Chapter V
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
in hac lacrymarum valle
To thee do we sigh, mourning and weeping
in this valley of tears

Chapter V
Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes
in hac lacrymarum valle
To thee do we sigh, mourning and weeping
in this valley of tears

by Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Chapter IV, Section I
Mary, our Mediatress

The Necessity of the Intercession of Mary for our Salvation

That it is not only lawful but useful to invoke and pray to the saints, and more especially to the Queen of Saints, the most holy and ever blessed Virgin Mary, in order that they may obtain us the divine grace, is an article of faith, and has been defined by general Councils, against heretics who condemned it as injurious to Jesus Christ, Who is our only Mediator, but if a Jeremiah after his death prayed for Jerusalem (2Maccabees 15:14); if the ancients of the Apocalypse presents the prayers of the saints to God (Apocalypse 5:8); if a Saint Peter promises his disciples that after his death he will be mindful of them (2Peter 1:15);  if a holy Stephen prays for his persecutors (Acts 7:59); if a Saint Paul prays for his companions (Acts 27:24; Ephesians 2:16; Philippians 1:4; Colossians 1:3); if, in fine, the saints can pray for us, why cannot we beseech the saints to intercede for us?  Saint Paul recommends himself to the prayers of his disciples:  "Brethren, pray for us" - ("Orate pro nobis"—1Thessalonians 5:25).  Saint James exhorts us to pray one for another:  "Pray one for another, that you may be saved" - ("Orate pro invicem, ut salvemini"—James 5:16).  Then we can do the same.

No one denies that Jesus Christ is our only Mediator of justice, and that He by His merits has obtained our reconciliation with God.  But, on the other hand, it is impious to assert that God is not pleased to grant graces at the intercession of His saints, and more especially of Mary His Mother, whom Jesus desires to much to see loved and honored by all.  Who can pretend that the honor bestowed on a mother does not redound to the honor of the son?  "The glory of children are their fathers" - ("Gloria filiorum, patres eorum"—Proverbs 17:6).  Whence Saint Bernard says, "Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of the Son".  "There can be no doubt", says the saint, "that whatever we say in praise of the Mother is equally in praise of the Son" - ("Non est dubium, quidquid in laudibus Matris proferimus, ad Filium pertinere"—De Laud. V. M. hom. 4).  And Saint Ildephonsus also says, "That which is given to the Mother redounds to the Son; the honor given to the Queen is honor bestowed on the King" - ("Redundat ad Filium, quod impenditur Matri; transit honor in Regem; qui defertur in famulatum Reginae"—De Virginit. S. M. c. 12).  There can be no doubt that by the merits of Jesus, Mary was made the Mediatress of our salvation; not indeed a Mediatress of justice, but of grace and intercession; as Saint Bonaventure expressly calls her "Mary, the most faithful Mediatress of our salvation" - ("Maria, fidelissima Mediatrix nostrae salutis"—Spec. B. V. M. lect. 9).  And Saint Laurence Justinian asks, "How can she be otherwise than full of grace, who has been made the ladder to paradise, the gate of heaven, the most true Mediatress between God and man?" - (Quomodo non est plena gratia, quae effecta est paradise Scala; coeli Janua; Dei et hominum verissima Mediatrix?" —S. in Ann. B. M.).

Hence the learned Suarez justly remarks, that if we implore our Blessed Lady to obtain us a favor, it is not because we distrust the divine mercy, but rather that we fear our own unworthiness and the absence of proper dispositions; and we recommend ourselves to Mary, that her dignity may supply for our lowliness.  He says that we apply to Mary "in order that the dignity of the intercessor may supply for our misery.  Hence, to invoke the aid of the most Blessed Virgin is not diffidence in the divine mercy, but dread of our own unworthiness" ("Ut dignitas intercessoris suppleat inopiam nostram; unde Virginem interpellare, non est de divina misericordia diffidere, sed de propria indignitate timere"—De Inc. p. 2, d. 23, s. 3).

