Cantigas de Santa Maria - Tantas en Santa Maria son mercees e bondades

TO THEE DO WE CRY, POOR BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE

Taken from "The Glories of Mary" by Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Mary is prompt to help those who invoke her

We are poor unfortunate children of Eve. As guilty before God as she, and condemned to the same penalty, we are doomed to wander in this valley of tears as exiles, weeping over our many afflictions of body and soul. But happy is he who can turn in the midst of these sorrows to the comforter of the world, to the great Mother of God, and who can devoutly and humbly pray to her: "Blessed is the man that hears me, and that watches daily at my gates" (Prov 8:34). Blessed, says Mary, is he who listens to my counsels and who watches at the gates of my mercy and invokes my intercession and aid.

Holy Church indicates quite clearly how attentively and confidently we are to have recourse constantly to this loving protectress. As a matter of fact, she commands us to have a special devotion to Mary. During the year, a certain number of feasts are to be celebrated in her honor. One day a week is to be specially dedicated to her. In the daily Office, all priests and religious are to invoke her in the name of all Christendom, and three times a day all the faithful are to greet her at the sound of the Angelus bell.

A deeper insight into the mind of the Church is gotten from the fact that in all public calamities the Church wants us to turn to Mary through novenas, special prayers, processions, and visits to her shrines. This is the way Mary wants it. She wants us constantly to seek and invoke her help. Not that she is begging for it, because all the homage we can show her falls far short of what she deserves. But as Saint Bonaventure says, she wants us to increase our confidence and in that way receive greater consolation and help.

Saint Bonaventure also says that Ruth is a figure of Mary because the very name Ruth means seeing and hastening. When Mary sees our miseries, she hastens to help us with her mercy. Novarinus adds that, because of her great desire to do us good, Mary does not delay. She is not a greedy guardian of her graces but the Mother of Mercy, and so she cannot help distributing the treasure of her graces as soon as she can.

Oh, how prompt this good mother is to help those who invoke her: "Your breasts are like twin fawns" (Cant 4:5). In explaining this passage Richard of Saint Lawrence says that, just as fawns are known for the speed with which they run, so also are the breasts of Mary quick to give the milk of mercy to any who ask for it. Richard assures us that Mary dispenses her mercy to everyone who asks for it, even though his prayer be only a simple Hail Mary.

Novarinus claims that the Blessed Virgin not only runs, but actually flies to help whoever calls on her. And he assures us that whenever Mary dispenses mercy she imitates God. Just as Our Lord immediately flies to the rescue of those who ask his help, mindful of his promise, "Ask and you shall receive" (Jn 16:24), so too, whenever Mary is invoked she actually hurries to help the one who prays. "God uses wings and immediately flies to help his servants; and the Blessed Virgin also dons wings to fly to our aid."

From this, we can readily understand how Mary is the woman mentioned in the Apocalypse, of whom it is said: "And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness" (Apoc 12:14). Father Ribera, S.J., explains this passage by saying that the two wings are the love wherewith Mary is ever flying toward God. "She has the wings of an eagle, because she flies out of love for God." But Blessed Amadeus has another explanation, one more in accord with our own opinion, and says that the two wings indicate the speed with which Mary always flies to the aid of her children, a speed that surpasses even that of the Seraphim: "At a most rapid speed, surpassing even the Seraphim, Mary, as a mother, flies everywhere to aid her own."

In Luke's Gospel, we read that when Mary went to visit Elizabeth and shower that entire family with grace, she did not tarry but made the whole journey rapidly: "Now in those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country" (Lk 1:39). Nothing is said in the Gospel about her also returning with haste.

From the fifth chapter of the Canticle of Canticles, we get the impression that Mary's hands are used to the lathe. Richard of Saint Lawrence explains that the use of the lathe makes difficult work easy and also enables the artisan to work swiftly. He explains the passage in Canticles (5:14) thus: "As the art of working a lathe is the quickest of all, so is Mary quicker than all the saints in doing good."

