CHAPTER III — Our Hope, We Salute You

Section 1 — Mary is the hope of all

The modern heretics cannot tolerate that we should salute and call Mary our hope: Spes nostra, salve. They say that God alone is our hope, and that God curses whoever places his hope in a creature: Maledictus homo qui confidit in homine (Jer. 17:5). Mary, they exclaim, is a creature; how can a creature be our hope? This the heretics say; but notwithstanding, the holy Church wills that every day all clergy and all religious raise their voices and, on behalf of all the faithful, invoke and call Mary by this sweet name of our hope, the hope of all: Spes nostra, salve.

In two ways, says St. Thomas the Angelic Doctor, we may place hope in a person: as a principal cause and as an intermediate cause. Those who hope for some favor from the king hope for it from the king as their lord, and hope for it from his minister or favorite as their intercessor. If the favor comes, it comes principally from the king, but it comes through his favorite; hence the one seeking the favor rightly calls that intercessor his hope. The King of heaven, because he is infinite goodness, supremely desires to enrich us with his graces; but since confidence is necessary on our part, to increase this confidence in us he has given us his own Mother as our Mother and our advocate, to whom he has given all the power to help us; and therefore he wills that we place in her the hopes of our salvation and of every good. Those who place their hope solely in creatures without dependence on God — as sinners do who, to acquire a man's friendship and favor, are content to displease God — these are certainly cursed by God, as Isaiah says. But those who hope in Mary as the Mother of God, powerful to obtain for them graces and eternal life — these are blessed and please the Heart of God, who wills to see so honored that great creature who loved and honored him in this world more than all other men and angels.

Hence we justly call the Virgin our hope, hoping, as Cardinal Bellarmine says, to obtain through her intercession what we would not obtain by our prayers alone. We pray to her, says St. Anselm, ut dignitas intercessoris suppleat inopiam nostram. So that, adds the saint, to supplicate the Virgin with such hope is not to distrust the mercy of God, but to fear our own unworthiness: Unde Virginem interpellare, non est de divina misericordia diffidere, sed de propria indignitate formidare.

Rightly, then, does the holy Church apply to Mary the words of Ecclesiasticus (24:24), calling her Mater... sanctae spei — the Mother who gives birth in us not to the vain hope of the miserable and passing goods of this life, but to the holy hope of the immense and eternal goods of the blessed life. Ave, animae spes, thus St. Ephrem saluted the divine Mother: ave, Christianorum firma salus: ave, peccatorum adiutrix: ave, vallum fidelium et mundi salus. Hail, he said, O hope of my soul; hail, sure salvation of Christians; hail, helper of sinners, defense of the faithful, and salvation of the world. St. Basil warns us that after God we have no other hope than Mary; and therefore he calls her post Deum sola spes nostra. And St. Ephrem, reflecting on the order of the present providence by which God has disposed — as St. Bernard says, and as we shall demonstrate at length further on — that all who are saved must be saved through Mary, says to her: Lady, do not cease to guard us and to place us under the mantle of your protection, since after God we have no other hope than you: Nobis non est alia quam a te fiducia, o Virgo sincerissima: sub alis tuae pietatis protege et custodi nos. St. Thomas of Villanova says the same, calling her our only refuge, help, and asylum: Tu unicum nostrum refugium, subsidium et asylum.

St. Bernard seems to assign the reason for this, saying: Intuere, homo, consilium Dei, consilium pietatis; redempturus humanum genus, universum pretium contulit in Maria. Look, O man, at the design of God, a design made so that he might more abundantly dispense his mercy to us: wishing to redeem the human race, he placed the whole price of Redemption in the hands of Mary, so that she might dispense it at her will.