That it is most useful and holy to have recourse to the intercession of Mary can only be doubted by those who have not faith.  But that which we intend to prove here is, that the intercession of Mary is even necessary to salvation; we say necessary—not absolutely, but morally.  This necessity proceeds from the will itself of God, that all graces that He dispenses should pass through the hands of Mary, according to the opinion of Saint Bernard, and which we may now with safety call the general opinion of theologians and learned men.  The author of the Reign of Mary positively asserts that such is the case.  It is maintained by Vega, Mendoza, Paciucchelli, Segneri, Poiré, Crasset, and by innumerable other learned authors.  Even Father Natalis Alexander, who always uses so much reserve in his propositions, even he says that it is the will of God that we should expect all graces through the intercession of Mary.  I will give his own words:  "God wills that we should obtain all good things that we hope for from Him through the powerful intercession of the Virgin Mother, and we shall obtain them whenever (as we are in duty bound) we invoke her" - ("Deus vult ut omnia bona ab ipso exspectemus, potentissima Virginis Matris intercessione, cum eam, ut par est, invocamus, impetranda"—Ep. 50 in calce Theol.).  In confirmation of this, he quotes the following celebrated passage of Saint Bernard: "Such is God's will, that we should have all through Mary" - ("Sic est voluntas ejus, qui totum nos habere voluit per Mariam"—De Aquaed).  Father Contenson is also of the same opinion; for, explaining the words addressed by Our Lord on the Cross to Saint John: "Behold thy Mother" - ("Ecce mater tua"—John 19:27), he remarks, "That it is the same thing as if He had said: 'As no one can be saved except through the merits of My sufferings and death, so no one will be a partaker of the blood then shed otherwise than through the prayer of My Mother'.  He alone is a son of My sorrows who has Mary for his Mother.  My wounds are ever-flowing fountains of grace; but their streams will reach no one but by the channel of Mary.  In vain will he invoke Me as a Father, who has not venerated Mary as a Mother.  And thou, my disciple John, if thou lovest Me, love her; for thou wilt be beloved by Me in proportion to thy love for her" - ("Quasi diceret: Nullus sanguinis illius particeps erit, nisi intercessione Matris meae.  Vulnera gratiarum fonts sunt; sed ad nullos derivabuntur rivi, nisi per Marianum canalem.  Joannes discipule, tantum a me amaberis, quantum eam amaveris"—Theol. Mentis et cord. t. 2, l. 10, d. 4, c. 1).

This proposition (that all that we receive from Our Lord comes through Mary) does not exactly please a certain modern writer* (*This author is the celebrated Muratori.  An anonymous writer having attacked Saint Alphonsus on the subject of the reproach directed here against Muratori, and of the doctrine maintained in this chapter, the saint sent him a reply which will be found at the end of this work.—Ed.), who, although in other respects he speaks of true and false devotion with much learning and piety, yet when he treats of devotion towards the divine Mother he seems to grudge her that glory which was given her without scruple by a Saint Germanus, a Saint Anselm, a Saint John Damascene, a Saint Bonaventure, a Saint Antoninus, a Saint Bernardine, the Venerable Abbot of Celles, and so many other learned men, who had no difficulty to affirming that the intercession of Mary is not only useful, but necessary.  The same author says that the proposition that God grants no grace otherwise than through Mary, is hyperbolical and exaggerated, having dropped from the lips of some saints in the heat of fervor, but which, correctly speaking, is only to be understood as meaning that through Mary we received Jesus Christ, by whose merits we obtain all graces; for he adds, "To believe that God can grant us no graces without the intercession of Mary, would be contrary to faith and the doctrine of Saint Paul, who says that we acknowledge but one God and one Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1Timothy 2:5).

But with his leave, and going upon his own admissions, mediation of justice by way of merit is one thing, and mediation by grace by way of prayer is another.  And again, it is one thing to say that God cannot, and another that He will not, grant graces without the intercession of Mary.  We willingly admit that God is the source of every good, and the absolute Master of all graces; and that Mary is only a pure creature, who receives whatever she obtains as a pure favor from God.  But who can ever deny that it is most reasonable and proper to assert that God, in order to exalt this great creature, who more than all others honored and loved Him during her life, and whom, moreover, He had chosen to be the Mother of His Son, our common Redeemer, wills that all graces that are granted to those whom He has redeemed should pass through and be dispensed by the hands of Mary?  We most readily admit that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator of justice, according to the distinction just made, and that by His merits He obtains us all graces and salvation; but we say that Mary is the Mediatress of grace; and that receiving all she obtains through Jesus Christ, and because she prays and asks for it in the name of Jesus Christ, yet all the same whatever graces we receive, they come to us through her intercession.