Mary has the greatest desire to console everybody. No sooner is she invoked, says Blosius, than she immediately hears the prayers and graciously helps the petitioner. That is why Saint Bonaventure rightly calls her "the salvation of all who call on her." He means to say that in order to be saved it is enough merely to call on Mary. According to Richard of Saint Lawrence, Mary is always found ready to help everyone who prays. And Bernardine de Bustis tells us she is more eager to do us favors than we are to receive them. "Mary is more anxious to do us good than we are to receive her benefits."

The fact that we have committed many sins should not lessen our confidence that Mary will hear us when we fly to her. Mary is the Mother of Mercy and there is no place for mercy where there is no misery to be relieved. Just as a good mother does not hesitate to apply remedies to the ulcerous wounds of her son, even though the treatment is annoying and nauseating, so too Mary cannot abandon us when we have recourse to her, even though the wounds of our sins be nauseating and revolting. This thought is the sentiment of Richard of Saint Lawrence who says: "For this good mother does not despise sinners any more than any good mother would despise her child who is afflicted with a horrible disease, for this reminds her why she became the Mother of Mercy. Where there is no misery, there is no demand for mercy." This is the very point that Mary wished to bring home to Saint Gertrude when Mary opened her cloak to receive all who turned to her. At the same time, the saint was told that all the angels of heaven constantly protect Mary's clients from the assaults of hell.

The Blessed Virgin's compassion and love are so great that she does not wait for our prayers before helping us. The Book of Wisdom expresses this beautifully: "She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desires" (6:13). Saint Anselm applies these words to Mary and says she forestalls those who desire her protection. By this we are to understand that she implores many favors for us from God before we even pray to her!

Precisely for this reason, says Richard of Saint Victor, is Mary called "beautiful as the moon" (Cant 6:9), because in flying to the aid of those who call on her, Mary is as swift as the moon in its course. Swifter, in fact, because she is so concerned about our welfare that she even anticipates our prayers. And, adds Richard, it is not possible for this benign queen to behold the want of any soul without immediately assisting it.

Mary, even when living in this world, showed at the marriage feast of Cana the extraordinary compassion she would exercise for us later in heaven - that compassion which would make her come to our aid even before we ask her. In the second chapter of Saint John, we read that Mary noticed the distress and embarrassment of the bride and groom because the supply of wine was running low. Without being asked, and listening only to the dictates of her compassionate heart (which can never notice the distress of others without feeling for them), Mary prevailed upon Jesus to relieve the situation. She merely mentioned to him: "They have no wine" (Jn 2:3). To spare the couple embarrassment, but even more to content the tender heart of his mother, Jesus ordered the water pots to be filled. Then he miraculously transformed the water into wine. Arguing from this fact, Novarinus remarks: "If Mary comes to the rescue so quickly, without being asked, what more will she do if she is asked?"

If anyone still doubts that Mary will hasten to his help when asked, let him feel rebuked by the words of Innocent III who says: "Who has ever called upon her from the dark night of sin, and was not relieved?" Blessed Eutychian asks the same question: "Who has ever faithfully implored your all-powerful aid and was abandoned by you?" Such a thing has never happened and never will happen. "I would be perfectly satisfied," says Saint Bernard, "if anyone who ever called on you and was not helped by you would never even speak about you and praise your mercy." But such a case has never occurred.

"Sooner," says the devout Blosius, "would heaven and earth be destroyed than Mary would fail to help anyone who asked for help, provided he did so with a good intention and with confidence in her." Saint Anselm, to increase our confidence, says this: "When we have recourse to Mary, not only may we be sure of her protection, but often we will be heard by Mary more speedily than if we had recourse to Jesus, our Savior." The reason he gives is that it is the office of Jesus as judge to punish, but it is Mary's role, as mother, to be merciful. He says this, not because Mary's power to save us is more powerful than her son's, for we know that Jesus is our only Savior, the only one who through his merits has brought about our salvation. But when we remember that Jesus is our judge, and that it is his province as judge to punish ungrateful sinners, we may become apprehensive and lack the confidence we need to be heard. Surely our confidence is greater when we go to Mary, whose only office as Mother of Mercy is to help us and defend us as our advocate. To substantiate this, we have the beautiful words of Nicephorus: "Many things are asked of God and not obtained. Many things are asked of Mary and obtained - not because she is more powerful, but because God has arranged this to honor her."

