|
BOOK
I, CHAPTER TWO
THOSE DEVOTED TO OUR LADY
SHALL OBTAIN SALVATION
He who shall find me shall find
life and shall have salvation from the Lord. (Proverbs 8:35)
If you persevere till death in true
devotion to Mary, your salvation is certain. (St. Alphonsus
Maria Liguori)
With reason did the Most Holy
Virgin predict that all generations would call her blessed, for all the Elect
obtain eternal salvation through the means of Mary.
(St. Idelphonsus)
Christ entrusted to His Mother's
maternal care the mission of making the Church a single family. Yes, in Mary
we have the bond of communion for all of us who, through Faith and Baptism,
are disciples and brothers of Jesus. (Pope John Paul II)
In the multitude of the Elect she
shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed. (Ecclesiasticus 24:4)
Her children rose up and called
her blessed. (Proverbs 31:28)
For behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed ... who are born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of man, but of God. (St. Luke 1:48; St. John 1:13)
O Mary, thou art blessed among women,
for thou hast brought forth life for both men and women! (St. Augustine)
Every one of the multitudes,
therefore, whom the evil of calamitous circumstances has stolen away from
Catholic unity, must be born again to Christ by that same Mother whom God has
endowed with a never-failing fertility to bring forth a holy people. (Pope
Leo XIII)
Bearing in her womb the Savior,
Mary can also be said to have borne all those whose life the Savior's life
enshrined. All of us, then, as many as are knit to Christ, have come forth
from Mary's womb: one Body, as it were knit together with its Head. (Pope St.
Pius X)
Although in the most pure womb of
Mary there was but one kernel of grain, Jesus Christ, nevertheless, her womb
is called a "heap of wheat" (Cant. 7:2) because all the Elect were
virtually contained in it. (St. Ambrose)
Mary is that Happy Ark, in which
those who take refuge will never suffer the shipwreck of eternal perdition.
(St. Bernard)
However great a sinner may have
been, if he shows himself devout to Mary he will never perish. (St. Hilary of
Poitiers)
Souls protected by Mary, and on
whom she casts her eyes, are necessarily justified and saved. Just as it is
impossible that they be saved from whom Mary turns away her eyes of mercy, so
it is certain that they who are loved by Mary, and for whom she intercedes,
will obtain justification and eternal life. (St. Antoninus)
We believe that Mary opens the
abyss of God's mercy to whomsoever she wills, when she wills, and as she
wills; so that there is no sinner, however great, who is lost if Mary
protects him. (St. Bonaventure)
He who is devout to the Virgin
Mother will certainly never be lost. (St. Ignatius of Antioch)
Not a single soul who has really
persevered in her service has ever been damned. (St. Louis Marie de Montfort)
O Mother of God! If I place my
confidence in thee, I shall be saved; if I am under
thy protection, I have nothing to fear; for being thy client is a certainty
of salvation which God grants only to those whom He intends to save. (St.
John Damascene)
Being thy servant, O Mary, is a
surety of salvation which God grants solely to those He will save. (St.
Andrew of Crete)
The servants of Mary are as certain
of getting to Paradise as though they were already there. Who are they who
are saved, and reign in Heaven? Surely, those for whom the Queen of Mercy
intercedes. The clients of Mary will necessarily be saved! (St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori)
O Blessed Mary, whoever loves you,
honors God; whoever serves you, pleases God; whoever invokes your holy name,
with a pure heart, will infallibly receive the object of his petition. (St.
Bernard)
O admirable Mother of God! How
many sins have I committed for which thou hast obtained pardon for me, and
how many others would I have committed if thou hadst
not preserved me? How often have I seen myself on the brink of Hell in
obvious danger of falling into it but for thy most benign hand which saved
me? Alas! Without thee, my dearest and all-good Mother, where should I be
today? I should be in the fiery furnace of Hell! (St. John Eudes)
Would that everyone might know
that I would already be damned already were it not
for Mary! (St. Louis Marie de Montfort)
REFERENCES
BOOK I, CHAPTER TWO
1. Alphonsus Maria: MCH P.363
2. Idelphonsus: IPM p.62; PL 53:110
3. John Paul
II: LOR, cf. April 25, æ83, p.9-10
4. Augustine:
"De Sanctis," Serm.
18; TGC, vol. IV, p.24
5. Leo XIII:
"Adjutricem Populi,"
BVM, Vol.II, p.182
6. Pius X: Op.
cit., PTL:230
7. Ambrose:
GM p.48, VOS p.135
8. Bernard:
IPM p.25; PL 183
9. Hilary: GM
p.223; VOS p.139
10. Antoninus: "On the Blessed Virgin," GM p.243;
IPM p.28
11.
Bonaventure: IPM p.16
12. Ignatius:
VHM p.123
13. Louis
Marie: SOR p.78
14. John: GM
p.225; DDP p.414
15. Andrew:
"Dormition of the Holy God-Bearer,"
Sermon III, PG 97:700; GM p.277
16. Alphonsus Maria: GM p.240
17. Bernard:
AHM p.127; PL 183
18. John: LSW
p.334-335
19. Louis
Marie: TDM p.225
|