There is certainly nothing contrary to faith in this, but the reverse.  It is quite in accordance with the sentiments of the Church, which, in its public and approved prayers, teaches us continually to have recourse to this divine Mother, and to invoke her as the "health of the weak, the refuge of sinners, the help of Christians, and as our life and hope" - ("Salus infirmorum, Refugium peccatorum, Auxilium Christianorum, Vita, Spes nostra").  In the Office appointed to be said on the feasts of Mary, this same holy Church, applying the words of Ecclesiasticus to this Blessed Virgin, gives us to understand that in her we find all hope.  "In me is all hope of life and of virtue!" - ("In me omnis spes vitae et virtutis"—Ecclesiasticus 24:25) in Mary is every grace, "In me is all grace of the way and of the truth" ("In me gratia omnis viae et veritatis"—Ibid).  In Mary, finally, we shall find life and eternal salvation: "Who finds me finds life, and draws salvation from the Lord" - ("Qui me invenerit, inveniet vitam, et hauriet salutem a Domino"—Proverbs 8:35).  And elsewhere: "They that work by me shall not sin; they that explain me shall have everlasting life" - ("Qui operantur in me, non peccabunt.  Qui elucidant me, vitam aeternam habebunt"—Ecclesiasticus 24:30,31).  And surely such expressions as these sufficiently prove that we require the intercession of Mary.

Moreover, we are confirmed in this opinion by so many theologians and Fathers, of whom it is certainly incorrect to say, as the above-named author does, that, in exalting Mary, they spoke hyperbolically and allowed great exaggerations to fall from their lips.  To exaggerate and speak hyperbolically is to exceed the limits of truth; and surely we cannot say that saints who were animated by the Spirit of God, which is truth itself, spoke thus.  If I may be allowed to make a short digression, and give my own sentiment, it is, that when an opinion tends in any way to the honor of the most Blessed Virgin, when it has some foundation, and is not repugnant to the faith, nor to the decrees of the Church, nor to truth, the refusal to hold it, or to oppose it because the reverse may be true, shows little devotion to the Mother of God.  Of the number of such as these I do not choose to be, nor do I wish my reader to be so, but rather of the number of those who fully and firmly believe all that can without error be believed of the greatness of Mary, according to the Abbot Rupert, who, amongst the acts of homage most pleasing to this good Mother, places that of firmly believing all that redounds to her honor ("Ejus magnolia firmiter credere").  If there was nothing else to take away our fear of exceeding in the praises of Mary, Saint Augustine (Serm. 208. E. B. app.) should suffice; for he declares that whatever we may say in praise of Mary is little in comparison with that which she deserves, on account of her dignity of Mother of God; and, moreover, the Church says, in the Mass appointed for her festivals, "Thou art happy, O sacred Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise" - ("Felix namque es, sacra Virgo Maria, et omni laude digaissima; quia ex te ortus est Sol justitiae, Christus Deus noster"—M. Vot. A. Nat.—Resp. 7).

But let us return to the point, and examine what the saints say on the subject.  Saint Bernard says "that God has filled Mary with all graces, so that men may receive by her means, as by a channel, every good thing that comes to them".  He says that "she is a full aqueduct, that others may receive of her plentitude" - ("Plenus Aquaeductus, ut accipiant caeteri de ejus plenitudine").  On this the saint makes the following significant remark: "Before the birth of the Blessed Virgin, a constant flow of graces was wanting, because this aqueduct did not exist" - ("Ideo tanto tempore humano generi fluenta gratiae defuerunt, quia necdum intercederet is Aquaeductus"—De Aquaed.).  But now that Mary has been given to the world, heavenly graces constantly flow through her on all.