Saint Bridget heard Our Lord make a most sweet and consoling promise. In the fiftieth chapter of the first book of her Revelations we read how the saint one day heard Jesus say to his mother: "There is no prayer of yours that will not be heard. My dear Mother, ask for whatever you wish. I will refuse you nothing. And I also promise to hear the prayers of all who for love of you ask me for grace, even though they be sinners, provided they want to amend." Saint Gertrude heard our Divine Redeemer make the same promise to his mother, namely, that through his omnipotence he had granted Mary the power to reconcile all sinners who called on her for help in whatever way it should suit Mary to help them.

Let everyone, then, with the fullest and completest confidence, make this well-known prayer of Saint Bernard his own: "Remember, o most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection was left unaided." Therefore, forgive me, O Mary, if I say that I will not be the first unfortunate creature who has ever had recourse to you and was not abandoned.

O Clemens! O Pia! O Dulcis Virgo Maria!

Taken from "The Glories of Mary" by Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Precisely because Mary is our mother, let us see how much she loves us. Love for one's children is a natural instinct. That is why Saint Thomas points out that God's law commands children to love their parents, but gives no express command to parents to love their children. Saint Ambrose goes further and says that love for one's offspring is so strong a force and one so deeply implanted by nature itself that even the wild beasts have to love their young. Explorers tell us that when tigers hear the cries of their cubs when they have been captured by hunters, they will even plunge into the sea to reach the ships on which they are.

Since the very tigers, says our loving Mother Mary, cannot forget their young ones, how can I forget to love you, my children? And should the impossible happen, that a woman should forget her child, it is impossible that I forget a soul that is my child. "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will I not forget you" (Isa 49:15).

As we have said, Mary is our mother, not according to the flesh, but through love, "I am the mother of fair love" (Prov 24:24). It is her love for us that makes her our mother and, as a certain author observes, she glories in being the mother of love. All her love is for us, her adopted children.

It is absolutely impossible to analyze the love Mary has for us creatures. Arnold of Chartres tells us that at the death of the Savior, Mary desired, with intense ardor, to die along with him for love of us. And Saint Ambrose adds that while her son was hanging on the cross, Mary offered herself to the executioners.

Consider now the reason for such love, and you will come to some understanding of how much Mary loves us.

The first reason behind the great love Mary bears to men is the great love she bears to God. According to Saint John, love of God and love of our neighbor belong to one and the same commandment: "And this command we have from God, that he who loves God, love also his brother" (1 Jn 4:21). As the one love increases, so does the other. See what the saints have done out of love for their neighbor, because they loved God so much. They gave up everything, even their lives. Read what Saint Francis Xavier did in India. To help the souls of those people and to bring them to God, he went climbing mountains and submitted to all kinds of dangers in his quest for these poor wretches who, like animals, lived in caves.

Saint Francis de Sales, to convert the heretics in the province of Chablais, risked his life for a full year as he daily crossed the streams on an ice-covered beam to reach the other side and preach to those obstinate people. Saint Paulinus gave himself up as a slave to free the son of a poor widow. Saint Fidelis persisted in going to a certain place to preach to the heretics, even though he knew it would cost him his life. It was because the saints loved God so much that they succeeded in doing so much for their neighbor.

