on all occasions and call her our hope: “Hail, our hope!”
Certainly God is the only source and dispenser of every good, and the creature without God is nothing, and can give nothing.
But if our Lord has so arranged matters — as we have already shown — that all graces pass through Mary as through a channel of mercy, we not only can but must maintain that she, through whose means we receive God’s graces, is truly our hope.
Listen to what the Saints say. My children, she is my greatest confidence and the whole foundation of my hope! (St. Bernard) O Lady, with all my heart I have placed my hope in you and, with my eyes fixed on you, I look for my salvation from you! (St. John Damascene)
Mary is the whole hope of our salvation. (St. Thomas) O most holy Virgin, receive us under your protection, for we have no hope of salvation but through your means! (St. Ephrem)
This is the will of God, that we should receive every good thing from her hand, says St. Bernard. Therefore he advises us to recommend ourselves to Mary whenever we look for any favor, and then we are bound to receive it by her means.
Though you yourself do not deserve the favor from God (he says), Mary is deserving of it. “Because you were unworthy of the gift, it was given to Mary, that through her you might receive whatever you have . . . And whatever you offer to God, make sure to commend it to Mary, unless you wish to be refused.”
FOOTNOTES:
35. St. Jerome
36. St. Bernard
37. St. Anselm
6. Turn, Then, Most Gracious Advocate
Mary Is an Advocate with Power
to Save All
So great is the authority that mothers possess over their sons, that even if they are monarchs, and have absolute dominion over every person in their kingdom, yet never can mothers become the subjects of their sons. It is true that Jesus now in Heaven sits at the right of the Father, enjoying that distinction even as Man because of the hypostatic union with the Person of the Divine Word.
He has supreme dominion over all and also over Mary; nevertheless, it can always be said that for a time at least, when He was living in this world, He was pleased to humble himself and be subject to Mary. Says St. Ambrose, Jesus Christ having deigned to make Mary His Mother, inasmuch as He was her Son, He was truly obliged to obey her. And for this reason, says Richard of St. Laurence, “Of other Saints we say that they are with God; but of Mary alone can it be said that she was so far favored as to be not only herself submissive to the will of God, but even that God was subject to her will.
Therefore we say that, even though Mary can no longer command her Son, since they are not on earth any more, still her prayers are always the prayers of a Mother and are therefore most powerful in obtaining whatever she asks.
At the command of Mary all obey, even God. 38
She is omnipotent, for the queen, according to all laws, enjoys the same privileges as the king; and since the son’s power also belongs to the mother, this Mother is made omnipotent by an omnipotent Son. 39
Therefore, to use the words of St. Antonine, God has put the whole Church not only under the patronage, but even under the power and authority, of Mary.
Since, then, the Mother must have the same power as the Son, Mary became omnipotent because Jesus is omnipotent. Of course, the Son is omnipotent by nature, where Mary is omnipotent only by grace. This is proved by the fact that the Son never refuses the Mother anything she seeks, as St. Bridget learned in a revelation.
One day this Saint heard Jesus saying to Mary: ” Ask Me for anything; your request can never be in vain.” And this is the beautiful reason He gave: “Because you never refused Me anything on earth, I will refuse you nothing in Heaven.”
From the time that Mary came into the world, her one thought, along with seeking the glory of God, was to help the helpless. And even then, while here on earth, she enjoyed the privilege of being heard in all her requests.
Consider what happened at Cana. When the wine failed, the Blessed Virgin was touched with pity for the trouble and embarrassment of the bridal couple, and she asked her Son to help them with a miracle. She simply said to her Son: “They have no wine.”
But Jesus answered: “Woman, how does this concern of yours involve Me? My hour has not yet come. ” In other words, “It is not time yet for Me to work miracles; that will be when I begin to preach and will need miracles to confirm My doctrines.”
Yet, to content His Mother, He changed the water into the best of wines. How could it be that, against His own predetermined plans, He worked this miracle?
Actually, there was no violation of His own decrees; for although, generally speaking, the time for miracles had not yet come, still from all eternity He had established another decree to the effect that, when His Mother asked for anything, she was not to be refused.
St. Thomas comments on the expression, “My hour has not yet come.” He says: Here Christ wished to indicate that, if anyone else had asked for the miracle, He would not have granted it; but since it was His Mother who asked, He performed it.
Valerius Maximus tells how, when Coriolanus was besieging Rome, all the pleas of friends and citizens together were powerless to make him stop; but when his mother Veturia appeared on the
scene and begged him, he lifted the siege at once.
But Mary’s prayers to Jesus are far more powerful than Venturia’s, because Jesus’ loving gratitude to His dear Mother is far greater than that of Coriolanus.
One time St. Dominic commanded the devil to speak through the mouth of someone who was possessed, and these were the devil’s words: “A single sigh from Mary is worth more in God’s eyes than the prayers of all the Saints combined.”
The prayers of our Lady, being the prayers of a Mother, have in them something of a command; so it is impossible for her not to be heard. 40
Hence the famous dictum: What God can do by commanding, you can do by praying, O Blessed Virgin!
Is it not what we would expect of God’s great goodness, to uphold His Mother’s honor as He does, when after all He came not to break the Law but to keep it — One law being that we should honor our parents? 41
We are all under obligation to God for whatever we have, because everything is but a gift from Him; but by taking flesh from Mary and becoming Man, God was pleased to put Himself under obligation to her. 42
2.
Mary Is a Compassionate Advocate
for Even the Most Miserable
We have so many reasons for loving this truly lovable Queen that, if Mary were praised all over the world, if all preachers spoke about her alone, and if all human beings laid down their lives for her, it would be little compared with the honor and thanks we owe her for the tender love she feels for all, even for the most desperate sinners who happen to have the slightest spark of devotion to her.
She is the singular Refuge of the abandoned, the Hope of the miserable, and the Advocate of every sinner who turns to her. 43
“It is the great prerogative of Mary to be all-powerful with her Son. But what good would such a prerogative be, as far as we are concerned, if she did not bother about us? No, let us have no misgivings about it; and let us thank our Lord and His Blessed Mother. As she is far more powerful than all the Saints, to the same degree she is more tender and solicitous for our happiness.”