Mary is the "Aqueduct" or "Channel" by which God's Grace flows from Heaven's Treasury to Mankind. To  block that Channel is deadly to the Soul.

The Devil, like Holofernes, who, in order to gain possession of the city of Bethulia, ordered the aqueducts to be destroyed, exerts himself to his utmost to destroy devotion to the Mother of God in souls; for if this channel of grace is closed, he easily gains possession of them.  And here, continues the same Saint Bernard, "See, O souls, with what tender devotion our Lord wills that we should honor our Queen, by always having recourse to her protection; and by relying on it; for in Mary he has placed the plenitude of every good, so that henceforward we may know and acknowledge that whatever hope, grace, or other advantage we possess, all comes from the hand of Mary" - ("Intuemini quanto devotionis affectu a nobis eam voluerit honorari, qui totius boni plenitudinem posuit in Maria; ut proinde, si quid spei in nobis est, si quid gratiae, si quid salutis, ab eas noverimus redundare"—De Aquaed).  Saint Antoninus says the same thing: "All graces that have ever been bestowed on men, all came through Mary" - ("Per eam exivit de coelis, quidquid gratiae venit in mundum"—P. 4, tit. 15, c. 20, #12).  And on this account she is called the moon, according to the following remark of Saint Bonaventure: "As the moon, which stands between the sun and the earth, transmits to this latter whatever it receives from the former, so does Mary pour out upon us who are in this world the heavenly graces that she receives from the divine sun of justice" - ("Quia, sicut luna inter corpora coelestia et terrene est media, et quod ab illis accipit, ad inferiora refundit; sic et Virgo Regia inter nos et Deum est media, et gratiam ipsa nobis refundit"—Spann. Polyanth. Litt. M. t. 6).

Again, the holy Church calls her "the happy gate of heaven" - ("Felix coeli porta"); for as the same Saint Bernard remarks: "As every mandate of grace that is sent by a king passes through the palace-gates, so does every grace that comes from heaven to the world pass through the hands of Mary" - ("Nulla gratia venit de coelo ad terram, nisi transeat per manus Mariae"—Apud S. Bernardin, Pro Fest. V. M. s. 5, c. 8).  Saint Bonaventure says that Mary is called "the gate of heaven, because no one can enter that blessed kingdom without passing through her" - ("Nullus potest coelum intrare, nisi per Mariam transeat, tamquam per portam"—In Luc. i).

An ancient author, probably Saint Sophronius, in a sermon on the Assumption, published with the works of Saint Jerome, says "that the plenitude of grace which is in Jesus Christ came into Mary, though in a different way" - ("In Christo fuit plenitude gratiae, sicut in Capite influente; in Maria, sicut in collo transfundente"); meaning that it is Our Lord, as in the Head, from which the vital spirits (that is, divine help to obtain eternal salvation) flow into us, who are the members of His Mystical Body; and that the same plenitude is in Mary, as in the neck, through which these vital spirits pass to the members.  The same idea is confirmed by Saint Bernardine of Sienna, who explains it more clearly, saying, "that all graces of the spiritual life that descend from Christ, their Head, to the faithful, who are His Mystical Body, are transmitted through the instrumentality of Mary" - ("Per Verginem, a Capite Christo, vitals gratiae in ejus Corpus mysticum transfunduntur").  The same Saint Bernardine endeavors to assign a reason for this when he says, "that as God was pleased to dwell in the womb of this holy Virgin, she acquired, so to speak, a kind of jurisdiction over all graces; for when Jesus Christ issued forth from her most sacred womb, all the streams of divine gifts flowed from her as from a celestial ocean" - ("Cum tota natura divina intra Virginis uterum exstiterit, non timeo dicere quod in omnes gratiarum effluxus quamdam jurisdictionem habuerit haec Virgo, de cujus utero, quasi de quodam Divinitatis oceano, flumina emanant omnium gratiarum").  Elsewhere, repeating the same idea in more distinct terms, he asserts that "from the moment that this Virgin Mother conceived the divine Word in her womb, she acquired a special jurisdiction, so to say, over all the gifts of the Holy Ghost, so that no creature has since received any grace from God otherwise than through the hands of Mary" - ("A tempore a quo Virgo Mater concepit in utero Verbum Dei, quondam, ut sic dicam, jurisdictionem obtinuit in omni Spiritus Sancti processione temporali; ita quod nulla creatura aliquam a Deo obtinuit gratiam, nisi secundum ipsius piae Matris dispensationem"—Pro Festo V. M. s. 5, c. 8).