But who ever loved God more than Mary did? At the very first moment of her life, she loved God more than all the angels and saints did in the whole course of their existence - as we shall consider at length when we treat of Mary's virtues. Our Blessed Lady herself revealed to Sister Mary Crucified that the fire of love with which she was inflamed toward God was so great that if the heavens and the earth were put in it, they would be instantly consumed. Compared to it, the ardor of the seraphim is like a fresh, gentle breeze. Therefore, since neither angels nor saints surpass Mary in loving God, so no one, after God, loves us or can love us as much as Mary. And if we were to combine all the love that mothers bear their children, all the love of husbands for their wives, all the love of the angels and saints for their devoted clients, all this would not equal Mary's love for a single soul.

Father Nieremberg says that the love that all mothers have ever had for their children is but a shadow in comparison with the love which Mary bears to each one of us; and he adds that she loves us more than all the angels and saints put together.

Furthermore, Mary loves us so much because Jesus himself gave us to her when he said, just before dying: "Woman, behold your son" (Jn 19:26). He intended Saint John to represent all men, as we observed above. These were the last words her son said to her. The last mementoes our loved ones leave us at the point of death are always cherished and can never be forgotten.

Again, we are so dear to Mary because we caused her so much sorrow. Mothers generally love those children most who cause them the most labor and pain to be kept alive. We belong to this class of children. To obtain for us the life of grace, Mary had to suffer the pain of offering her own dear son to the executioners. She was content to see him die in torment before her very eyes. Through this grand sacrifice of Mary, we were born to the life of grace. Analogously, we may apply to Mary what was written of God's love for men in delivering his own Son to death: "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son" (Jn 3:16). Saint Bonaventure writes that it can be said of Mary: "Mary so loved us that she gave her only-begotten son."

When did she give him? She gave him first, says Father Nieremberg, when she gave him permission to go and die. Second, when she declined to defend her son's life before his judges when others, out of fear or hatred, failed to defend him. We can well believe that the words of so wonderful a mother would have influenced Pilate and stopped him from condemning to death a man whom he himself had recognized and declared as innocent. But no; Mary declined to say one word in favor of her son to hinder the death on which our salvation depended.

Finally, she gave him to us a thousand times at the foot of the cross during the three hours she watched him die. Every moment of these three hours, as her heart overflowed with sorrow and with love for us, she constantly offered the sacrifice of her son's life for us. So much so that Saint Anselm and Saint Antoninus maintain that, if there had been no executioners, she herself would have crucified him to obey the will of the Father who wished his Son to die for our salvation. If Abraham showed a similar courage in his willingness to sacrifice his son with his own hand, we must believe that Mary would have fulfilled God's will with even greater courage, since she is more holy and more obedient than Abraham.

Returning to our theme, how grateful we ought to be to Mary for so great an act of love! She sacrificed her son's life amid so much sorrow to obtain salvation for us all. God rewarded Abraham generously for his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. But how can we thank Mary enough for the life of her son, so much more holy and beloved than Abraham's son? The only gift we can give Mary is the gift of our own love, especially since Mary loved us more than anyone else ever loved us. Saint Bonaventure says: "No one besides Mary has loved us so much as to give an only-begotten and well-beloved Son for us."

This last reason supplies another motive why Mary loved us so dearly. She realizes the great price of the ransom her Son paid for our souls. Suppose a mother saw her beloved son ransom one of her servants at the cost of twenty years' hard labor and imprisonment. How highly she would esteem that servant! Mary knows very well that Christ came to earth for the sole purpose of saving us poor creatures. He himself protested: "The Son of man came to save what was lost" (Lk 19:10). And to save us, he was content even to lay down his life: "becoming obedient to death" (Phil 2:8). Were Mary not to love us, she would show very little appreciation of her son's blood, the price of our salvation. It was revealed to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary that from the time Mary entered the temple, she prayed continually that God would soon send his Son for the world's salvation. How much more does she love us now that he has come and purchased us at so heavy a cost!

Mary loves and favors all of us because all men were redeemed by Jesus. Saint John saw Our Lady clothed with the sun (Apoc 12:1). She is clothed "with the sun" because there is nothing on earth that can be hidden from the heat of the sun: "There is no one that can hide himself from his heat" (Ps 18:7). So too there is no living being on earth without Mary's love. The Blessed Raymond Jordano, who called himself the Unlearned, says: "From her heat, that is, from her love, no one can escape."