God commanded Moses to make a propitiatory of purest gold, telling him that from there he would then speak to him: Facies et propitiatorium de auro mundissimo... Inde praecipiam et loquar ad te (Ex. 25:17, 22). An author says that this propitiatory is Mary, from which the Lord speaks to men, and from which he grants us pardon, graces, and gifts: Te universus mundus continet commune propitiatorium. Inde pientissimus Dominus loquitur ad cor, inde responsa dat benignitatis et veniae, inde munera largitur, inde nobis omne bonum emanat. And therefore, says St. Irenaeus, the divine Word, before becoming incarnate in the womb of Mary, sent the Archangel to request her consent, because he willed that from Mary the mystery of the Incarnation should come to the world: Quid est quod sine Mariae consensu non perficitur Incarnationis mysterium? quia nempe vult illam Deus omnium bonorum esse principium. Hence the Idiota said: Per ipsam habet mundus et habiturus est omne bonum. Every good, every help, every grace that mankind have received and will receive from God until the end of the world — all has come and will come through the intercession and mediation of Mary. The devout de Blois had good reason to exclaim: O Maria, quis te non amet? Tu in dubiis es lumen, in maeroribus solatium, in periculis refugium. O Mary, so lovable and so gracious to those who love you, who would be so foolish and unhappy as not to love you? In doubts and confusion you enlighten the minds of those who have recourse to you; in their afflictions you console those who trust in you; in dangers you assist those who call upon you. Tu post Unigenitum tuum, continues de Blois, certa fidelium salus. You, after your divine Son, are the sure salvation of your faithful servants. Ave, desperantium spes, ave, destitutorum adiutrix. Hail, then, O hope of the desperate, O help of the abandoned. Cuius honori tantum tribuit Filius, ut quod vis, mox fiat. O Mary, you are all-powerful, since your Son wills to honor you by immediately doing all that you desire.

And St. Germanus, recognizing in Mary the source of every good and our deliverance from every evil, thus invokes her: O Domina mea, sola mihi ex Deo solatium, itineris mei directio, debilitatis meae potentia, mendicitatis meae divitiae, vulnerum meorum medicina, dolorum meorum relevatio, vinculorum meorum solutio, salutis meae spes; exaudi orationes meas, miserere suspiriorum meorum, Domina mea, refugium, vita, auxilium, spes et robur meum. O my Lady, you alone are my comfort given by God, you the guide of my pilgrimage, you the strength of my weakness, the riches of my poverty, the remedy for my wounds, the relief of my sorrows, the loosening of my chains, the hope of my salvation. Hear, I pray, my supplications; have pity on my sighs, O you who are my Queen, my refuge, my life, my help, my hope, and my strength.

Rightly, then, St. Antoninus applies to Mary that passage from Wisdom: Venerunt autem mihi omnia bona pariter cum illa (Wis. 7:11). Since Mary is the Mother and dispenser of all good things, the world may well say, and especially those in the world who are devout to this Queen, that together with devotion to Mary they have obtained every good: Omnium bonorum mater est, et venerunt mihi omnia bona cum illa, scilicet Virgine, potest dicere mundus. Hence Abbot Celles said absolutely: Inventa Maria, invenitur omne bonum. Whoever finds Mary finds every good, finds all graces, all virtues; for through her powerful intercession she obtains all that is needed to make him rich in divine grace. She tells us that she holds within herself all the riches of God — that is, the divine mercies — to dispense them for the benefit of her lovers: Mecum sunt divitiae et opes superbae... ut ditem diligentes me (Prov. 8:18, 21). Hence St. Bonaventure said that we must all keep our eyes fixed on the hands of Mary, so that through her we may receive the good we desire: Oculi omnium nostrum ad manus Mariae semper debent respicere, ut per manus eius aliquid boni accipiamus.

Oh, how many proud souls through devotion to Mary have found humility! How many the angry who have found meekness! How many the blind who have found light! How many the desperate who have found confidence! How many the lost who have found salvation! And this is precisely what she foretold when in the house of Elizabeth she pronounced that sublime canticle: Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes (Lk. 1:48). Repeating these words, St. Bernard says: Ex hoc beatam te dicent omnes generationes, quae omnibus generationibus vitam et gloriam genuisti. Therefore all peoples shall call you blessed, because to all peoples you have given life and glory; for in you sinners find pardon, and the just find perseverance in divine grace: In te peccatores veniam, iusti gratiam inveniunt in aeternum. Hence the devout Lanspergius has the Lord say to the world: Matrem meam veneratione praecipua venerare. O men, says God, poor children of Adam, living amid so many enemies and so many miseries, take care to venerate your Mother with particular affection. Ego enim mundo dedi in puritatis exemplum, in praesidium tutissimum, ut sit tribulatis asylum. For I have given Mary to the world as your example, so that from her you may learn to live as you ought, and as your refuge, so that in your afflictions you may have recourse to her. Quam nemo formidet, nemo ad eam accedere trepidet. Propterea namque adeo feci eam mitem, adeo misericordem, ut neminem aspernat, nulli se neget; omnibus pietatis sinum apertum teneat, neminem a se redire tristem sinat. This daughter of mine, says God, I have made such that no one need fear her or have any reluctance to have recourse to her; for this reason I have created her of so kind and compassionate a nature that she cannot despise anyone who has recourse to her, cannot deny her favor to anyone who asks it. She keeps the mantle of her mercy open to all, and does not permit that anyone ever depart disconsolate from her feet. May the immense goodness of our God, then, be always praised and blessed, he who has given us this great Mother and advocate, so tender and so loving.