But suppose sinners have no doubts about her power, yet do wonder about her compassion, because they fear she will be reluctant to help any whose sins are as great as theirs. They ought to take heart from what St. Bonaventure says: Mary takes care of all, even of sinners. In fact, she glories especially in being called the ” Advocate of sinners,” as she once declared to the Venerable Sister Mary Villani: ” After the title of Mother of God, I glory most in being called the Advocate of sinners.”
We would be in a very bad way indeed, sinners as we are, if we did not have this great Advocate, who is so powerful and merciful, so prudent and wise, that the Judge, her Son, cannot condemn the guilty when she defends them. 44
Then all hail, O Court for settling every case! 45
St. Bonaventure calls Mary ” Abigail the Wise.” Abigail is the woman we read about in the Second Book of Samuel who knew so well how to appease King David with her beautiful prayers when he was angry with Nabal.
She was so successful that David blessed and thanked her for using her gentle persuasion to prevent him from taking personal revenge on Nabal. This is exactly what Mary is always doing in Heaven for countless sinners.
She knows so well how to placate the justice of God with her tender and compelling prayers, that God Himself blesses her for it and thanks her for stopping Him, when He might well abandon sinners and punish them as they deserve.
“So,” says St. Bernard, “our Heavenly Father, Who wants to show us all possible mercy, gives us Jesus Christ as our principal Advocate, and then gives us Mary as our Advocate with Jesus.
“It is true, of course, that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator of justice between human beings and God, and that, by virtue of His own merits, He can obtain for us and wants to obtain, pardon and grace as He promised. But in Christ human beings cannot help recognizing and fearing the Divine Majesty, which belongs to Him as God.
“So it was necessary to appoint another Advocate, to whom we can have recourse with less fear and with greater confidence. And this second Advocate is Mary .
“We can find no one with more compelling influence over His Divine Majesty, or with more mercy for us. . . We would insult Mary’s mercy if we feared to approach this sweetest of Advocates, who has nothing severe or frightening about her, but is all gentle, all lovable, all benign.
“Read as often as you like all that is said of her in the Gospels, and if you can find the least instance of severity recorded there, then you may fear to approach her . But you will never find such an instance. Then go to her cheerfully, and she will save you by her intercession.”
3.
Mary the Peace-Maker
Between Sinners and God
God’s grace is every soul’s greatest and most desirable treasure. The Holy Spirit calls grace an unfailing treasure, for it raises us to the dignity of friends of God.
For to human beings she is an unfailing treasure; those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God (Wis. 7: 14). It is your crimes, says Isaiah, that separate you from your God (Is. 59:2). Sin changes the soul from a friend into an enemy of God.
Then what can sinners do, who unfortunately have become God’s enemies? They must find a mediator to obtain pardon for them and help them recover their lost friendship. “Take courage,” says St. Bernard. “God Himself has supplied you with a Mediator — His Son Jesus, Who can
secure for you all that you long for.
“Dear God, how can people consider this merciful Redeemer severe, when He gave His very life to save us ? How can they think Him terrible, when He is all love?
“O despairing sinners, why are you afraid? Is it because you have offended God? But Jesus has fastened your sins to the Cross with His own pierced hands; He has made satisfaction for them to the Divine Justice with His own Death, and has already effaced them from your souls.
“But maybe His infinite Majesty frightens you — since He did not cease to be God when He became Man — and you would like another advocate to intercede with Him. Then go to Mary and she will plead with her Son for you. He will certainly listen to her and will then intercede with His Father, Who can deny nothing to such a Son.
“The Mother of God is the ladder of sinners, on which they mount to the heights of God’s grace. She is my greatest confidence. She is the whole ground of my hope.”
Beautiful as the curtains of Solomon (Song. l:4 — Vulgate): thus the Divine Spouse speaks of Mary. Only war was discussed behind the curtains of David’s tent; but peace alone was discussed behind Solomon’s curtains.
Thus the Holy Spirit gives us to understand that this merciful Mother never treats of war and vengeance against sinners, but only of peace and pardon.
The rainbow which St. John saw about the throne of God (Rv. 4:3) was an express figure of Mary. St. Bernardine of Siena says that this was the rainbow God meant when He promised Noah He would place His bow in the clouds as a symbol of peace, so that when He looked at it He might remember the eternal covenant of peace He had made with the human race.
Again, Mary is compared to the moon in the Song of Songs (6: 10). The moon is between Heaven and earth; so Mary puts herself between God and sinners to appease Him, and to give sinners light to return to Him. 46
When our Lady was created, the principal duty given her was to raise sinners from their state and reconcile them with God. “Feed your goats, ” God said when He made her (Song. 1:8). We know that sinners are represented as goats, just as the elect are represented as sheep. At the last judgment the sheep will be on the right hand, the goats on the left.
“The goats, O great Mother,” says William of Paris, “are entrusted to you, to change them into sheep. By their sins they deserve to be driven to the left, but your intercession lets them stand at the right.”
Our Lord revealed to St. Catherine of Siena that He had made this best beloved of daughters like some “sweet-tasting bait to catch human beings, and particularly sinners, and draw them to God.”
But here we ought to consider what William the Englishman has to say about the text, Feed your goats. “God recommended her own goats to Mary, for she does not save all sinners indiscriminately, but only those who serve and honor her.
“Those who live in sin and never honor her with any particular devotion, never pray for help to break away from sin, are goats indeed, but not Mary’s. At the last judgment they will be driven to the left with the damned.”
There was a certain nobleman who despaired of salvation because of his many sins. But a monk prevailed on him to visit a statue of our Lady in a particular church and pray to her there.
When he saw the statue he felt as if our Lady were inviting him to kneel at her feet and trust in her. He knelt down to kiss her feet, and at that instant Mary put out her hand to be kissed, and on it he saw these words written: “I will deliver you from your enemies.”
He was filled with such sorrow for his sins and such overpowering love for God and His tender Mother, that he died on the spot, there at Mary’s feet.
How many obstinate sinners are drawn to God every day by this magnet of hearts! ” As the magnet attracts iron,” our Lady once said to St. Bridget, “I attract hearts.” Even the most obdurate hearts she draws to God.
And we must not imagine such prodigies are rare; they are everyday occurrences. I myself could relate many cases that have occurred during our [RedemptoristJ missions when some sinners, who remained harder than steel through the sermons, were finally touched and brought back to God after hearing the sermon on the mercies of Mary.