Who can form any idea, asks Saint Antoninus, of the great concern that Mary has for each one of us? That is why she offers and dispenses her mercy to everyone. As our mother, she longed for the salvation of all and cooperated in the salvation of all. It is evident, says Saint Bernard, that she was solicitous for the whole human race. According to Cornelius à Lapide, some clients of Mary have adopted the very beneficial practice of begging God to grant them the graces that Mary implores for them, saying, "Lord, give me whatever the Most Blessed Virgin asks for me." Cornelius à Lapide says this is very reasonable, since Mary desires greater favors for us than we ourselves could desire. Bernardine de Bustis says the same thing: "She is more eager to do you good and to be generous with her graces than you yourself could desire her to be."

Saint Albert the Great applies to Mary a text from the Book of Wisdom and says that Mary forestalls those who have recourse to her by making them find her before they even look for her. Richard of Saint Victor says that the love which this good mother has for us is so great that, as soon as she is aware that we need something, she runs to help us. "She comes before she is asked."

Now, if Mary is so good to all, even to the ungrateful and the negligent who do not love her and do not invoke her, how much more devoted will she be toward those who really love her and frequently call upon her? "She is easily found by them that seek her" (Wis 6:13). O how easy it is, says Saint Albert the Great, for those who love Mary to find her, and to find her filled with compassion and love! Our Blessed Mother protests: "Those who love me, I also love" (Prov 8:17). Though this most loving lady loves all people as her children, yet, says Saint Bernard, she knows and loves more tenderly those who love her. And these happy lovers of Mary, asserts Raymond Jordano, are not only loved by her, but are even served by her.

The Chronicles of the Order of Saint Dominic relate that one of the friars named Leonard used to recommend himself two hundred times a day to Mary, and that when he was dying he saw a most beautiful queen by his bedside. She said to him, "Leonard, do you want to die and come to my Son and me?" "Who are you?" he asked. And the queen replied, "I am the Mother of Mercy. You have prayed to me very often. Now I am coming for you. Let us go to paradise." The Chronicle says, "And Leonard died that very day, and, we hope, followed her to the kingdom of the blessed."

"Ah, my most sweet Mary," exclaimed Saint John Berchmans, S.J., "happy the man that loves you. If I love Mary, I am certain of final perseverance and I shall obtain whatever I ask from God." Therefore, this holy youth never tired of renewing his resolution and of repeating often to himself: "I will love Mary! I will love Mary!"

It is a truism that the Blessed Mother makes all her children advance in love. "She is especially amiable towards those who love her," says Saint Ignatius the Martyr. Let them love her as did Saint Stanislaus Kostka. He loved Mary so much that when he spoke of her he made everyone who heard him love her. He coined new words and invented new titles to honor her. He never did anything without first turning to Mary and asking her blessing. When he recited the Office, said his Rosary, and recited other prayers, he did so with such affection and devotion that he seemed to be speaking with Mary face to face. When the Salve Regina was sung, his whole soul and his countenance were aglow with love. On one occasion, while he and a Jesuit companion were on their way to visit a certain shrine of Our Lady, his companion asked him how much he loved Mary. He replied, "What more can I say than that she is my mother?" The Father afterwards said that when the youth spoke these words, he uttered them with such tenderness and devotion that he seemed no longer a man, but rather an angel speaking of love for Mary.

Let them love her as Blessed Herman loved her. He called her the spouse of his love, because Mary herself had honored him with that title.

Let them love her as Saint Philip Neri did. He was filled with consolation when he merely thought of Mary, and for that reason he called her his delight.

Let them love her like Saint Bonaventure, who called Mary not only his lady and mother but even his heart and his soul.

Let them love her like that great lover of Mary, Saint Bernard, who called her the "ravisher of hearts." To express his ardent love he would often say: "Have you not stolen my heart?"