O God, how tender are the sentiments of confidence that the enamored St. Bonaventure had toward our most loving Redeemer Jesus and toward our most loving advocate Mary! Quantumcumque me Deus praesciverit, scio quod seipsum negare non potest. However much the Lord may have reproved me, I know that he cannot deny himself to one who loves him and who seeks him with his whole heart. Eum amplexabor, et si mihi non benedixerit, eum non dimittam; et sine me recedere non valebit. I will embrace him with my love, and if he does not bless me, I will never let him go, and he shall not be able to leave without me. In cavernis vulnerum suorum me abscondam, ibique extra se me invenire non poterit. If I can do nothing else, at least I will hide within his wounds, and there remaining, he will not be able to find me outside himself. In short, the saint added, if my Redeemer, on account of my sins, drives me from his feet, I will cast myself at the feet of his Mother Mary, and there prostrate I will not depart until she obtains my pardon for me: Ad Matris suae pedes provolutus stabo, ut mihi veniam impetret. For this Mother of Mercy has never known, and does not know, how to refuse compassion for misery or to fail to satisfy the wretched who have recourse to her for help: Ipsa enim non misereri ignorat, et miseris non satisfacere numquam scivit. And therefore, he concluded, if not from obligation, at least from compassion, she will not fail to move the Son to forgive me.

Look upon us, then, let us conclude with Euthymius; look upon us with your compassionate eyes, O our most compassionate Mother, for we are your servants and in you we have placed all our hope: Respice, o Mater misericordiosissima, respice servos tuos; in te enim omnem spem nostram collocavimus.

Example

It is related in the fourth part of the Treasure of the Rosary, at miracle 85, that there was a knight most devoted to the divine Mother, who had set up in his palace a devout oratory, where before a beautiful image of Mary he would often linger in prayer, not only by day but also by night, interrupting his rest to go and honor his beloved Lady. Now his wife — for he was married — a woman of much piety in other respects, observing that her husband would rise from bed in the deepest silence of the house and leave the room for a long time before returning, fell into jealousy and suspicion of wrongdoing. So one day, to free herself from this thorn that tormented her, she ventured to ask her husband if he was in love with another woman besides her. The knight, smiling, answered: Know that I love a lady who is the most lovable in the world. To her I have given all my heart; and sooner could I die than cease to love her. And if you knew her, you yourself would tell me to love her more than I do now. He was speaking, of course, of the Most Holy Virgin, whom he so tenderly loved. But the wife, falling into still greater suspicion, in order to verify the truth, asked him again if it was to find this lady that he rose from bed every night and left the room. And the knight, unaware of his wife's great distress, answered yes. The lady, then, falsely confirmed in what was not the case, and blinded by her passion — what did she do?

One night, when her husband as usual had left the room, in her desperation she took a knife and cut her own throat, and shortly afterward died.

The knight, having completed his devotions, returned to the room, went to get back into bed, and found it soaked through. He called his wife, and she did not answer. He shook her, and she did not stir. At last he took a light, and saw the bed full of blood and his wife dead with her throat cut. Then he realized that his wife had killed herself out of jealousy. What did he do? He locked the room, returned to the chapel, and prostrated himself before the Most Holy Virgin; and there, weeping bitterly, he began to say: My Mother, see what affliction I am in. If you do not console me, to whom shall I have recourse? Consider that it was in coming to honor you that I have had the misfortune of seeing my wife dead and damned. My Mother, you can remedy this; do remedy it.

