When I was a little one I pleased the most high - 5

If Holy Mary, then, as the already destined Mother of our common Redeemer, received from the very beginning the office of Mediatress of all men, and consequently even of the Saints, it was also requisite from the very beginning she should have a grace exceeding that of all the Saints for whom she was to intercede. I will explain myself more clearly. If, by the means of Mary, all men were to render themselves dear to God, necessarily Mary was more holy and more dear to Him than all men together. Otherwise, how could she have interceded for all others? That an intercessor may obtain the favour of a prince for all his vassals it is absolutely necessary that he should be more dear to his prince than all the other vassals. And therefore St. Anselm concludes that Mary deserved to be made the worthy repairer of the lost world, because she was the most holy and the most pure of all creatures. "The pure sanctity of her heart, surpassing the purity and sanctity of all other creatures, merited for her that she should be made the repairer of the lost world."

Mary, then, was the Mediatress of men. It may be asked, but how can she be called also the Mediatress of the Angels? Many Theologians maintain that Jesus Christ merited the grace of perseverance for the Angels also; so that as Jesus was their Mediator de condigno, so also Mary may be said to be the Mediatress even of the Angels de congruo, she having hastened the coming of the Redeemer by her prayers. At least meriting de congruo to become the Mother of the Messias, she merited for the Angels that the thrones lost by the devils should be filled up. Thus she at least merited this accidental glory for them; and therefore Richard of St. Victor says: "By her every creature is repaired; by her the ruin of the Angels is remedied; and by her human nature is reconciled." And before him St. Anselm said: "All things are recalled and reinstated in their primitive state by this Blessed Virgin."

Let us conclude that our heavenly child, because she was appointed Mediatress of the world, as also because she was destined to be the Mother of the Redeemer, received at the very beginning of her existence, grace exceeding in greatness that of all the Saints together. Hence, how delightful a sight must the beautiful soul of this happy child have been to Heaven and earth, although still enclosed in her mother's womb! She was the most amiable creature in the eyes of God, because she was already laden with grace and merit, and could say: "When I was a little one I pleased the Most High." And she was at the same time the creature above all others that had ever appeared in the world up to that moment, who loved God the most; so much so, that had Mary been born immediately after her most pure Conception, she would have come into the world richer in merits and more holy than all the Saints united. Then let us only reflect how much greater her sanctity must have been at her nativity; coming into the world after acquiring all the merits that she did acquire during the whole of the nine months that she remained in the womb of her mother.