Let them even call her "sweetheart," as did Saint Bernardine of Siena. Every day, he made a visit to a shrine of Mary and protested his love for her. When someone asked him where he went each day, he replied that he went to call on his sweetheart.

Let them love her as Saint Aloysius Gonzaga loved her. He loved her so much that whenever he heard her name mentioned his heart was inflamed and even his countenance reddened with a glow that everybody could see.

Let them love her as Saint Francis Solano did, who was considered mad (but with a holy madness) for love of Mary. He would sing before her picture and play a musical instrument, and claim, like worldly troubadours, that he was serenading his queen.

Finally, let them love her as did so many of her servants who could never do enough to show their love. Father John Trexo, S.J., used to call himself the slave of Mary. He often visited her in one or the other of her churches. Then, to prove his servitude, he would drench the floor with his tears. Next, he would wipe away those tears with kisses - all because this was the house of his lady.

Another Jesuit, Father James Martinez, was honored in a special way for his devotion to Mary. On great feasts he was taken by angels to heaven to see how the feasts were observed there. He would often say: "I wish I had the hearts of all the angels and saints to love Mary as they love her! I wish I could control the lives of all men, so that I could direct them all to the love of Mary."

Let still others love her as did Saint Bridget's son, Charles, who claimed he had no greater consolation on earth than knowing that God loved Mary so dearly. He also maintained that he would gladly accept any suffering rather than have Mary lose even one iota of her greatness, if indeed if were possible for her to lose any. Furthermore, he said that if her glory were his, he would renounce it in her favor since she is ever so much more worthy of it.

Let them desire even to lay down their lives as proof of their love for Mary, as Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez did. Let them love Mary as did those who carved the sweet name of Mary on their breasts with sharp knives, as did Francis Binanzio, a holy religious, and Queen Radigunde, the wife of King Clothaire. Let them love her as did those who took red hot irons and imprinted her name upon their flesh, so that it would remain there clear and long, as did John Baptist Achinto and Augustine d'Espinoso of the Society of Jesus, both driven to this by the vehemence of their love.

Even though these lovers of Mary exert their best efforts to prove their affection for her, they will never succeed in loving her as much as she loves them. "I know, O Mary," says Saint Peter Damian, "that you are most lovable and that you love us with an invincible love." I know, my Lady, he said in effect, that you love us with a love that is unsurpassable, that cannot be topped by any other love.

On one occasion, Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez, S.J., was praying before an image of Mary. His heart became inflamed with love for her and he cried out: "My dearest Mother, I know that you love me, but you do not love me as much as I love you." Mary, offended, as it were, on a point of love, immediately answered: "What are you saying, Alphonsus? My love for you is greater than any love you could have for me. The distance between heaven and earth is not so great as the distance between your love and mine."

Saint Bonaventure then was right in exclaiming: "Blessed are the hearts that love Mary! Blessed are those who serve her!" Yes, for Mary will never allow herself to be surpassed in love by her clients. "In this contest, she will never be worsted by us. She returns our love and always adds some new favors to past ones." In this respect Mary imitates our most loving Redeemer. She returns to those who love her their love doubled and redoubled in favors and benefits.

With Saint Anselm, so enamored of Mary, I also exclaim: "May the love of you, O Mary, make my heart languish and my soul melt!" May my heart always burn and my soul be consumed with love for you, my dear Savior, and for you, my dear Mother Mary. Through your merits, therefore, and not because I deserve it, grant my suppliant soul a love that is worthy of you. Therefore, through your merits and not my own, O Jesus and Mary, grant my soul the grace to love you as much as you deserve. O lover of souls, you were able to love guilty men unto death. Will you then refuse love for yourself and for your mother to one who prays for it?

Mary is the Mother of penitent sinners

From "The Glories of Mary" by Saint Alphonsus

Our Blessed Lady told Saint Bridget that she was the mother not only of the just and innocent, but also of sinners, provided they were willing to repent. Every sinner who wishes to mend his ways finds this good mother ever so willing to embrace and help him; far more so than any earthly mother. Saint Gregory VII had this thought in mind when he wrote to the Countess Matilda, saying: "Resolve to give up sin, and I promise you that you will find Mary more ready to love you than any earthly mother."