Another purpose behind our Lady’s being made the Mother of God was that those sinners who, in the rigorous justice of God, could never be saved because of their wicked lives, might still have a chance for salvation through her sweet mercy and powerful intercession. 47
Mary was raised to the dignity of Mother of God more for sinners than for the just, since Jesus Himself protested that He came to call, not the just, but sinners. 48
If you are afraid that Mary will refuse to take your part when you come to her with your sins, you should remember that she can never turn you away, because God Himself has laid on her the duty of helping the miserable. 49
O sinner, whoever you are, sunk in sin, grown old in sin, never give way to despair.
In His eagerness to show you mercy God has given His Own Son as your Advocate. And then, to make your confidence even stronger, He has given another Advocate, who obtains through her prayers whatever she asks.
Go to Mary, and you will see salvation.
FOOTNOTES:
<>38. St. Bemardine
39. Richard of St. Lawrence
40. St. Antonine
41. St. Augustine
42. St. Methodius
43. St. Denis the Carthusian
44. Richard of St. Lawrence
45. St. John Geometra
46. St. Bonaventure
47. St. John Chrysostom
48. St. Anselm
49. St. Bonaventure
Thine Eyes of Mercy Toward Us
Mary Is All Eyes to Pity and Help Us St. Andrew Avellino used to style the Blessed Virgin our “Heavenly Agent,” who carries messages of mercy and obtains grace for everyone, just and sinner alike.
The Lord has eyes for the just (Ps. 34: 16). But our Lady has eyes for sinners as well as the just. The eyes of Mary are a mother’s eyes, and a mother not only watches her children to keep them from falling, but helps them up if they do fall. 50
O Mary, you are so full of mercy, so eager to help the unhappy, that you seem to have no other desire, no other anxiety. 51
And since there are none so truly unhappy as sinners, you are continually praying to your Son for them. 52
Maybe, says St. Peter Damian, now that she is raised aloft as Queen of Heaven, she pays no attention to poor creatures. But it would not be like her great compassionate heart, he adds, ever to forget such misery as ours.
The old proverb, Honors change one’s manners, does not apply to Mary. With people in the world it is a very different matter. When they secure some high position they grow proud and forget their old friends who happen to be poor. But Mary rejoices in her elevation, because it gives her a better chance to help the helpless.
St. Bonaventure applies to Mary the words addressed to Ruth: May the Lord bless you, my daughter! You have been even more loyal now than before (Ru. 3:10.).
He says: “If Mary’s compassion for the miserable was great when she was on earth, now it is much greater. By her countless graces for us she proves how much more merciful she has become, being now better acquainted with our miseries.”
It was revealed to St. Gestured that our Lady cannot resist, when one devoutly calls on her with the words, Turn then, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us. She is forced to listen.
We read in the life of Sister Catherine of St. Augustine that in the city where she lived there was a woman of the name of Mary who had led a sinful life from her youth. Refusing to mend her ways and at length growing old in sin, she was driven out of the city and had nowhere to live but in a secluded cave.
There she lingered on, neglected by all and half consumed by disease. At length, she died without the Sacraments and was buried in a field like a beast.
Sister Catherine always prayed with great fervor for the souls of those who had departed from this world. She heard about the unhappy end of this poor creature, but she never thought of praying for her, since she considered her (as did everyone else) irrevocably lost.
One day, four years afterwards, a soul appeared to her from Purgatory and exclaimed: “How miserable for me, Sister Catherine! You commend all the departed to God; for me alone you have no pity.”
” And who are you?” asked the servant of God.
“I am that poor Mary who died in the cave,” she replied.
“But how is it you were not lost?” said Catherine.
“I was saved through the mercy of the Blessed Virgin. For when I saw myself at the point of death, loaded with sins and rejected by all, I turned to the Mother of God and said to her: ‘O Lady, you are the refuge of all the abandoned; behold me here and now abandoned by all. You are my only hope; you alone can help me; have pity on me!’ “
“The Blessed Virgin obtained for me the grace of contrition. I died and so I was saved. But more than this — she my Queen granted me another grace, that my Purgatory should be shortened by enduring in intensity what could have been prolonged for many years.
” And now I need only a few Masses to free me entirely. I beg to have them said, and for my part I promise to pray to God and Mary for you.”
Sister Catherine had the Masses offered at once, and after a few days that soul appeared to her again, resplendent with glory , and said: “I thank you, Catherine. I am going now to Paradise, to sing the mercies of my God and to pray for you.”
Ah, wonderful Lady, your measureless mercy fills the whole earth!53
This loving Mother longs to do good to all human beings; she is offended not merely by those who actually insult and outrage her, but by all who neglect to ask her for favors or graces. 54
O Lady, in showering us with unmerited blessings, you have taught us to go on looking for further blessings!55
As our Lord is full of mercy, so is our Lady. As the Son knows no way to refuse mercy to those who ask Him, so it is with Mary.
The Abbot Guerric makes Jesus speak to his Mother in these words: ” Mother, in you I will set up the seat of My government. Through you I will pronounce judgments, hear prayers, and grant graces. You gave Me My human nature; I will give you My Divine nature” — that is, omnipotence, with which she can help to save anyone she pleases.
One day, when St. Gertrude was praying to our Lady with the words, Turn, then, thine eyes of mercy toward us, she saw our Lady pointing to the eyes of the Child in her arms and saying: “These are the most compassionate eyes that I can turn toward anyone who calls upon me.”
Once a certain sinner was weeping before a picture of our Lady, imploring her to obtain God’s pardon for him, when he saw our Lady turn toward the Infant in her arms and say: “Son, shall these tears be wasted?” He understood then that Jesus was already pardoning him.
How is it possible then for anyone who prays to this good Mother to be lost? Her Son has given His divine promise that He will show as much mercy as she requests to anyone who prays to her. He revealed this to St. Gertrude, letting her overhear Him make the promise to His Mother:
“I am omnipotent, O beloved Mother, and I give My pardon, just as it pleases you, to all sinners who devoutly ask your compassion.”
“Fill yourself with your Son’s glory,” says the Abbot Guerric, “and out of pure pity for us — not for any merit of our own — give your children whatever is left over.”
If the sight of our sins threatens to discourage us, we should turn to the Mother of Mercy with these words of William of Paris:
“O Lady, do not bring up my sins against me; I will set thy mercy over against them. And surely at the judgment my sins will never win out against thy mercy, for thy mercy will be far more effective in securing my pardon than my sins can be in bringing about my damnation.”