Ah, whoever prays to this Mother of Mercy with confidence obtains whatever he wishes! Behold, after this prayer, a servant of the house called to him: Sir, go to the room, for your lady is calling you. The knight could scarcely believe it for joy. Go back, he said to the maid, and see whether she truly wants me. Yes, the maid returned saying, go quickly, for the mistress is waiting for you. He went, opened the room, and saw his wife alive, throwing herself at his feet in tears, begging his forgiveness and saying: Ah, my husband, the Mother of God, through your prayers, has freed me from hell! And so, both weeping for joy, they went to thank the Blessed Virgin in the oratory. The next morning the husband gave a banquet for all their relatives, to whom he then had his wife recount the whole event; and she showed the scar that still remained from the wound. And all were kindled to greater love for the divine Mother.

Prayer

O Mother of holy love, O life, refuge, and hope of ours, you know well that your Son Jesus Christ, not content with being our perpetual advocate before the Eternal Father, willed that you too should engage yourself with him to obtain for us the divine mercies. He has disposed that your prayers should assist our salvation, and has given them such power that they obtain whatever they ask. To you, then, I turn, O hope of the wretched; I, a wretched sinner. I hope, Lady, that through the merits of Jesus Christ and then through your intercession I shall be saved. In this I trust, and I trust so much that even if my eternal salvation were in my own hands, I would still place it in yours; for I trust more in your mercy and protection than in all my own works.

My Mother and my hope, do not abandon me, as I would deserve. Look upon my miseries, be moved to pity, assist me, and save me. I confess that I have so often closed the door to the lights and helps that you have procured for me from the Lord through my sins. But the compassion you have for the wretched and the power you have with God surpass the number and malice of all my offenses. It is known to heaven and earth that whoever is protected by you is certainly not lost. Let all others, then, forget me — but do not forget me, O Mother of almighty God. Tell God that I am yours, tell him that you defend me, and I shall be saved. O Mary, I trust in you; in this hope I live, and in this hope I wish and hope to die, saying always: Unica spes mea Iesus, et post Iesum Virgo Maria.

Section 2 — Mary is the hope of sinners

After God created the earth, he made two luminaries, one greater and one lesser — the sun to give light by day, and the moon to give light by night: Fecitque Deus duo luminaria magna; luminare maius ut praeesset diei, et luminare minus ut praeesset nocti (Gen. 1:16). The sun, says Cardinal Hugh, was a figure of Jesus Christ, whose light the just enjoy as they live in the day of divine grace; the moon was a figure of Mary, through whom sinners who live in the night of sin are illuminated: Luminare maius Christus, qui praeest iustis: luminare minus idest Maria, quae praeest peccatoribus. Since Mary, then, is this moon favorable to poor sinners, if any wretch, says Innocent III, finds himself fallen into this night of sin, what must he do? Qui iacet in nocte culpae, respiciat lunam, deprecetur Mariam. Since he has lost the light of the sun by losing divine grace, let him turn to the moon, let him pray to Mary, and she will give him light to recognize the misery of his state and strength to quickly escape from it. St. Methodius says that through the prayers of Mary, sinners are continually converted in almost innumerable numbers: Mariae virtute et precibus pene innumerae peccatorum conversiones fiunt.

One of the titles under which the holy Church has us have recourse to the divine Mother, and one that most greatly heartens poor sinners, is the title of Refuge of Sinners, by which we invoke her in the Litanies. In ancient times there were in Judea cities of refuge, where offenders who took shelter were freed from the penalties they had incurred. At present there are not so many cities of refuge as then, but there is one alone — Mary — of whom it was said: Gloriosa dicta sunt de te, civitas Dei (Ps. 86:3). But with this difference: that in the ancient cities, not all offenders found refuge, nor for every kind of offense; but under the mantle of Mary all sinners find shelter, for every sin they may have committed; it is enough that anyone have recourse to take refuge there. I am the city of refuge for all who come to me, says our Queen: Ego civitas refugii omnium ad me confugientium, as St. John Damascene has her say.

