Our Need of Mary’s Intercession for Salvation
To invoke and pray to the saints, and especially to the Queen of saints, most holy Mary, that they may obtain for us, by their intercession, the divine favor, is not only a lawful but a useful and holy practice. This is a matter of faith, established by the Councils against heretics who condemn it as injurious to Jesus Christ, our only mediator. But if Jeremias, after his death, prays for Jerusalem (2 Mach. 15:14); if the elders of the Apocalypse present to God the prayers of the saints; if St. Peter promises his disciples to remember them after his death; if St. Stephen prays for his persecutors; if St. Paul prays for his companions; if, in a word, the saints pray for us, why may we not implore the saints to intercede for us? St. Paul commends himself to the prayers of his disciples: “Pray for us” (1 Thess. 5:25). St. James exhorts Christians to pray for one another: “Pray for one another, that you may be saved” (James 5:16). We may then do likewise.
No one will deny that Jesus Christ is the only mediator of justice, and that by his merits he has obtained for us reconciliation with God. But, on the other hand, it is impious to deny that God is pleased to grant favors at the intercession of the saints, and especially of Mary his Mother, whom Jesus desires so much to see loved and honored by us. Everyone knows that honor paid to a mother redounds to her children (Prov. 17:6). Hence St. Bernard says: let no one think that by greatly praising the Mother he will throw the glories of the Son into the shade; for the more he honors the Mother, so much the more does he honor the Son. St. Ildephonsus says that all the honor paid to the Mother and Queen is rendered to the Son and King. And there is no doubt that, on account of the merits of Jesus, the great privilege has been granted to Mary to be the mediatrix of our salvation—not, indeed, mediatrix of justice, but of grace and intercession, as she is called by St. Bonaventure. St. Lawrence Justinian also says: How can she be otherwise than full of grace, who has been made the ladder of paradise, the gate of heaven, the most true mediatrix between God and man?
St. Anselm well remarks that, when we implore the holy Virgin to obtain graces for us, it is not that we distrust the divine mercy, but rather that we distrust our own unworthiness, and commend ourselves to Mary so that her merits may make up for our unworthiness.
It cannot be doubted, therefore, except by those who are deficient in faith, that it is a useful and holy thing to have recourse to the intercession of Mary. But the point that we here propose to prove is that the intercession of Mary is even necessary for our salvation—necessary, to speak properly, not indeed absolutely, but morally. And we affirm that this necessity arises from the will of God himself, who has ordained that all the favors he dispenses should pass through the hands of Mary. This is the opinion of St. Bernard, which may well be considered at the present day the common opinion of doctors and divines, as the author of “The Kingdom of Mary” has already called it. It is embraced by Vega, Mendoza, Paciucchelli, Segneri, Poiré, Crasset, and innumerable other learned authors. Even Father Noël Alexander, an author usually very reserved in his assertions, declares it to be the will of God that we receive all favors through the intercession of Mary. In confirmation of this, he quotes the celebrated passage of St. Bernard: This is the will of him who would have us receive all things through Mary. The same opinion is held by Father Contenson, who, explaining the words of Jesus Christ on the cross to John, “Behold thy mother,” says: It is as if he said, no one shall partake of my blood except by the intercession of my Mother. My wounds are fountains of grace, but to none can their streams be conveyed except by the channel of Mary. O John, my disciple, even as you love my Mother, so shall you be loved by me.
The statement that whatever we receive from the Lord comes to us by means of Mary does not find favor with a certain modern author who, although he treats with much piety and learning of true and false devotion, has yet shown himself very sparing, when speaking of devotion toward the divine Mother, in granting her the glory that St. Germanus, St. Anselm, St. John of Damascus, St. Bonaventure, St. Antoninus, St. Bernardine of Siena, the venerable Abbot of Celles, and so many other doctors have not hesitated to attribute to her—doctors who have not scrupled to declare that, for the reason mentioned above, the intercession of Mary is not only useful, but necessary. The above-named author says that this proposition—namely, that God grants no favor except through Mary—is a hyperbole and an exaggeration which has escaped from the mouth of some saints in a moment of fervor, and properly speaking is to be understood only in the sense that through Mary we have received Jesus Christ, by whose merits we receive all graces. Otherwise, he continues, it would be an error to believe that God could not grant graces without the intercession of Mary, since the apostle says: “There is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). So far the above-named author. But with his leave I will suggest to him what he himself teaches me in his book: that the mediation of justice by means of merit, and the mediation of grace by means of prayer, are very different things. Thus it is also one thing to say that God cannot, and another to say that he will not, grant favors without the intercession of Mary. We willingly acknowledge that God is the fountain of every good, and the absolute Lord of all graces, and that Mary is only a pure creature who, through grace, receives whatever she obtains from God. But who can deny that it is reasonable and proper to assert that God, in order to exalt this noble creature—who, more than all other creatures, has loved and honored him in her life, and whom he chose to be the Mother of his Son, the Redeemer of the world—has also seen fit to dispense through her hands all the graces that are to be granted to redeemed souls? We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the only mediator of justice, as we have stated above, who by his merits obtains for us grace and salvation; but we affirm that Mary is the mediatrix of grace. Although whatever she obtains, she obtains through the merits of Jesus Christ, and because she prays and asks for it in the name of Jesus Christ, yet all the favors we ask are obtained through her intercession.