FOOTNOTES:
50. Richard of St. Lawrence
51. St. Bonaventure
52. St. Venerable Bede
53. St. Bernard
54. St. Bonaventure
55. St. Hildebert
8. And After this Our Exile Show Unto Us the Blessed Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus
Mary Saves Her Clients from Hell
It is impossible for clients of Mary to be damned, if they faithfully honor her and commend themselves to her. At first sight some may think this statement exaggerated. But I would ask them to first read what I am going to say about it.
When we maintain that clients of Mary can never be lost, we are not speaking of persons who abuse this devotion so that they can sin more freely. Those who disapprove of preaching so much about Mary’s mercy toward sinners, because they say it makes the wicked take advantage of it to sin more freely, are unfair in their judgment, for a sinner who presumes like this deserves punishment for being so rash, and not mercy at all.
We are speaking of those clients of Mary who sincerely determine to do better and are faithful in honoring her and recommending themselves to her. I say it is morally impossible for such people to be lost.
I find that Father Crasset says the same thing in his book on devotion to the Mother of God. And before Crasset, Vega puts it down in his Marian Theology, along with Mendoza and other theologians.
To show that these were justified in what they said, I will set down what some of the Doctors and Saints have said on the subject.
St. Anselm, for instance: “Just as it is impossible for persons to be saved who have no devotion to Mary and are not protected by her, so it is impossible for any who recommend themselves to her, and are therefore watched over by her, to be lost.” St. Antonine repeats this idea in practically the same words.
Pay particular attention to the first part of this opinion, and let all tremble for their salvation who make but small account of their devotion to the Mother of God, or grow careless and give it up: it is impossible for anyone not protected by Mary to be saved.
Many others say the same thing — for example, St. Albert the Great: All those who are not your servants, O Mary, shall perish. Or St. Bonaventure: Those who neglect our Lady will die in their sins. And in another place: Those who do not call on you in life will never get to Heaven.
Long before him, St. Ignatius the Martyr said this: No sinner can be saved except through your help and favor, O Virgin Mary; for those who would otherwise be damned through God’s justice are shown mercy and are saved through your intercession.
Some doubt whether St. Ignatius is the real author in this case, but at any rate St. John Chrysostom adopted the opinion as his own. Even the heretic Oecolampadius considered little devotion to the Mother of God a sure sign of reprobation; and therefore he said: Let it never be said of me that I reject Mary.
So it is that the devil does his utmost to make sinners give up their devotion to Mary after they have lost the grace of God. When Sarah saw Isaac playing with Ishmael, who was teaching him evil ways, she asked Abraham to banish both Ishmael and his mother Hagar: Drive out that slave and her son (Gn. 21:10).
She was not satisfied with having the son driven out of the house without also driving out the mother, because she feared the boy would keep returning to the house as long as his mother was there. In the same way, the devil is not content with a soul banishing Jesus Christ, unless it banishes His mother too.
He fears that the Mother will bring back the Son by her intercession. And he has good reason to fear, because those who continue their devotion to the Mother of God will soon get back to God Himself. 56
She has the will to save us, for she is our Mother and desires our salvation more than we can desire it ourselves.
If this is so, then how can clients of Mary ever be lost? They may be sinners, but if they recommend themselves to this good Mother with perseverance and purpose of amendment, she will obtain for them the necessary help to get back to the state of grace, to have true sorrow for their sins, to persevere in virtue, and at the end of all to die a happy death.
Is there any mother who would not save her child from death, if all she had to do was ask the favor from the judge? And can we imagine that Mary, who loves her clients with the tenderest love a mother ever had, would not save her children from eternal death, when she can do it so easily?
Hence St. Ephrem was right in calling devotion to our Blessed Lady the charter (or passport) to liberty, and Mary herself the protectress of the damned. Mary has both the power and the will to save us. 57
She has the power — it is impossible for a Mother of God to pray in vain. 58
Her requests can never be refused; she obtains whatever she wills. 59
What rage fills the devil when he sees a soul persevering in devotion to the Mother of God! We read in the life of Father Alfonso Alvarez, who had great devotion to Mary, that once, when he was praying and was troubled by the devil with impure thoughts, the devil said to him: “Give up your devotion to Mary, and I will leave you alone.”
God revealed to St. Catherine of Siena that, out of His infinite goodness and the love He bore to the Incarnate Word, He had granted this favor to the Mother of His Son: no one, not even sinners, who devoutly recommend themselves to her, would ever fall into Hell.
No one for whom Mary has once prayed will taste the sorrows of Hell. 60
If I have the Mother of Mercy to defend me, who will dare to say that the Judge will refuse me mercy when I come before Him? 61
Blessed Henry Suso used to say that he had put his soul in Mary’s hands. Therefore, if his Judge wished to condemn him to Hell, her most loving hands would have to handle the sentence.
I will hope for the same kindness for myself, O most holy Queen. And I will repeat the words of St. Bonaventure: “In you, O Lady, I have placed all my hopes.” I have therefore the utmost assurance that I shall never be lost, but shall praise and love you forever in Heaven.
2.
Mary Helps Her Clients in Purgatory
The clients of this most merciful Mother are very fortunate. She helps them both in this life and in the next, consoling them and sponsoring their cause in Purgatory. For the simple reason that the Souls in Purgatory need help so desperately, since they cannot help themselves, our Mother of Mercy does so much more to relieve them.
She exercises over these Poor Souls, who are the spouses of Christ, particular dominion, with power to relieve them and even deliver them from their pains. 62
See how important it is then to have devotion to this good Lady, because she never forgets her servants as long as they suffer in these flames. If she helps all the Poor Souls, she is especially indulgent and consoling to her own clients. 63
Our Blessed Mother once said to St. Bridget, “I am the Mother of all the Poor Souls, for my prayers serve to mitigate their sufferings every single hour that they remain there.”
She even condescends to go there herself from time to time and mercifully comfort her suffering children. How affable she is, how kind to the Poor suffering Souls ! Through her they receive continual consolation and refreshment. 64
What other consolation can they enjoy, except Mary and her merciful relief? Once St. Bridget heard Jesus say to His holy Mother: “You are My Mother, the Mother of Mercy, and the consolation of the souls in Purgatory.”
Our Lady herself told St. Bridget that the poor souls are comforted in simply hearing her name spoken, just as any person, sick in bed, is relieved by some word of solace.