And it is enough to have recourse; whoever has the good fortune to enter this city need not even speak in order to be saved. Convenite celeriter, et ingrediamur civitatem munitam, et sileamus ibi (Jer. 8:14). This fortified city, explains Blessed Albert the Great, is the Blessed Virgin, fortified with grace and glory. Et sileamus ibi, the Gloss explains: Quia non audemus deprecari Dominum quem offendimus, ipsa deprecetur et roget. Since we have not the courage to beseech the Lord for pardon, it is enough to enter this city and be silent; for Mary herself will speak and pray for us. Hence a devout author exhorts all sinners to take shelter under the mantle of Mary, saying: Fugite, o Adam, o Eva, fugite eorum liberi intra sinum Matris Mariae. Ipsa est civitas refugii, spes unica peccatorum. Flee, O Adam, O Eve, and you their children who have offended God; flee and take shelter in the bosom of this good Mother. Do you not know that she is the only city of refuge and the only hope of sinners? As St. Augustine already calls her: Unica spes peccatorum.

Hence St. Ephrem says to her: You are the only advocate of sinners and of those who are deprived of all help. And thus he greets her: Ave peccatorum refugium et hospitium, ad quam nimirum confugere possunt peccatores. Hail, refuge and shelter of sinners, in whom alone sinners can find escape and shelter. And this is what David intended to say, an author reflects, when he said: Protexit me in abscondito tabernaculi sui (Ps. 26:5): The Lord protected me by hiding me within his tabernacle. And who is this tabernacle of God, if not Mary, as St. Germanus calls her? Tabernaculum a Deo fabricatum, in quo solus Deus ingressus est, sacris mysteriis operaturus in te pro salute omnium hominum. A tabernacle made by God, into which none entered but God, to accomplish the great mysteries of human Redemption. On this topic, the Father St. Basil says that the Lord has given us Mary as a public hospital, where all the sick who are poor and destitute of every other help may be received: Aperuit nobis Deus publicum valetudinarium. Now in hospitals built expressly to receive the poor, I ask: who are those who have the greatest right to be received there, if not those who are the poorest and the most infirm?

Therefore whoever finds himself most wretched, because most devoid of merits and most burdened by the ills of the soul — which are sins — may say to Mary: Lady, you are the refuge of the poor and sick; do not reject me, for since I am poorer than others and more infirm, I have the greater right that you receive me. Nescimus, let us say to her with St. Thomas of Villanova, nescimus aliud refugium nisi te. Tu sola es unica spes nostra, in qua confidimus. Tu sola patrona nostra, ad quam omnes aspicimus. O Mary, we wretched sinners can find no other refuge but you. You are the only hope in whom we confide our salvation; you are the only advocate before Jesus Christ, to whom we all turn.

In the Revelations of St. Bridget (Rev. extr., ch. 50), Mary is called Sidus vadens ante solem — a star that goes before the sun. So that we may understand that when devotion to the divine Mother is seen appearing in a sinful soul, it is a sure sign that before long God will come to enrich it with his grace. The glorious St. Bonaventure, to revive the confidence of sinners in the protection of Mary, pictures for us a sea in tempest, where sinners who have already fallen from the ship of divine grace, already tossed about by the remorse of conscience and the fears of divine justice, without light and without a guide, are on the point of losing the very breath of hope and falling into despair. With this thought, the saint seems to point them to Mary, commonly called the Star of the Sea, and raising his voice, says to them: Respirate ad illam, perditi peccatores, et perducet vos ad portum. Poor, lost sinners, do not despair; raise your eyes to this beautiful star, take breath and recover your confidence, for she will bring you out of the tempest and conduct you to the port of salvation.