But whoever hopes to be a child of this great mother must first abandon sin. Only then can he hope to be accepted as Mary's son. Richard of Saint Lawrence, commenting on the words of Proverbs: "Her children rise up and praise her" (Prov 31:28), remarks that these words indicate that no one can be a child of Mary without first endeavoring to rise from the depths into which he has fallen. He who is in mortal sin is not worthy to be called the son of such a mother. And Saint Peter Chrysologus says, "He who acts differently from Mary plainly proves that he does not want to be her son." Mary is humble, and he is proud; Mary is pure, and he is evil; Mary is full of love, and he hates his neighbor.

"The sons of Mary," says Richard of Saint Lawrence, "imitate her, and they follow her chiefly in four things: in chastity, meekness, humility, and mercy." How can he who repudiates Mary by living a wicked life even dare to wish to be a child of Mary? A certain sinner once said to Mary, "Prove that you are my mother." But the Blessed Virgin answered: "Prove that you are my son."

Another sinner invoked Mary, calling her the "Mother of Mercy." And she replied: "You sinners, when you want my help, call me Mother of Mercy. But at the same time, you do not cease by your sins to make me a mother of sorrows and anguish."

We read in Ecclesiasticus, "He is cursed of God that angers his mother" (Ecclus 3:18). That mother, says Richard of Saint Lawrence, is Mary. God curses those who by their wicked life and by their obstinacy in sin afflict so good a Mother.

I say, by their obstinacy, for if a sinner, though he may not have given up his sin, endeavors to mend his ways and, for this purpose, seeks the help of Mary, this good mother will not fail to help him and make him recover the grace of God. One day, Saint Bridget heard Jesus say to his Mother: "You help everyone who tries to rise to God, and you leave nobody deprived of your consolation." But when the sinner is obstinate, Mary cannot love him. However, if he finds himself chained by some passion which makes him a slave of hell and still recommends himself to the Blessed Virgin and implores her with confidence to draw him out of that state of sin, there can be no doubt that Mary will reach forth her powerful hand, will deliver him from his chains, and will bring him to salvation.

The doctrine that all prayers and works performed in the state of sin are themselves sins was condemned as heretical by the Council of Trent. Saint Bernard says that, although prayer in the mouth of a sinner is devoid of all merit because it is not accompanied by charity, nevertheless it is useful and wins the grace to abandon sin. Saint Thomas teaches that the prayer of a sinner, though without merit, is an act which obtains the grace of forgiveness, since the power of impetration is based not on the merit of him who asks, but on the divine goodness and the merits of Jesus Christ, who said: "Everyone who asks receives" (Lk 11:10).

We must say the same of prayers offered to the Blessed Mother. "If the person who prays," says Saint Anselm, "does not merit to be heard, the merits of Mary, to whom he recommends himself, will effectually intercede for him." Saint Bernard exhorts every sinner to invoke Mary and to have the greatest confidence in praying to her, because, although the sinner does not deserve what he asks, it will be granted to Mary on account of her merits. And those graces will be given to the sinner which she begs of God for him.

Adam, the Abbot of Perseigne, uses this comparison. Suppose a mother knew that her two sons were deadly enemies and plotting each other's murder. What else would she do than try in every way to pacify them? "Mary," says the abbot, "is man's mother and Jesus' mother." When she sees a sinner become the enemy of Jesus Christ, she cannot bear it, and consequently does everything in her power to establish peace between them. "O happy Mary," he said, "you are the mother of the criminal and the mother of the Judge. You are the mother of both and you cannot suffer to see discord between your sons."