That loving Mother, as soon as she hears the poor souls crying to her, offers her prayers to God. And her prayers, like dew from Heaven, refresh them in their burning pains. 65
Novarinus confirms this: Many good and reputable authors maintain that when Mary was about to enter Heaven, she begged of her Son the favor of taking all the Poor Souls with her. From then on, says Gerson, she kept the privilege of delivering her devoted clients.
St. Bernardine of Siena also positively asserts that the prayers and merits of the Blessed Virgin have the power of delivering Souls from Purgatory, and especially her own clients.
But she does more than comfort and relieve her clients. She even delivers them by her prayers. Gerson says that when she was assumed into Heaven Purgatory was emptied out.
Novarinus is of the same opinion and thinks that through Mary’s merits the torments of these souls are not only softened, but actually shortened through her intercession. She has only to ask and it is done.
St. Peter Damian relates how a certain woman, named Marozia, appeared after death to her grandmother and told her that, on the feast of the Assumption, our Lady had delivered her from Purgatory, along with a multitude of others outnumbering all the people in Rome.
St. Denis the Carthusian is of the opinion that on Christmas Day and Easter Sunday our Lady, accompanied by hosts of Angels, goes down into Purgatory and brings back many Souls to Heaven with her.
Novarinus confesses that he finds it easy to believe that the same thing happens on all her own solemn feasts.
People consider it an honor to have others adopt their particular livery. In the same way our Lady is pleased when her clients wear her scapular, as a mark that they have dedicated themselves to her service and are members of the household of the Mother of God.
Modern heretics, as usual, ridicule this devotion, but the Church has long approved it. In the year 1251 the Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Simon Stock, gave him the scapular, and promised that all who wore it would be saved from eternal damnation.
In a Bull long attributed to Pope John XXII, who died in 1334, we learn that our Lady wished it made known to all that on the Saturday after their death she would deliver from Purgatory all who wore the Carmelite scapular. The same promises were afterwards confirmed by several other Pontiffs, notably Paul V who, in a Bull of the year 1613, set down the conditions which must be fulfilled for the gaining of this singular mercy.
According to what is written in the solemn office of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we may piously believe that the Blessed Virgin comforts the members of the Scapular Confraternity in Purgatory with maternal love, and that she soon delivers them by her intercession and takes them to Heaven.
Besides the scapular of Mount Carmel, those of the Seven Dolors, the Blessed Trinity, and the Immaculate Conception have been enriched with indulgences. For my own part, I have been careful to receive them all. [See Note at bottom of page.]
It goes without saying, of course, what we must always presume — that the mere mechanical performance of some exercise, apart from the proper interior dispositions, such as love of God, sorrow for sin, purpose of amendment, and so forth, is not what God desires nor what pleases this good Lady and obtains her maternal assistance.
Why should we not look for the same graces and favors, if we are devoted clients of this good Mother? And if we serve her with a very special love, why should we not expect to go straight to Heaven, without even passing through Purgatory?
This grace was granted to Blessed Godfrey. Our Lady ordered Fra Abondo to bring him this message: “Tell Brother Godfrey to advance rapidly in virtue, and he will belong to my Son and to me; and when he dies, I will spare his soul from purgatory and will bring it and offer it to my Son.”
Finally, if we want to help the Poor Souls, let us do so by imploring our Lady’s assistance for them in all our prayers, particularly by saying the Rosary for them.
And I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord (Sir 24: Il — Vulgate). Devotion to the Blessed Virgin dwells in all who are the Lord’s inheritance — in all who will praise Him eternally in Heaven.
3.
Mary Leads Her Servants to Heaven
What a beautiful token of predestination it is to be a servant of Mary! The Holy Church, for the consolation of her clients, puts into her mouth the words of Ecclesiasticus, In all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord (Eccl. 29:2). Cardinal Hugo explains these words, and says, “blessed is he in whose house the Most Holy Virgin finds repose.” Mary, out of the love she bears to all, endeavors to excite in all devotion towards herself; many either do not admit it into their souls, or do not preserve it.
How many Souls are in Heaven now who would never be there if Mary had not brought them by her powerful intercession! So we pray to her without rest, in the words of St. Ambrose: “O Mary, open the gates of Heaven to us — you have its keys!”
Indeed, the Church calls her the very Gate of Heaven. And again she calls her Star of the Sea. For just as sailors are guided to port by a star, so Christians are guided to Heaven by Mary. 66
The Mother of God has already secured Heaven for us through her assistance and prayers; all that is needed is that we put no obstacle in the way.67
Therefore, those who serve Mary and enjoy her intercession are as sure of Heaven as if they were there already. 68
To serve Mary and belong to her court is the greatest honor we can have. For to serve the Queen of Heaven is the same as reigning there, and to live under her command is even better than reigning. 69
On the other hand, those who do not serve Mary will not be saved; for those who lack the assistance of this great Lady also lack the assistance of her Son and the whole court of heaven. 70
Even those who deserve Hell should never despair of reaching the kingdom of the blessed, provided they are faithful in serving this Queen .
Richard of St. Lawrence remarks that John, in his Revelation, saw Mary crowned with stars: And on her head a crown of twelve stars (12: 1). But in the Song of Songs she is said to be crowned with wild beasts, lions, and leopards: Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon, come! You shall be crowned . . . from the haunts of lions, from the leopards’ mountains (4:8).
How can this be? He answers that these beasts are sinners who, through Mary’s favor and intercession, have become stars of Paradise, making a better crown for this Queen of Mercy than all the material stars of the sky.
One day during the novena before the Assumption, Sister Serafina of Capri, the virginal servant of God, asked our Blessed Lady for the conversion of a thousand sinners, but then wondered whether she had asked for too much.
The Blessed Virgin appeared to her and reproved her for her groundless anxiety. “What are you afraid on Do you think I am not powerful enough to obtain from my Son the conversion of a thousand sinners? Look — I have already obtained such a favor.”
With these words Mary took her in spirit to heaven and showed her innumerable sinners who had deserved Hell. They had been saved through her intercession and were already enjoying eternal happiness.
True enough, no one in this life can be absolutely certain of salvation. Love from hatred human beings cannot tell (Eccl. 9:1).
But St. Bonaventure says: “Sinners, let us follow Mary closely. Let us cast ourselves at her blessed feet. Let us hold her fast and never let her go till we have won her blessing .” And her blessing assures us of Paradise.
