Vita, dulcedo - 01

XVII.-MARY IS OUR LIFE, BECAUSE SHE OBTAINS FOR US THE PARDON OF OUR SINS.

To understand why the holy Church makes us call Mary our life we must know that, as the soul gives life to the body, so does Divine grace give life to the soul; for a soul without grace has the name of being alive but is in truth dead, as it was said of one in the Apocalypse,

Thou hast the name of being alive and thou art dead -(Apoc. iii. I). Mary, then, in obtaining this grace for sinners by her intercession, restores them to life. See how the Church makes Mary speak, applying to her the following words of Proverbs: They that in the morning early watch for me shall find me-(Prov. viii. 17). They who are diligent in having recourse to me in the morning, that is, as soon as they can, will most certainly find me. In the Septuagint the words shall find me are rendered “shall find grace.” So that, to have recourse to Mary is the same thing as to find the grace of God. A little further on she says, He that shall: find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord-(Prov. viii. 35). “Listen,” exclaims St. Bonaventure on these words, “listen, all you who desire the kingdom of God: honour the most Blessed Virgin Mary, and you will find life and eternal salvation.”

St. Bernardine of Sienna says that if God did not: destroy man after his first sin, it was on account of His singular love for this holy Virgin, who was destined to be born of this race. And the Saint adds that he “has no doubt but that all the mercies granted by God under the old dispensation were granted only in consideration of this most Blessed Lady.”

Hence St. Bernard was right in exhorting us “to seek for grace, and to seek it by Mary”; meaning, that if we have had the misfortune to lose the grace of God, we should seek to recover it, but we should do so through Mary; for, though we may have lost it, she has found it; and hence the Saint calls her “the finder of grace.” The Angel Gabriel expressly declared this for our consolation when he saluted the Blessed Virgin saying, Fear not, Mary, thou hast found grace-(Luke i. 30). But if Mary had never been deprived of grace, how could the Archangel say that she had then found it? A thing may be found by a person who did not previously possess it; but we are told by the same Archangel that the Blessed Virgin was always with God, always in grace, nay, full of grace. Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee -(Luke i. 28). Since Mary, then, did not find grace for herself, she being always full of it, for whom did she find it? Cardinal Hugo, in his commentary on the above text, replies that she found it for sinners who had lost it. “Let sinners, then,” says this devout writer, “who by their crimes have lost grace, address themselves to the Blessed Virgin, for with her they will surely find it; let them humbly salute her, and say with confidence, “Lady, that which has been found must be restored to him who has lost it; restore us, therefore, our property which thou hast found.” On this subject, Richard of St. Laurence concludes, “that if we hope to recover the grace of God we must go to Mary, who has found it, and finds it always.” And as she always was and always will be dear to God, if we have recourse to her we shall certainly succeed.