The only thing that Mary demands is that the sinner have recourse to her and intend to change his ways. When Mary sees a sinner at her feet begging for mercy, she does not concentrate on the sins with which he is burdened, but rather on the intention with which he comes. If he comes with the proper good intention, even though his soul be black with sin, she welcomes him, and like a loving mother, does not hesitate to heal all the wounds of his soul. For Mary is not merely called, but actually is, the Mother of Mercy. She makes herself known as such by the spontaneous love and tenderness with which she helps all who turn to her. This is precisely what she said to Saint Bridget; "No matter how much a man sins, I am instantly ready to welcome him back. I do not fix my attention on the number of his sins, but rather on the intention with which he returns. I will not refuse to anoint and heal his wounds, for I am called and really am the Mother of Mercy."

Mary is the mother of all sinners who wish to repent. And as such, she cannot help but pity them. In fact, she feels the misfortunes of her children as though they were her own. When the Canaanite woman begged Our Lord to free her daughter from the devil that troubled her, she said: "Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is sorely beset by a devil" (Mt 15:22). Now, since it was the daughter, and not the mother who was tormented by the devil, we would think she should have said: "Lord, have pity on my daughter," and not "have pity on me." Nevertheless she said: "Have pity on me." And rightly, because mothers feel the miseries of their children as if they were their own. Richard of Saint Lawrence says that is the way that Mary prays for sinners who have recourse to her: "Mary cries out with a loud voice for a sinful soul and says, 'Have pity on me.'" "Yes," she seems to say, "this poor soul is in sin. This soul is my child, and therefore have pity not only on her but also on me, her mother."

God grant that all sinners have recourse to Mary. Because then he will pardon them all. In rapture, Saint Bonaventure exclaims: "O Mary, you affectionately embrace the sinner who is despised by the whole world. And you do not leave him go till you reconcile him with his Judge." What the saint wants to say is, that a sinner is hated and despised by everybody. Inanimate creatures - fire, air, and earth - would like to punish him and take revenge on him for dishonoring their Lord whom the sinner has despised. But when the wretch turns to Mary, does she turn away? On the contrary. If he goes to her for help and is ready to mend his ways, she embraces him like an affectionate mother. And she will not rest till by her powerful intercession she has reconciled him to God and restored him to grace.

We read in the Second Book of Kings how that wise woman of Thecua said to David: "I had two sons. Unfortunately, the one killed the other, and so I have lost a son. Now in justice, they want to take the other, the only one left to me. Have pity on me, their poor mother, and do not let me be deprived of both my sons" (2 Kings 14). David wisely declared that the delinquent should be set free and restored to her. Mary seems to say the same thing when God is indignant against a sinner who has recourse to her: "My God, I had two sons, Jesus and man. Man has slain my Jesus on the cross and now your justice wants to condemn man. O Lord, my Jesus is already dead. Have pity on me. Now that I have lost the one son, do not make me lose the other also."

Surely God does not condemn those sinners who have recourse to Mary and for whom she intercedes. God himself has recommended these sinners as sons to Mary. The devout Lanspergius makes God speak in this vein: "I have commended sinners to Mary as her sons. No one committed to her care shall perish, particularly if he goes to her for help. In as far as it lies in her power, she will bring him back to me."

Who, says Blosius, can ever describe the mercy, the fidelity, and the charity with which this good mother seeks to save us whenever we beg her for help? Let us prostrate ourselves before her, says Saint Bernard, let us embrace her feet, let us not leave her until she has blessed us and received us as her children.

Who could ever mistrust the compassion of Mary? Saint Bonaventure used to say, "Even though she should ask for my life, I would still hope in her. Full of confidence, I hope to die before her image. And I know I shall be saved." Every sinner who has recourse to her should feel the same and should say: "O Lady, O my Mother! On account of my sins I deserve to be abandoned by you and punished according to my just desserts. But even though you would banish me and take my life, I will still trust in you and hope with a firm hope that you will save me. My entire confidence is in you. Give me the grace to die before your image, recommending myself to your mercy. That will convince me that I will not be lost and that I will go to praise you in heaven, in the company of so many of your servants who, when dying, called on you for help, and who were all saved by your powerful intercession."