It is enough, O Lady, if you will it; our salvation is certain. 71
Any soul on whom Mary turns her eyes will necessarily be justified and saved. 72
But what ought to encourage us more than anything else to be confident of salvation is the beautiful promise our Lady herself has made to all who honor her .
This is especially true of all who, by word and example, strive to make her known and loved by others: Those who serve me will never fail; those who explain me shall have life everlasting. (Sir .24:30, 31 — Vulgate).
“Oh, happy are they who obtain the favor of Mary!” St. Bonaventure exclaims. “The blessed will recognize them as their fellows in glory, and whoever bears her mark shall be entered in the book of life.”
Why then should we trouble ourselves about the opinions of theologians on the question, Does predestination to glory precede the prevision of merits or follow it? If we are true servants of Mary and obtain her protection, we will most certainly be enrolled in the Book of Life.
The Lord knows those who are His (2 Tm. 2:19). Whoever bears the mark of devotion to Mary , God recognizes as His own. So St. Bernard says that devotion to Mary is a most certain mark of salvation.
Blessed Alan says this: “Whoever honors our Blessed Lady with the frequent recitation of the Hail Mary has a very sure sign of salvation.” And again, regarding the recitation of the rosary, he says: “Those who say it daily have a very great assurance of salvation.”
Prayer of a Sinner to the Queen of Heaven
O Queen of Heaven, Mother of holy love! since thou art the of creatures, the most beloved of God, and His greatest lover, be pleased to allow the most miserable sinner living in this world, who, having by thy means been delivered from Hell, and without any merit on his part been so benefited by by thee and who is filled with love for thee, to love thee. I would were it in my power, to let all men who know thee not how worthy thou art of love, that all might love and honor thee.
I would desire to die for the love of thee, in defense of thy virginity, of thy dignity of Mother of God, of thy Immaculate Conception, should this be necessary, to uphold these thy great privileges. Ah! my most beloved Mother accept this my ardent desire, and never allow a servant of thine, to become the enemy of thy God, whom thou lovest so much.
Alas! poor me, I was so for a time, when I offended my Lord. But then, O Mary, I loved thee but little, and strove but little to be beloved by thee. But now there is nothing that I so much desire, after the grace of God, as to love and be loved by thee. I am not discouraged on account of my past sins, for I know that thou, O most benign and gracious Lady, dost not disdain to love even the most wretched sinners, nay more, that thou never allowest thyself to be surpassed by any in love.
Ah! Queen most worthy of love, I desire to love thee in Heaven. There, at thy feet, I shall better know how worthy thou art of love, how much thou hast done to save me; and thus I shall love thee with greater love, and without fear of ever ceasing to love thee.
O Mary, I hope most certainly to be saved by thy means. Nothing else is needed; thou hast to save me; thou art my hope. I will therefore always sing O Mary, my hope, thou hast to save me.
In addition to those mentioned by the Saint, there are now others, such as the Passion and the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
FOOTNOTES:
56. Paciucchelli
57. St. Bernard
58. St. Antonine
59. St. Bernard
60. St. Anselm
61. Richard of St. Victor
62. St. Bernardine of Siena
63. Novarinus
64. St. Vincent Ferrer
65. Novarinus
66. St. Thomas Aquinas
67. St. Antonine
68. Abbot Guerric
69. St. John Damascene
70. St. John Damascene
71. St. Anselm
72. St. Antonine.
9. O Clement, O Loving
The Clemency and Compassion of Mary
Referring to our Lady’s great compassion for sinners, St. Bernard calls her the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. And St. Leo tells us that, when he looks at her, he no longer sees God’s justice but only His mercy, for Mary is full of the mercy of God.
She is like a fair olive tree in the field (Sir 24: 14). Only oil (a symbol of mercy) is extracted from the olive; only grace and mercy flow from the hands of Mary.
Why is the fair olive tree pictured as standing in the field, and not in some garden, enclosed with walls or hedges? So that all can see her plainly, and get to her without trouble, to secure the remedy for all their evils. 73
And what safer refuge can we find than the compassionate heart of Mary? There the poor find a home, the sick a cure, the afflicted consolation, the doubtful counsel, and the abandoned help. 74
We would be poorly off indeed if we had no Mother of Mercy to attend to us all the time and relieve us in our needs. Where there is no woman, a person mourns who is in want (Sir. 36:27 —– Vulgate).
St. John Damascene comments: “This woman is no other than the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Wherever she is not, the sick person groans.”
It must be this way, since all graces are dispensed at Mary’s prayer. Where there is no prayer from Mary — there can be no hope of mercy, as our Lord gave St. Bridget to understand — “Unless the prayers of Mary interposed, there could be no hope of mercy.”
But perhaps you fear that Mary is not aware of our needs, or has no feeling for them. Ah no; she sees and feels them far better than we do ourselves.
There is not one among all the Saints who can ever feel for us in our miseries, of body and soul, like this woman, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. 75
The Roman historian Suetonius relates that the Emperor Titus was so eager to help anyone who came to him that, when a day passed without an opportunity to grant a favor, he used to say with regret: “I have lost a day.”
Probably it was only vanity that made Titus speak this way, or the desire for esteem, and not genuine charity at all. But if Mary , our Queen, had to pass a day without granting a grace, she could say what Titus said — but from a genuine desire to serve us, because she is full of charity.
Indeed, Mary is more eager to grant us graces than we are to receive them. Therefore, no matter when we go to her, we find her hands filled with generous mercies. 76
When the Samaritans refused to receive Christ and His doctrines, St. James and St. John asked Him if they should command fire from Heaven to fall on them and co sume them. But our Lord replied: “You know not of what spirit you are” (Lk 9:55 —– Vulgate).
Jesus as much as said: “I am so tender and merciful that I came from Heaven to save sinners, not chastise them, and you wish to see them lost. Fire indeed — and chastisement! Speak no more of chastisement, for that is not My spirit.”
So too in our Lady’s case: her spirit is the same as her Son’s, and we can never doubt but that she is all mercy. As she said to St. Bridget: “I am called the Mother of Mercy, and it was God’s mercy that made me so merciful.”
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun (Rv. 12: 1). St. Bernard says, “O Lady, thou hast clothed the sun, the Eternal Word, with human flesh, but He has clothed thee with His power and mercy . . . “
” Mary is so compassionate and kind that when sinners, no matter who they are, throw themselves on her charity, she does not investigate their merits, or consider whether they are worthy, but she hears and helps all.”
