O, Gracious Advocate

In fine, it is certain that no creature can obtain so many mercies for us as this tender advocate, who is thus honoured by God, not only as His beloved handmaid, hut also as His true Mother. And this, William of Paris says, addressing her, 'No creature can obtain so many and such great favours as thou obtainest for poor sinners; and thus without doubt God honours thee not only as a handmaid, but as His most true Mother.' ¹ Mary has only to speak, and her Son executes all. Our Lord, conversing with the spouse in the sacred Can­ticles,-that is Mary,-says, " Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken; make me hear thy voice." ² The Saints are the Mends, and they, when they seek a favour for their clients, wait for their Queen to ask and obtain it; for, as we said in the fifth chapter, ' no grace is granted otherwise than at the prayer of Mary.' And how does Mary obtain favours? She has only to let her voice be heard,-"make me hear thy voice." She has only to speak, and her Son immediately grants her prayer. Listen to the Abbot William explaining, in this sense, the above text. In it he introduces the Son addressing Mary: ' Thou who dwellest in the heavenly gardens, intercede with confidence for whomsoever thou wilt; for it is not possible that I should so far forget that I am thy Son as to deny anything to thee, My Mother. Only let thy voice be heard; for to be heard by a son is to be obeyed.' ³ The Abbot Godfridus says, ' that although Mary obtains favours by asking, yet she asks with a certain maternal authority, and therefore we ought to feel confident that she obtains all she de­sires and asks for us.' ⁴

Valerius Maximus⁵ relates that when Coriolauus was besieging Eonie, the prayers of his friends and all the citizens were insufficient to make him desist; but as soon as he beheld his mother Veturia imploring him, he could no longer refuse, and immediately raised the siege. But the prayers of Mary with Jesus are as much more powerful than those of Veturia as the love and gratitude of this Son for His most dear Mother are greater. Father Justin Micoviensis says that ' a single sigh of the most Blessed Mary can do more than the united suffrages of all the saints.' ⁶ And this was acknowledged by the devil himself to Saint Dominic, who, as it is related by Father Pacciuchelli, ⁷ obliged him to speak by the mouth of a possessed person; and he said that ' a single sigh from Mary was worth more before God than the united suffrages of all the Saints.'Saint Antoninus says that ' the prayers of the Blessed Virgin, being the prayers of a Mother, have in them something of a command; so that it is impossible that she should not obtain what she asks.' ⁸ Saint Germanus, encouraging sinners who recommend themselves to this advocate, thus addresses her: ' As thou hast, O Mary, the authority of a Mother with God, thou obtainest pardon for the most enormous sinners; since that Lord in all things acknowledges thee as His true and spotless Mother, He cannot do otherwise than grant what thou askest.' ⁹ And so it was that Saint Bridget heard the Saints in heaven addressing our Blessed Lady: ' O most blessed Queen, what is there that thou canst not do I Thou hast only to will, and it is accomplished.' ¹⁰ And this corresponds with that celebrated saying, 'That which God can do by His power, that canst thou do by prayer, O sacred Virgin.' ¹¹ ' And perchance,' says an ancient and pious writer, ' it is unworthy of the benignity of that Lord to be thus jealous of the honour of His Mo­ther, who declares that He came into the world, not to break, but to observe the law; but this law commands us to honour our parents.' ¹²

Saint George, Archbishop of Nicomedia, says that Jesus Christ, even as it were to satisfy an obligation under which He placed Himself towards His Mother, when she consented to give Him His human nature, grants all she asks: 'the Son, as if paying a debt, grants all thy petitions.' ¹³ And on this the holy martyr Saint Methodius exclaims: ' Rejoice, rejoice, O Mary, for thou hast that Son thy debtor, who gives to all and receives from none. We are all God's debtors for all that we possess, for all is His gift; but God has been pleased to become thy debtor in taking flesh from thee and be­coming man.' ¹⁴ And therefore another ancient writer says, ' that Mary, having merited to give flesh to the Divine Word, and thus supply the price of our redemp­tion, that we might be delivered from eternal death; therefore is she more powerful than all others to help us to gain eternal life.' ¹⁵ Saint Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, in the time of St. Jerome, left in writing the following words : ' The prayers of His Mother are a pleasure to the Son, because He desires to grant all that is granted on her account, and thus recompense her for the favour she did Him in giving Him His body.' ¹⁶ Saint John Damascen, addressing the Blessed Virgin, says, ' Thou, O Mary, being Mother of the most high God, canst save all by thy prayers, which are increased in value by the maternal authority.' ¹⁷