In this there is certainly nothing opposed to the sacred doctrines; on the contrary, it is entirely conformed to the sentiments of the Church, who, in the public prayers approved by her, teaches us to appeal constantly to his divine Mother, and to invoke her as the Health of the weak, the Refuge of sinners, the Help of Christians, our life and our hope. The same holy Church, in the office she requires to be recited on the festivals of Mary, applies to her the words of Wisdom, and gives us to understand that in Mary we shall find every hope: “In me is all hope of life and of virtue.” That in Mary we shall find every grace: “In me is all grace of the way and of the truth.” In a word, that we shall find in Mary life and eternal salvation: “He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.” And again: “They that work by me shall not sin. They that explain me shall have life everlasting.” All these passages signify the need we have of the intercession of Mary.
This, then, is the sentiment in which so many theologians and holy fathers concur, of whom we cannot justly say, as the author quoted above has asserted, that to exalt Mary they have uttered hyperboles, and that excessive exaggerations have fallen from their lips. To exaggerate and utter hyperboles is to exceed the limits of truth, which cannot be said of the saints who have spoken enlightened by the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth. And here, if I may make a brief digression, let me express a sentiment of mine: namely, that when an opinion is in any way honorable to the most holy Virgin, and has some foundation, and is not repugnant to the faith, to the decrees of the Church, or to the truth, then to reject it and oppose it merely because the contrary may also be true indicates little devotion to the Mother of God. I would not be one of their number, nor would I wish you, my reader, to be one of them, but rather of the number of those who fully and firmly believe all that can be believed, without error, concerning the greatness of Mary. So says the Abbot Rupert, who places among the offerings of devotion most pleasing to this Mother a firm belief in her great privileges. If no one else, St. Augustine at least might remove from us all fear of exaggeration in the praise of Mary, for he asserts that all we may say in her praise is little in comparison with what she merits on account of her dignity as Mother of God. The holy Church also, in the Mass of the blessed Virgin, requires these words to be read: “For you are happy, O sacred Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise.”
But let us return to our subject, and hear what the saints say of the opinion in question. St. Bernard says that God had bestowed all graces on Mary, so that men, through her as through a channel, may receive whatever good is in store for them. Moreover, the saint here makes an important reflection, and says that before the birth of the most holy Virgin there existed no such current of grace for all, since this desired channel did not yet exist. But for this end, he adds, Mary has been given to the world: that through this channel the divine graces might continually flow down upon us.
As Holofernes, in order to gain the city of Bethulia, ordered the aqueducts to be broken, so the devil makes every effort to deprive souls of their devotion to the Mother of God; for if this channel of grace were closed, he could easily succeed in gaining them to himself. The same holy father continues, and says: Observe, then, O souls, with what affection and devotion the Lord would have us honor this our Queen, always seeking and confiding in her protection; for in her he has placed the fullness of all good, that henceforth we may recognize as coming from Mary whatever of hope, grace, or salvation we receive. St. Antoninus says the same thing: All the mercies ever bestowed upon men have come through Mary.
For this reason she is called the moon; because, as St. Bonaventure remarks, just as the moon stands between the sun and the earth and reflects upon the earth what she receives from the sun, so Mary receives the heavenly influences of grace from the divine Son, to pour them into us who are upon the earth.