The same says St. Bernard: Si non vis obrui procellis, respice stellam, voca Mariam. If you do not wish to be swallowed by the tempest, turn to the star and call Mary to your aid. For, says the devout de Blois, she is the only refuge of those who have offended God: Ipsa peccantium singulare refugium. She is the asylum of all the tempted and the afflicted: Ipsa omnium quos tentatio urget, aut calamitas aut persecutio, tutissimum asylum. This Mother of Mercy is all kind, all sweet, not only with the just but also with sinners and the desperate: Tota mitis est et suavis non solum iustis, verum etiam peccatoribus et desperatis. When she sees that they have recourse to her and hears that they seek her help from the heart, she immediately assists them, receives them, and obtains pardon for them from her Son: Quos ut ad se ex corde clamare conspexerit, statim adiuvat, suscipit et iudici reconciliat. She does not despise anyone, however unworthy he may be, and therefore she refuses her protection to none; she consoles all, and scarcely is she invoked than she immediately helps the one who invokes her: Nullum aspernens, nulli se negat: omnes consolatur, et tenuiter invocata praesto adest. With her sweetness she often attracts to her devotion and awakens sinners most indifferent to God and most immersed in the lethargy of their sins: Sua bonitate saepe eos qui Deo minus afficiuntur, ad sui cultum blande allicit; potenterque excitat, ut per huiuscemodi studium praeparentur ad gratiam, et tandem apti reddantur regno caelorum. So that through this means they may dispose themselves to receive divine grace, and at last be made worthy of eternal glory. Talis a Deo facta est, ut nemo ad eam accedere trepidet. God has made this beloved daughter of his of so compassionate and courteous a nature that no one can ever lose confidence in having recourse to her intercession. The devout writer concludes: Fieri non potest ut pereat qui Mariae sedulus et humilis cultor exstiterit. It is not possible that anyone be lost who attentively and humbly cultivates devotion to this divine Mother.

She is called a plane tree: Quasi platanus exaltata sum (Ecclus. 24:19) — so that sinners may understand that just as the plane tree offers travelers shelter beneath its shade from the heat of the sun, so Mary, when she sees the wrath of divine justice kindled against them, invites them to take shelter under the shadow of her protection. St. Bonaventure reflects that the prophet Isaiah in his time lamented, saying: Ecce tu iratus es, et peccavimus... Non est... qui consurgat et teneat te (Is. 64:5, 7): Lord, you are justly angry with sinners, and there is no one who can appease you on our behalf. Yes, says the saint, because at that time Mary had not yet been born into the world: Ante Mariam non fuit qui sic Deum detinere auderet. But if God is now angry with some sinner, and Mary takes him under her protection, she restrains the Son from punishing him and saves him: Detinet Filium ne peccatores percutiat. St. Bonaventure goes on to say that no one can be found more fit than Mary to stay even the hand of the sword of divine justice, lest it descend to punish the sinner: Nemo tam idoneus qui gladio Domini manus obiiciat. On the same thought, Richard of St. Lawrence says that God, before Mary was in the world, complained that there was no one to restrain him from punishing sinners; but that once Mary was born, she appeases him: Querebatur Dominus ante Mariam: Non est qui consurgat et teneat me; donec inventa est Maria, quae tenuit eum donec emolliret.

Hence St. Basil encourages sinners, saying: Ne diffidas, peccator, sed in cunctis Mariam sequere et invoca, quam voluit Deus in cunctis subvenire. Sinner, do not lose heart; but have recourse to Mary in all your needs. Call upon her for help, and you will find her always ready to assist you, for it is the divine will that she help everyone in every necessity. This Mother of Mercy has such a desire to save the most abandoned sinners that she herself goes seeking them to help them; and if they have recourse to her, she well finds the way to make them dear to God.

Isaac desired to eat some game, and therefore promised his blessing to Esau. Rebecca, on the other hand, wishing this blessing for her other son Jacob, told him to bring her two young goats, and she would prepare them to Isaac's liking: Pergens ad gregem affer mihi duos haedos (Gen. 27:9). St. Antoninus says that Rebecca was a figure of Mary, who says to the angels: Bring me sinners — who are signified by the goats — and I will prepare them in such a way — by obtaining for them sorrow and resolution — that I will make them pleasing and acceptable to my Lord. And Abbot Franco, following the same thought, says that Mary knows so well how to prepare these goats that they not only match but sometimes surpass the flavor of venison: Vere sapiens mulier quae novit sic haedos condire, ut gratiam cervorum coaequent aut etiam superent.