Let us conclude with Saint Bonaventure, who, con­sidering the great benefit conferred on us by our Lord in giving us Mary for our advocate, thus addresses her: ' O truly immense and admirable goodness of our God, which has been pleased to grant thee, O sovereign Mo­ther, to us miserable sinners for our advocate, in order that thou, by thy powerful intercession, mayest obtain all that thou pleasest for us.' ¹⁸ ' O wonderful mercy of our God,' continues the same Saint, ' who, in order that we might not fly on account of the sentence that might be pronounced against us, has given us His own Mother and the patroness of graces to be our advocate.' ¹⁹

Example

Father Bazzi, ²⁰ of the Camaldolese order, relates that a young man of the name of John, on the death of his father, was sent by his mother to the court of a prince. His mother, who had a tender devotion to­wards Mary, before bidding him farewell, made him promise that he would every day say the ' Hail Mary,' adding at the end of it these words: ' O, most Blessed Virgin, help me at the hour of my death.' After having been at court a short time, he became so dissolute that his master was obliged to dismiss him. No longer know­ing how to obtain a living, in despair he became a high­way robber and murderer; but during this time even, he never neglected to recommend himself to our Blessed Lady, according to his promise. At length he was taken and condemned to death. When in prison, and the day before his death, reflecting on his own shame, on the "grief of his mother, and on the death he was about to endure, he wept bitterly; and thus the devil, seeing him disconsolate and filled with melancholy thoughts, appeared to him under the form of a handsome youth, and told him that he would deliver him from prison and death if only he would obey him. The culprit said he was ready to do all he might ask. The youth then told him that he was the devil come to aid him. In the first place, he required that he should deny Jesus Christ and the most holy sacraments. To this he con­sented. He then demanded that he should renounce the Blessed Virgin Mary and her protection. ' Ah, that I will never do,' answered the young man; and raising his heart to her, he repeated his accustomed prayer: ' O, Blessed Virgin, help me at the hour of my death." At these words the devil disappeared. The young man was immediately filled with the most bitter grief for the crime he had committed in denying Jesus Christ; but having recourse to the most Blessed Virgin, she obtained him true sorrow for all his sins, and he confessed them with great sighs and contrition. On leaving the gaol to go to the scaffold, he passed on the road a statue of Mary, and saluted it with his ordinary prayer: ' O, most Blessed Virgin, help me at the hour of my death;' and the statue returned his salutation in the presence of all, by bowing its head. Moved with tenderness, he begged leave to kiss the feet of the statue. The guard refused, but at length consented on account of the acclamations of the people. The youth stooped to kiss the feet, when Mary extended her arm, took him by the hand, and held him so tight that it was impossible to remove him. At the sight of such a prodigy, all began to cry out "Mercy, pardon, forgiveness!" and it was granted. The young man re­turned to his own country, where he led a most ex­emplary life, and was always filled with the tenderest affection for Mary, who had delivered him from both temporal and eternal death.

PRAYER.

I will address thee, O great Mother of God, in the words of Saint Bernard: ' Speak, O Lady, for thy Son neareth thee; and whatever thou askest thou wilt ob­tain.' ²¹ Speak, speak, then, O Mary, our advocate, in favour of us poor miserable creatures. Remember that it was also for our good that thou didst receive such great power and so high a dignity. A God was pleased to become thy debtor by taking humanity of thee, in order that thou mightest at will dispense the riches of divine mercy to sinners. We are thy servants, de­voted in a special manner to thee; and I am one of these, I trust, in even a higher degree. We glory in living under thy protection. Since thou doest good to all, even to those who neither know nor honour thee, nay more, to those who outrage and blaspheme thee, how much more may we not hope from, thy benignity, which seeks out the wretched in order to relieve them, we who honour, love, and confide in thee? We are great sinners, but God has enriched thee with com­passion and power far exceeding our iniquities. Thou canst, and hast, the will to save us; and the greater is our unworthiness, the greater shall be our hope in order to glorify thee the more in heaven, when, by thy inter­cession, we get there. O, Mother of mercy, we present thee our souls, once cleansed and rendered beautiful in the blood of Jesus Christ, but, alas, since that time, defiled by sin. To thee do we present them; do thou purify them. Obtain for us true conversion; obtain for us the love of God, perseverance, heaven. We ask thee for much; but what is it? Perhaps thou canst not obtain all? It is perhaps too much for the love God bears thee? Ah, no! For thou hast only to open thy lips and ask thy divine Son; He will deny thee no­thing. Pray, then, pray, O Mary, for us; pray; thou wilt certainly obtain all: and we shall with the same certainty obtain the kingdom of heaven.