For this reason, too, she is called by the holy Church the gate of heaven: “Happy gate of heaven.” For, as St. Bernard again observes, just as every grant of grace sent by the king comes through the palace gate, so it is given to Mary that through her you should receive whatever you have. St. Bonaventure, moreover, says that Mary is called the gate of heaven because no one can enter heaven unless he passes through Mary, who is its door.
St. Jerome confirms us in the same sentiment (or, as some think, another ancient author of a sermon upon the Assumption which is inserted among the works of St. Jerome) when he says that in Jesus Christ was the fullness of grace, as in the head, from which descend to the members—which we are—all the vital spirits, that is, the divine aids for attaining eternal salvation; while in Mary was likewise fullness, as in the neck, through which those vital spirits pass to the members. This is confirmed by St. Bernardine of Siena, who unfolded the thought still more clearly, saying that through Mary are transmitted to the faithful, who are the mystical body of Jesus Christ, all the graces of the spiritual life, which descend upon them from Jesus their head.
St. Bonaventure also attempts to assign the reason for this when he says: God, being pleased to dwell in the womb of this holy Virgin, she has acquired thereby, in a certain sense, a kind of jurisdiction over all graces; since when Jesus came forth from her sacred womb, all the streams of divine gifts proceeded from her, as from a heavenly ocean, together with him. St. Bernardine of Siena expresses this in even clearer terms. From the time, he asserts, that this Mother conceived in her womb the Divine Word, she acquired—if we may so express it—a special right to the gifts that proceed to us from the Holy Spirit, so that no creature has received any grace from God except by the intervention and hand of Mary.
And thus a certain author explains that passage of Jeremias where the prophet, speaking of the incarnation of the Word and of Mary his Mother, says that “a woman shall compass a man” (Jer. 31:22). The author just named explains this to mean that, as no line proceeds from the center of a circle which does not pass through its circumference, so no grace comes to us from Jesus, who is the center of every good, that does not pass through Mary, who encompassed him after she had received him in her womb.
Hence, says St. Bernardine, all gifts, all virtues, and all graces are dispensed by Mary to whom she will, when she will, and in the manner she will. Richard likewise says that God wishes all the good he bestows on creatures to pass through the hands of Mary. Hence the venerable Abbot of Celles exhorts everyone to have recourse to this treasurer of graces, as he calls her; for only by her means are the world and men to receive all the good they may hope for. From this it is evident that the saints and authors quoted above, in saying that all graces come to us through Mary, did not intend to say this only because we have received from Mary Jesus Christ, who is the fountain of every good (as the author named above would imply); but they assure us that God, after having given us Jesus Christ, has decreed that all the graces which have been, are, and shall be dispensed to men, even to the end of the world, through the merits of Jesus, shall be dispensed through the hands and by the intercession of Mary.
Hence Father Suarez concludes that it is the universal sentiment of the Church at the present day that the intercession of Mary is not only useful, but necessary. Necessary, as we said before, not in the sense of absolute necessity—because only the mediation of Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary for us—but in the sense of moral necessity; for the Church holds the opinion, with St. Bernard, that God has chosen to bestow no grace upon us but by the hands of Mary. St. Ildephonsus affirmed this before St. Bernard when, addressing the Virgin, he said: O Mary, God has decreed to commit to you all the favors he would confer upon men; hence he has confided to you all the treasures and riches of grace. And therefore St. Peter Damian says that God would not become man without the consent of Mary: first, that we might remain greatly indebted to her; and secondly, that we might understand the salvation of all men to be made dependent upon her good pleasure.
St. Bonaventure, contemplating the words of Isaias, where the prophet says, “There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse” (that is, Mary), “and a flower shall rise up out of his root” (that is, the Word incarnate) (Isa. 11:1), utters these beautiful words: Let him who would obtain the grace of the Holy Spirit seek the flower in the rod, Jesus in Mary; for by the rod we obtain the flower, and by the flower we find God. And he afterward adds: If you would have this flower, strive by your prayers to incline the stem of the flower in your favor, and you will obtain it. The seraphic Doctor, commenting also on the words “They found the child with Mary his mother” (Matt. 2:11), says: Jesus is never found but with and through Mary; and he concludes with these words: He seeks Jesus in vain who does not look for him with Mary. Hence St. Ildephonsus says: I would be a servant of the Son; and since no one can be a servant of the Son who is not a servant of the Mother, my ambition is to be a servant of Mary.