The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to St. Bridget (Rev. bk. 1, ch. 6) that there is no sinner in the world so hostile to God that, if he has recourse to her and invokes her aid, he will not return to God and recover his grace: Nullus ita abiectus a Deo qui si me invocaverit, non revertatur ad Deum. And the same St. Bridget once heard Jesus Christ say to his Mother that she would be ready to obtain divine grace even for Lucifer, if that spirit would humble himself to seek her aid: Etiam diabolo misericordiam exhiberes, si humiliter peteret. That proud spirit will never humble himself to implore the protection of Mary; but if such a case were to arise, Mary would have the compassion and the power through her prayers to obtain from God his pardon and salvation. But what cannot happen with the devil does happen with sinners who have recourse to this Mother of mercy.

The ark of Noah was indeed a figure of Mary; for just as in that ark all the brute beasts of the earth found shelter, so under the mantle of Mary all sinners find refuge — sinners who, through their vices and sensual sins, have already become like brute beasts. With this difference, however, as an author says: arca animalia suscepit, animalia servavit. In the ark the brutes entered and brutes they remained — the wolf remained a wolf, the tiger remained a tiger. But under the mantle of Mary the wolf becomes a lamb, the tiger becomes a dove. One day St. Gertrude saw Mary with her mantle open, and under it many wild beasts of various kinds — leopards, lions, bears — and she saw that the Virgin not only did not drive them away but with her kind hand gently welcomed and caressed them. The saint understood that these beasts are wretched sinners, who, when they have recourse to Mary, are received with sweetness and love.

St. Bernard, then, had good reason to say to the Virgin: Lady, you do not shrink from any sinner, however foul and abominable he may be, who approaches you; if he asks for your help, you do not disdain to stretch out your merciful hand to draw him from the depths of despair: Tu peccatorem quantumcumque foetidum non horres; si ad te suspiraverit, tu illum a desperationis barathro pia manu retrahis. Oh, may our God, O most lovable Mary, be forever blessed and thanked for having made you so sweet and kind even toward the most wretched sinners. Wretched is he who does not love you, and who, being able to have recourse to you, does not trust in you! He is lost who does not have recourse to Mary; but who has ever been lost who has had recourse to Mary?

We read in Scripture that Boaz allowed the woman named Ruth to go and gather the ears of grain left fallen from the hands of the reapers: Colligebat spicas post terga metentium (Ruth 2:3). St. Bonaventure adds: Ruth in oculis Booz, Maria in oculis Domini hanc gratiam invenit, ut ipsa spicas, idest animas a messoribus derelictas, colligere ad veniam possit. Just as Ruth found favor in the eyes of Boaz, so Mary has found favor in the eyes of the Lord, to be able to gather the ears of grain abandoned by the reapers. The reapers are the evangelical workers: missionaries, preachers, confessors, who through their labors continually gather and win souls for God. But there are rebellious and hardened souls that are abandoned even by these; to Mary alone it is granted to save these abandoned ears of grain through her powerful intercession. But wretched indeed are those who will not even let themselves be gathered by this sweet Lady! These will surely be utterly lost and accursed! Blessed, on the other hand, is whoever has recourse to this good Mother! There is no sinner in the world, says the devout de Blois, so lost and sunk in sin that Mary would abhor him and reject him. Ah, if he comes to seek her help, this good Mother will surely be able, and will know how, and will wish to reconcile him with her Son and obtain his pardon: Nullum tam exsecrabilem peccatorem orbis habet, quem ipsa abominetur et a se repellat, quemque dilectissimo Nato suo (modo suam precetur opem) non possit, sciat et velit reconciliare.

Rightly, then, O my sweetest Queen, St. John Damascene greets you and calls you the hope of the desperate: Salve, spes desperatorum. Rightly St. Lawrence Justinian calls you the hope of evildoers: Spes delinquentium. St. Augustine, the only refuge of sinners: Unica spes peccatorum. St. Ephrem, the safe harbor of the shipwrecked: Naufragorum portus tutissimus. The same saint goes so far as to call you protectress of the damned: Protectrix damnatorum. Rightly, finally, St. Bernard exhorts even the desperate not to despair; and filled with joy and tenderness toward this his most dear Mother, he says to her lovingly: Lady, who will not have confidence in you, if you assist even the desperate? I do not doubt in the least, he adds, that whenever we have recourse to you, we shall obtain whatever we wish. In you, then, let him hope who despairs: Quis non sperabit in te, quae etiam adiuvas desperatos? Non dubito, quod si ad te venerimus, habebimus quod volemus. In te ergo speret qui desperat. St. Antoninus relates that a sinner, finding himself in disgrace with God, seemed to stand before the tribunal of Jesus Christ: the devil accused him, and Mary defended him. The enemy presented against the poor defendant the record of his sins, which, placed on the scales of divine justice, far outweighed all his good works. But his great advocate — what did she then do? She stretched out her sweet hand and placed it on the other scale, making it sink in favor of her devotee; and in this way she gave him to understand that she was obtaining his pardon, if he would change his life. And indeed that sinner, after this vision, was converted and changed his life.