Therefore, St. Idlebert remarks, she is called as beautiful as the moon (Song. 6: 10). She pours her light and favor on all sinners, even the most unworthy, as the moon sheds her radiance on all creatures.
And though the moon, says another writer, gets all her light from the sun, yet she completes her cycle of work quicker than the sun —– that is, what it takes a year for the sun to do, the moon does in a month. So, according to St. Anselm, we often get our request more quickly by calling on Mary’s name than by calling on the name of Jesus.
We may be afraid (as we said in another place) to go directly to Almighty God, because after all it is His infinite Majesty we have offended. But we should never be afraid of going directly to Mary, because we will find nothing in her to terrify us.
True, she is holy, immaculate, and the great Queen of the universe. But at the same time she is also flesh of our flesh, a child of Adam.
Always keep in mind that our Lady’s protection is greater and more powerful than anything we can imagine. 77
How is it that the same God Who was so rigorous in punishment under the Old Law now shows such great mercy topersons guilty of far greater crimes? He does it all because of His love for Mary, and on account of her merits. 78
The world would have been destroyed long ago if it were not for Mary’s intercession. 79
And now that we have the Son as Mediator with the Eternal Father, and the Mother with the Son, we have full access to God and can go to Him with absolute confidence, hoping for every good thing from Him.
For how can the Father refuse to hear the Son, when He shows Him His side and His wounds, the marks of the sufferings He bore for sinners? And how can the Son refuse to hear His Mother, when she shows Him the breast that nursed Him? 80
Consider the following instance of the great mercy of Mary. In the year 1604, in a city in Belgium, there were two young students who gave themselves up to a life of debauchery instead of following their studies.
One night they were at the house of an evil woman; but one of the two, who was named Richard, stayed only a short time and then returned home. While he was preparing to retire, he remembered that he had not yet said the few Hail Marys that were his daily practice.
He was very tired and half inclined to omit them; nevertheless, he forced himself through the routine, saying the words half asleep and with no particular devotion. Then he lay down and fell asleep.
Suddenly he was wakened by a violent knocking at the door. The door was closed, but the figure of a young man, hideously deformed, passed through it and stood before him.
“Who are you?” Richard cried. “You do not know me?” asked the other. “Ah yes, now I do,” said Richard; “but how changed, with all the appearance of a devil!”
“Alas, unhappy creature that I am,” said his companion, “I am damned! When I was leaving that house of sin, a devil came and strangled me. My body lies in the street; my soul is in Hell.
“And know this — the same fate awaited you, except that the Blessed Virgin spared you for that little act of homage of the Hail Marys. If you are not a fool, profit by this warning which the Mother of God has sent.” He then opened his mantle, showing the flames and serpents by which he was tormented, and disappeared.
Breaking into a flood of sobs and tears, Richard went down on his knees to give thanks to Mary his protectress. Then as he pondered how to change his life he heard the bell of the Franciscan monastery ringing for matins. “It is there,” he said, “that God calls me to do penance.”
He went immediately to the monastery and begged the Fathers to admit him. Since they knew his wicked life, they were hardly willing to do so. But sobbing bitterly, he told them all that had happened. And when two Fathers had been sent to the street and had found the strangled body, which was charred and blackened, they admitted him.
From that time on he led an exemplary life and at length went to preach the Gospel in India, and thence to Japan. There he had the happiness of giving his life for Jesus Christ, being burnt alive for the faith at Nagasaki on September 10, 1622.
Let us conclude with St. Bernard’s beautiful and tender words:
“O Mary, thou art clement to those who need thee, compassionate to those who beseech thee, sweet to those who love thee! “Thou art clement to the penitent, compassionate to anyone striving for virtue, sweet to the perfect! “Thou art clement in working for us, compassionate in giving grace, sweet in giving thyself!”
FOOTNOTES:
73. Hugh of St. Victor (?)
74. Thomas a Kempis
75. St. Antonine
76. Bernardine de Bustis
77. St. Germanus
78. Author of the Pomerio
79. St. Fulgentius
80. St. Arnold Carnotensis
10. O Sweet Virgin Mary
Mary’s Name Is Sweet in Life and in Death
The great name of Mary did not come to her from her parents; it was not dictated by human mind or will — it came from Heaven and was given by Divine decree. St. Jerome affirms this, as well as St. Epiphanius, St. Antonine, and others. The name of Mary came from the treasury of the Divinity. 81
The whole Trinity, O Mary, gave thee a name above every name, after that of thy Divine Son, so that in thy name every knee should bend, of things in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth. 82
Of all the privileges which God attached to the name of Mary we will single out that peculiar sweetness which our Lady’s servants have found in it during life and in death.
The holy anchorite Honorius was in the habit of saying that “the name of Mary is filled with all sweetness and Divine savor.”
St. Anthony of Padua found the same sweetness in the name of Mary that St. Bernard found in that of Jesus. “Joy in the heart, honey in the mouth, melody in the ear is the name of Jesus,” said St. Bernard; “is the name of Mary,” said St. Anthony.
We gather from the Song of Songs that when our Lady was assumed into Heaven the Angels asked her name three times. “Who is she that comes up from the desert as a column of smoke? . . . Who is she that comes forth like the dawn? . . . Who is this coming up from the desert, flowing with delights?” (3:6; 6: 10; 8:5).
Why do the Angels ask the name of their Queen so often? Perhaps because it was so sweet even to them that they longed to hear it pronounced in reply. 83
But I am not concerned here with any particular sensible sweetness, since it is not granted to everyone. I am speaking rather of that saving sweetness called consolation, or love, or joy, or confidence, or strength, which the name of Mary generally brings to those who pronounce it devoutly.
After the most Sacred Name of Jesus, the name of Mary is so rich in blessings that there is no other in Heaven or earth which brings such grace, and hope, and sweetness to the devout.
The astonishing thing about this great name is this: the lovers of our Lady can hear it a thousand times, and yet it always brings them fresh delight, and they experience the same sweetness every time it is pronounced. 84
O most sweet name! O Mary, what must thou be thyself, when thyr very name is so lovable and
gracious! 85
St. Bernard, inflamed with love, lifts up his heart to this good Mother and says with tenderness: “O great! O loving! O worthy of all praise, most holy Virgin Mary! Thy name is so sweet and lovable that it cannot be uttered without inspiring love for thee and God! Those who love thee need only recall thy name to mind, and it is enough to console them and enkindle greater love.”