Example
Belluacensis and Cesarius relate that a noble youth, having squandered through his vices the wealth his father had left him, became so poor that he was forced to beg. He left his native land, that he might live with less shame in a distant country where no one knew him. On this journey he met one day an old servant of his father, who, seeing him so cast down by the poverty he was suffering, told him to take heart, for he would bring him to a prince so generous that he would provide him with everything he needed. Now this wretch was an impious sorcerer.
One day he took the youth with him to a wood beside a lagoon, where he began to address some invisible person. The youth asked to whom he was speaking. “To the devil,” he answered; and seeing the youth terrified, he told him not to fear. Continuing to speak with the devil, he said: “This youth, my master, is reduced to extreme need, and wishes to be restored to his former condition.” “If he will obey me,” said the enemy, “I will make him richer than before; but first, he must renounce God.” At this the youth shuddered, but, urged on by that cursed magician, he yielded, and renounced God. “But this is not enough,” said the demon; “he must also renounce Mary, for it is to her that we owe our greatest losses. Oh, how many souls she has snatched from us and led back to God and saved!” “Oh, this I will not do,” exclaimed the youth. “Deny Mary! Why, she is my only hope. I would rather be a beggar all my life.” And with these words he left the place.
On his way he happened to pass a church dedicated to Mary. The unhappy youth went in, and, kneeling before her altar, began to weep and to implore the most holy Virgin to obtain for him the pardon of his sins. Mary at once began to intercede with her Son for that miserable soul. At first Jesus said: “But that ungrateful youth, my Mother, has denied me.” Yet seeing that his Mother still continued to entreat him, he said at last: “My Mother, I have never refused you anything; he shall be pardoned, since you ask it.”
The citizen who had purchased the inheritance of that prodigal was secretly present at this scene, and beholding the mercy of Mary toward that sinner, he gave him his only daughter in marriage and made him heir of all his possessions. Thus that youth recovered, through the intercession of Mary, the favor of God and even his temporal possessions.
Prayer
O my soul, behold the beautiful hope of salvation and of life eternal which the Lord has granted you, by giving you, in his mercy, confidence in the protection of his Mother—you who by your sins have so often merited his displeasure and the pains of hell. Give thanks, then, to God, and to your protectress, Mary, who has deigned to shelter you beneath her mantle, as already you surely know by the many graces that you have received through her. Yes, I thank you, O my loving Mother, for the good you have done me, a miserable sinner, deserving of hell. From how many dangers have you delivered me, O my Queen! How much light and how many mercies have you obtained for me from God by your intercession! What great advantage, what great honor have you received from me, that you are thus intent on doing me good?
Your goodness alone, then, has moved you on my behalf. Ah, if I were to give my blood, my life, for you, it would be little compared to what I owe you; for you have delivered me from eternal death, you who have enabled me to recover, as I hope, the divine favor, and from you finally I acknowledge all my blessings to flow. O my Lady, most worthy of love, I, a miserable creature, can make you no return but always to praise and love you. Ah, do not disdain to accept the affection of a poor sinner who is enamored of your goodness. If my heart is not worthy to love you, because it is evil and full of earthly affections, do you change it. Ah, unite me to my God, and unite me so that I can never be separated from his love. This you desire of me, that I may love your God, and this I wish from you. Obtain for me that I may love him, and love him always, and I ask nothing more. Amen.
Our Need of Mary’s Intercession, Continued
St. Bernard says that, as a man and a woman cooperated in our ruin, so it was fitting that another man and another woman should cooperate in our restoration; and these were Jesus and his Mother Mary. Doubtless, says the saint, Jesus Christ alone was all-sufficient for our redemption; yet it was more fitting that each sex should take part in our redemption, since both had taken part in our corruption. For this reason Blessed Albertus Magnus calls Mary the cooperatrix with Christ in our redemption. And she herself revealed to St. Bridget that, as Adam and Eve sold the world for one apple, so her Son and herself, with one heart, redeemed the world. God could indeed, as St. Anselm asserts, create the world from nothing; but when it was lost by sin, he would not redeem it without the cooperation of Mary.
In three ways, says Father Suarez, the divine Mother shared in the work of our salvation: first, by having merited—that is, with the merit of congruity—the Incarnation of the Word; secondly, by praying much for us while she lived on earth; thirdly, by willingly sacrificing to God the life of her Son for our salvation. And therefore the Lord has justly ordained that, as Mary, with so much love for man, aided in the salvation of all, and thereby so greatly promoted the glory of God, so all shall obtain salvation through her intercession.