Example

The Blessed Giovanni Erolto, who out of humility called himself the Disciple (In Promptuar.), relates that there was a married man who lived in disgrace with God. His wife, a good woman, being unable to persuade him to leave sin, begged him that at least in his miserable state he might practice this devotion to the Mother of God: that every time he passed before one of her images, he would greet her with a Hail Mary. The husband began to practice this devotion.

One night, as the wretch was on his way to sin, he saw a light; he looked more carefully and realized it was a lamp burning before a devout image of Mary holding the Infant Jesus in her arms. He said the Hail Mary as usual; but then what did he see? He saw the Infant covered with wounds, dripping with fresh blood. Then, terrified and moved at the same time, reflecting that he with his sins had so wounded his Redeemer, he began to weep. But he noticed that the Infant turned his back to him. So, in complete confusion, he had recourse to the Most Holy Virgin, saying: Mother of Mercy, your Son rejects me; I can find no other advocate more compassionate and more powerful than you, who are his Mother. My Queen, help me; pray to him for me. The divine Mother answered him from that image: You sinners call me Mother of Mercy, but then you never cease to make me a mother of misery, renewing the Passion of my Son and my own sorrows.

But because Mary cannot bear to send disconsolate anyone who has recourse at her feet, she turned to pray to her Son to forgive the wretch. Jesus continued to show himself reluctant to grant the pardon; but the Blessed Virgin, setting the Infant down in the niche, prostrated herself before him, saying: Son, I will not leave your feet until you forgive this sinner. Mother, Jesus then said, I can deny you nothing. You wish him to be forgiven? For love of you, I forgive him. Have him come and kiss these wounds of mine. The sinner came, weeping bitterly, and as he kissed the wounds of the Infant, they were healed. At last Jesus gave him an embrace as a sign of pardon, and from that day forward the man changed his life and lived in love with the Most Holy Virgin, who had obtained for him so great a grace.

Prayer

I adore, O most pure Virgin Mary, your most holy heart, which was the delight and the resting place of God — a heart full of humility, purity, and divine love. I, an unhappy sinner, come to you with a heart full of filth and wounds. O Mother of mercy, do not disdain me for this, but be moved to all the greater compassion, and help me. Do not go seeking virtues or merits in me before helping me. I am lost, and I deserve nothing but hell. Only look, I beg you, at the confidence I have placed in you and the desire I have to amend. Look at what Jesus has done and suffered for me, and then abandon me — if you dare to abandon me. I present to you all the sufferings of his life: the cold he endured in the stable, the journey he made to Egypt, the blood he shed, his poverty, his sweat, his sorrows, the death he bore for love of me before your eyes; and for the love of Jesus, commit yourself to saving me.

Ah, my Mother, I neither wish to nor can I fear that you would reject me, now that I have recourse to you and ask your help. Were I to fear this, I would do an injustice to your mercy, which goes seeking the wretched to help them. Lady, do not deny your compassion to one for whom Jesus did not deny his blood. But the merits of his blood will not be applied to me if you do not commend me to God. From you I hope for my salvation.

I do not ask you for riches, honors, or other earthly goods. I ask you for the grace of God, love for your Son, the fulfillment of his will, and paradise, that I may love him forever. Is it possible that you would not hear me? No — you already hear me, as I hope; already you pray for me; already you procure the graces I have asked; already you accept me under your protection.

My Mother, do not leave me. Continue, continue to pray for me until you see me safe in heaven, at your feet, blessing you and thanking you for all eternity. Amen.