St. Bonaventure declares: “Thy name, O Mary, cannot be spoken devoutly without bringing some grace with it.” And the Blessed Raymond Jordano: “No matter how hardened and abandoned sinners may be, if they do no more than speak the name of the Most Blessed Virgin their hearts will be marvelously softened.”
O Lady, grant us this grace: to remember thy name frequently and to call to thee with loving confidence. For this practice shows that we have God’s grace already, or will soon recover it.
Thomas a Kempis affirms that the devils have such dread of the Queen of Heaven that they flee from anyone who pronounces her name, as they would flee from a burning fire.
Our Blessed Lady told St. Bridget that there are no sinners, however far from God’s grace, from whom the devils are not forced to flee immediately when they invoke her holy name with a firm resolution to repent. And on another occasion our Lady said to her: “Just as the devils fly from sinners who invoke my name, so do the angels come nearer.”
Breathing is a sign of life. So too the frequent utterance of Mary’s name is a sign of supernatural life, or a sign that will soon be there. For this powerful name has the prerogative of obtaining help and life for anyone who uses it devoutly. 86
It is well known — and our Lady’s clients experience the fact every day — that her great name gives that special strength which is needed to conquer temptations of the flesh. So St. Peter Chrysologus says that the name of Mary is an indication of chastity.
He meant that if some are worried whether they consented to impure thoughts, but remember that they invoked Mary’s name, they have a certain proof that they did not sin.
In dangers, in worries, in doubts, think of Mary, call on Mary; keep her name on your lips and in your heart. 87
Whenever we are in danger of losing God’s grace, we should think of Mary and invoke her name, together with the name of Jesus — for these two names belong together. If we keep them in our hearts and on our lips, they will give us strength to conquer every temptation.
The promises of help which Jesus has made to all who have devotion to the name of Mary are very consoling. One day, in the hearing of St. Bridget, He promised His most holy Mother He would grant special graces to those who invoke that holy name with confidence.
Jesus said He would grant perfect sorrow and satisfaction for sin; strength to attain perfection; eternal happiness at the end of all. And then our Savior added: “For your words are so sweet and pleasing to Me, O My Mother, that I can never deny what you ask.”
St. Ephrem goes so far as to say that the name of Mary is the key to the gates of Heaven. And so it is no extravagance in St. Bonaventure when he says that ” Mary is the salvation of all who call upon her.” By this he means that to secure eternal salvation and to invoke her name are synonymous.
Blessed Raymond Jordano asserts that the devout invocation of this sweet and holy name leads to superabundant graces in this life and a high degree of glory in the next.
“If then,” Thomas a Kempis says in one of his conferences, “you desire consolation in every affliction, go to Mary, call on Mary, honor Mary, commend yourself to Mary. Rejoice with Mary, lament with Mary, pray with Mary, walk with Mary, seek Jesus with Mary, desire to live and die with Jesus and Mary.
“If you do this, you will advance in virtue, Mary will freely pray for you, and Jesus will freely grant Mary’s prayers.”
So we see that the most holy name of Mary is sweet to her servants during life, because of the very great graces she obtains for them. But sweeter still will it be to them in their last hour, because of the peaceful and holy death it will insure them.
Father Sertorius Caputo, S.J., advised all who assist the dying to frequently pronounce the name of Mary. For this name of life and hope is enough to put the devils to flight and comfort the dying in their agony.
The invocation of the sacred names of Jesus and Mary is a short prayer — as sweet to think of, and as powerful to protect, as it is easy to remember. 88
What a grace if we could end our lives like the Capuchin, Father Fulgenzio of Ascoli, who died singing: “O Mary, O Mary, most beautiful of creatures, let us depart together!” Or like Blessed Henry the Cistercian, who died at the very moment that he was uttering the most sweet name of Mary.
Dear reader, let us beg God that at death the last word on our lips may be the name of Mary .St. Germanus prayed for this grace: “May the last movement of my tongue fashion the name of the Mother of God.” Sweet and safe is that death which is accompanied and protected by her saving name.
O my sweet Lady and Mother, I lovethee deeply, and because I love thee I love thy holy name too. I determine and hope to pronounce it constantly during life and at my death.
And with this, my dear reader, lover of our Mother Mary, I bid you farewell and say: Continue with joy to honor and love this good Lady, and do all you can to see her loved by as many as possible. Be assured that, if you persevere till death in true devotion to Mary, your salvation is certain.
I stop here, not because there is nothing more I could say about the glories of this great Queen, but for fear of wearying you. The little I have written should be more than sufficient to make you strive for the tremendous grace of devotion to the Mother of God. She will fully answer such devotion with her powerful patronage.
Accept then the desire I have had before me in this work, to lead you to salvation and sanctity, by inflaming you with love and ardent devotion to this most lovable Queen. And if you find that I have helped you, however little, by my book, I beg you, in your charity, to recommend me to Mary, and ask her to grant me the same graces that I ask for you, so that one day we may be together at her feet, with all he other dear children.
And to you I turn in conclusion, O Mother of my Lord and my Mother Mary. Graciously accept my poor labors and my desire to see you praised and loved by all. You know how anxious I have been to complete this little work on your glories before the end of my life, which is already drawing to a close. [See Note at the bottom of page.]
But now I die happy, leaving this book after me, which will continue to praise and preach you, as I have always tried to do since the day your prayers for me brought about my conversion.
O Immaculate Mary, I recommend to thee all those who love thee, and especially those who read this little book, and more particularly those who in their charity remember me to thee. O Lady, grant them perseverance, make them all Saints, and bring them at last to praise thee in Heaven.
O most sweet Mother, it is true I am only a poor sinner, but I glory in loving thee; I hope for great things from thee, and, among other graces, to die loving thee. I trust that in my last agony, when the devil brings my sins before me, the Passion of Jesus first of all, and then thine intercession, will support me and enable me to leave this life of misery in the grace of God, so that I may go and love Him, and thank thee, my Mother, for all eternity. Amen.
FOOTNOTES:
81. Richard of St. Lawrence
82. Richard of St. Lawrence
83. Richard of St. Lawrence
84. Abbot Francone
85. Blessed Henry Suso
86. St. Germanus
87. St. Bernard
88. Thomas a Kempis