Mary is called the cooperatrix with her Son in our justification, because God has committed to her keeping all the graces that he has destined for us. And so St. Bernard affirms that all men—past, present, and to come—should regard her as the channel and the negotiator of the salvation of all ages.
Jesus Christ has said that no one could find him unless his eternal Father drew him by his divine grace. So too, according to Richard, Jesus said of his Mother: No one comes to me unless my Mother draws him with her prayers. Jesus was the fruit of Mary, as Elizabeth expressed it: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 1:42). Whoever, then, wishes for the fruit must go to the tree; whoever wishes for Jesus must go to Mary; and whoever finds Mary certainly finds Jesus also. When the most holy Virgin came to visit her in her house, St. Elizabeth, not knowing how to thank her, exclaimed in deep humility: “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43). But why, we may ask, did Elizabeth not already know that not Mary only, but Jesus also, had entered her dwelling? And why does she call herself unworthy to receive the Mother, rather than unworthy to receive a visit from the Son? Ah, well did the saint understand that when Mary comes she brings Jesus also; and hence it was enough for her to thank the Mother, without naming the Son.
“She is like the merchant’s ship, she bringeth her bread from afar” (Prov. 31:14). Mary is that blessed ship which brought to us from heaven Jesus Christ, the living bread that came down from heaven to give us life eternal, as he has said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever” (John 6:51–52). Hence Richard of St. Laurence says that all those will be lost in the sea of this world who are not received into this ship—that is, who are not protected by Mary. He adds that whenever we find ourselves in danger of destruction from the temptations or passions of the present life, we ought to flee to Mary, crying out quickly: O Lady, help us; save us, if you would not see us lost. And let it be noted here, in passing, that this writer does not hesitate to say to Mary: Save us, we perish—unlike the author mentioned several times in the previous section, who denies that we may ask the Virgin to save us, because, as he says, it belongs to God alone to save us. But if a person condemned to death may ask some favorite of the king to save him by interceding for him with his prince, why may we not implore the Mother of God to save us by obtaining for us, through her prayers, the grace of eternal life? St. John of Damascus did not hesitate to say to the Virgin: O pure and immaculate Queen, save me, deliver me from eternal damnation. St. Bonaventure called Mary the salvation of those who invoke her. The Church allows us to invoke her as the Health of the weak; and shall we hesitate to ask her to save us, when, according to a certain author, to no one is the door of salvation opened except through her? And before him St. Germanus, speaking of Mary, said: No one can be saved except through you.
But let us see what more the saints say of the need we have of the intercession of the divine Mother. The glorious St. Cajetan said that we may ask for graces, but we shall never obtain them without the intercession of Mary. And St. Antoninus confirms this, expressing himself thus beautifully: Whoever asks and wishes to obtain graces without the intercession of Mary attempts to fly without wings. For, as Pharaoh said to Joseph, “The land of Egypt is in thy hand”; and as he sent to Joseph all those who applied to him for help, saying, Go to Joseph—so God, when we entreat him for favors, sends us to Mary: Go to Mary. For he has decreed, says St. Bernard, that he will grant no favors except through the hands of Mary. Hence Richard of St. Laurence says: Our salvation is in the hands of Mary, and we Christians can say to her with more justice than the Egyptians said to Joseph: Our salvation is in your hand. The venerable Idiot says the same: Our salvation is in her hands. Cassian asserts the same, but in stronger terms; he affirms absolutely that the salvation of the whole world depends upon the favor and protection of Mary. St. Bernardine of Siena thus addresses her: O Lady, since you are the dispenser of all graces, and we must receive the grace of salvation through your hand alone, then our salvation depends on you.
Richard says rightly, then, that as a stone falls the moment the earth is removed from beneath it, so a soul, if the support of Mary is taken away, will fall first into sin and then into hell. St. Bonaventure adds that God will not save us without the intercession of Mary, and goes on to say that, as an infant cannot live without its nurse, so no one can be saved without the protection of Mary. Therefore he exhorts us in this way: Let your soul thirst for devotion to Mary; preserve it always, and never abandon it, until you arrive in heaven and receive her maternal benediction. Who, says St. Germanus, would ever know God, were it not through you, O most holy Mary? Who would be saved? Who would be free from peril? Who would receive any favor, were it not through you, O Mother of God, O Virgin Mother, O full of grace? And in another place he says: If you did not open the way, no one would be freed from the sting of the flesh and of sin.
As we have access to the eternal Father only through Jesus Christ, so, says St. Bernard, we have access to Jesus Christ only through Mary. And St. Bernard gives us the reason why the Lord decreed that all men should be saved by the intercession of Mary: namely, that through Mary we might be received by that Savior who, through Mary, was given to us; and therefore the saint calls her the Mother of grace and of our salvation. What, then, resumes St. Germanus, would become of us? What hope of salvation would remain to us if you, O Mary, were to abandon us—you who are the life of Christians?
But the modern author quoted above remarks: If all graces pass through Mary, then, when we implore the intercession of the saints, they must have recourse to the mediation of Mary to obtain these graces for us. This, however, he says, no one believes, or has ever thought of. I reply that there can be no error or difficulty in believing this. What difficulty is there in saying that God, in order to honor his Mother—having crowned her Queen of the saints, and having ordained that all graces should be dispensed by her hands—would have the saints also invoke her to obtain favors for their clients? And as for saying that no one has ever thought of it, I find that St. Bernard, St. Anselm, St. Bonaventure, Father Suarez, and others expressly assert it. In vain, says St. Bernard, would one pray to the other saints for a desired favor, if Mary did not intercede to obtain it. Thus also a certain author explains, in this connection, that passage of David: “All the rich among the people shall entreat thy countenance” (Ps. 44:13). The rich of that great people of God are the saints, who, when they wish to obtain a favor for one of their clients, all commend themselves to Mary, that she may obtain it for them. Justly, then, says Father Suarez, we implore the saints to be our intercessors with Mary, who is their Lady and Queen.
It was precisely this that St. Benedict promised to St. Frances of Rome, as we learn from Father Marchese. The saint appeared to her one day, and, taking her under his protection, promised to be her advocate with the divine Mother. St. Anselm adds, in confirmation of this, addressing the Blessed Virgin: O Lady, what the prayers of all these saints can obtain in union with yours, you can obtain by your intercession alone, without their aid. But why have you such power? continues the saint. Because you alone are the Mother of our common Savior; you are the spouse of God, the universal Queen of heaven and earth. If you do not speak for us, no saint will pray for us or aid us. But if you are moved to pray for us, all the saints will undertake to intercede for us and help us. So says Father Segneri, applying to Mary, as the holy Church does, these words of Wisdom: “I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven” (Ecclus. 24:8). As the first sphere, by its motion, sets all the others in motion, so when Mary is moved to pray for a soul, she moves all heaven to pray with her. St. Bonaventure says even that, as their Queen, she commands all the saints and angels to accompany her and unite their prayers to hers.
So we see, finally, why the holy Church requires us to invoke and salute the divine Mother with the great name of our hope: Hail, our hope. The impious Luther could not endure that the holy Roman Church should call Mary our hope; because, as he said, God alone and Jesus Christ as our mediator are our hope, and God curses those who place their hope in any creature, as we find in Jeremias: “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man” (Jer. 17:5). But the Church teaches us everywhere to invoke Mary and to call her our hope: Hail, our hope. Whoever places his hope in a creature, independently of God, is certainly accursed of God, since God is the only fountain and dispenser of every good, and the creature, without God, has nothing and can do nothing. But if the Lord has ordained, as we have proved, that all graces shall pass through Mary as a channel of mercy, then we can and even ought to assert that Mary is our hope, by whose intercession we receive the divine graces. And therefore St. Bernard called her the whole ground of his hope. St. John of Damascus expresses the same when, addressing the Blessed Virgin, he says to her: O Lady, in you I have placed all my hope, and with firm confidence I look to you for my salvation. St. Thomas says that Mary is all the hope of our salvation. And St. Ephrem prays: O most holy Virgin, receive us under your protection, if you would see us saved, since we have no other hope of salvation but through you.
We will conclude, then, in the words of St. Bernard: Let us strive, with all the affections of our heart, to reverence this divine Mother, Mary, since this is the will of that Lord who would have us receive all good from her hands. And the saint exhorts us, whenever we desire and ask any favor, to commend ourselves to Mary, and to trust that we shall obtain it through her intercession. For, says the saint, if you do not deserve from God the favor you ask, Mary, who asks it on your behalf, deserves to obtain it. Hence the same Bernard exhorts us, each and all, that whatever we offer to God—whether works or prayers—we commend all to Mary, if we wish our Lord to accept it.
Example
Eutychian, Patriarch of Constantinople, relates the following well-known story of Theophilus. The Patriarch was himself an eye-witness of the event we here recount, which is confirmed also by St. Peter Damian, St. Bernard, St. Bonaventure, St. Antoninus, and others. Theophilus was archdeacon of the church of Adana, a city of Cilicia, and was held in such esteem that the people wished him to become their bishop; but his humility prevented his consent.
Afterward certain malicious persons accused him, and he was deposed from his office. This afflicted him so much that, blinded by passion, he went to a Jewish magician, who induced him to seek the help of Satan in his misfortunes. The devil answered that, if he wished for his assistance, he must renounce Jesus and Mary his Mother, and hand over the act of renunciation written with his own hand. Theophilus executed the vile document. On the following day the bishop, having heard of the wrong done him by his calumniators, asked his forgiveness and restored him to his office.
But Theophilus then began to feel so tortured by remorse of conscience for the great crime he had committed that he wept continually. What did he do? He entered a church, prostrated himself in tears before an altar of the Blessed Virgin, and cried out: “O Mother of God, I will not despair while I have you, who are so merciful, to aid me.” He persevered forty days in weeping and praying thus to the holy Virgin; when behold, one night the Mother of mercy appeared to him and said: “O Theophilus, what have you done? You have renounced my friendship and that of my Son; and for whom? For your own enemy and mine.” “O Lady,” answered Theophilus, “it belongs to you to pardon me, and to obtain my pardon from your Son.” Then Mary, seeing his confidence, answered: “Take courage; I will pray for you.” Theophilus, encouraged by these words, redoubled his tears, his penance, and his prayers, remaining constantly at the foot of the altar.
And behold, Mary appeared to him again, and with a joyful countenance said to him: “Theophilus, rejoice! I have presented your tears and prayers to God; he has accepted them and has already pardoned you. Henceforth be grateful and faithful.” “O Lady,” replied Theophilus, “this is not enough to console me. The enemy still holds that impious deed by which I renounced you and your Son; you can obtain it for me.” After three days, Theophilus awoke one night and found the paper on his breast. The next day, when the bishop and a large assembly were present in the church, Theophilus cast himself at his feet, related the whole story, weeping bitterly, and gave him the infamous writing, which the bishop immediately ordered to be burned in the presence of all the people. They wept for joy, praising the goodness of God and the mercy of Mary toward that miserable sinner. Theophilus returned to the church of the Virgin, and there, three days afterward, he died happily, with thanksgivings to Jesus and his holy Mother upon his lips.
Prayer
O Queen and Mother of mercy! You who dispense graces to all who have recourse to you, so generously because you are Queen, and with so much love because you are our most loving Mother: to you I commend myself this day, destitute of merits and virtues as I am, and laden with debts to the divine justice. O Mary, you hold the keys of all the divine mercies; do not forget my miseries, and do not leave me in my great poverty. You who are so generous with all, and who give more than is asked of you, do so with me. O Lady, protect me; this is all I ask. If you protect me, I fear nothing. I do not fear the demons, for you are more powerful than all the spirits of hell; nor my sins, for one word of yours in my behalf can obtain pardon of them all from God. If I have your favor, I do not fear even the anger of God, for he is appeased by one prayer of yours. In a word, if you protect me, I hope for all things, because all things are possible to you. O Mother of mercy, I know that you take pleasure and pride in succoring the most miserable, for you can aid them, if they be not hindered by their own obstinacy. I am a sinner, but I am not obstinate; I wish to change my life. You can, then, help me; do help and save me. This day I place myself entirely in your hands. Teach me what I must do to please God, and I will do it; and I hope to do so with your aid, O Mary—Mary, my Mother, my light, my consolation, my refuge, and my hope. Amen, amen, amen.
Points for Reflection
1. “St. Anselm well remarks that, when we implore the holy Virgin to obtain graces for us, it is not that we distrust the divine mercy, but rather that we distrust our own unworthiness, and commend ourselves to Mary so that her merits may make up for our unworthiness.”
2. “Whoever, then, wishes for the fruit must go to the tree; whoever wishes for Jesus must go to Mary; and whoever finds Mary certainly finds Jesus also.”
3. “Whoever asks and wishes to obtain graces without the intercession of Mary attempts to fly without wings.”