Another author, in a commentary on a passage of Jeremiah, in which the prophet, speaking of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, and of Mary His Mother, says that "a woman shall compass a man" - (Jeremiah 31:22), remarks, that "as no line can be drawn from the centre of a circle without passing by the circumference, so no grace proceeds from Jesus, Who is the centre of every good thing, without passing by Mary, who compassed Him when she received Him into her womb" (Crasset, Vér. Dév. p. 1, tr. 1, q. 5, #2).

Saint Bernardine says that for this reason, "all gifts, all virtues, and all graces are dispensed by the hands of Mary to whomsoever, when, and as she pleases" - ("Ideo omnia dona, virtutes et gratiae, quibus vult quando vult, quomodo vult, per manus ipsius dispensantur"—Pro Fest. V. M. s. 5, c. 8).  Richard of Saint Laurence also asserts "that God wills that whatever good things He bestows on His creatures should pass through the hands of Mary" - ("Deus, quidquid boni dat creatures suis, per manus Matris Virginis vult transpire"—De Laud. B. M. l. 2, p. 3).  And therefore the Venerable Abbot of Celles exhorts all to have recourse to "this treasury of graces" (for so he calls her); for the world and the whole human race have to receive every good that can be hoped for through her alone.  "Address yourselves to the Blessed Virgin", he says; "for by her, and in her, and with her, and from her, the world receives, and is to receive, every good" - ("Accede ad Virginem, quia per ipsam, mundus habiturus est omne bonum"—Cont. de V. M. in prol).

It must now be evident to all that when these saints and authors tell us in such terms that all graces come to us through Mary, they do not simply mean to say that we "received Jesus Christ, the source of every good, through Mary", as the before-named writer pretends; but that they assure us that God, Who gave us Jesus Christ, wills that all graces that have been, that are, and will be dispensed to men to the end of the world through the merits of Christ, should be dispensed by the hands and through the intercession of Mary.

And thus Father Suarez concludes, that it is the sentiment of the universal Church, "that the intercession and prayers of Mary are, above those of all others, not only useful, but necessary" - ("Senit Ecclesia Virginis intercessionem esse utilem ac necessariam"—D. Inc. p. 2, d. 23, s. 3).  Necessary, in accordance with what we have already said, not with an absolute necessity; for the mediation of Jesus Christ alone is absolutely necessary; but with a moral necessity; for the Church believes with Saint Bernard, that God has determined that no grace shall be granted otherwise than by the hands of Mary.  "God wills", says the saint, "that we should have nothing that has not passed through the hands of Mary" - ("Nihil nos Deus habere voluit, quod per Mariae manus non transiret"—In Vig. Nat. D. s. 3); and before Saint Bernard, Saint Ildephonsus asserted the same thing, addressing the Blessed Virgin in the following terms: "O Mary, God has decided on committing all good gifts that He has provided for men to thy hands, and therefore He has intrusted all treasures and riches of grace to thee" - ("Omnia bona quae illic summa Majestas decrevit facere, tuis minibus voluit commendare: commissi quipped sunt tibi thesauri . . . . et ornamenta gratiarum"—In Cor. Virg. c. 15).  And therefore Saint Peter Damian remarks, "that God would not become man without the consent of Mary; in the first place, that we might feel ourselves under great obligations to her; and in the second, that we might understand that the salvation of all is left to the care of this Blessed Virgin" (Paciuncch. In Ps. lxxxvi. Exc. 1).

Saint Bonaventure, on the words of the prophet Isaiah, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up out of his root, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him" - ("Egredietur Virga de radice Jesse, et Flos de radice ejus ascendet; et requiescat super eum Spiritus Domini"—Isaiah 11:1,2), makes a beautiful remark, saying: "Whoever desires the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, let him seek for the flower of the Holy Ghost in the rod".  That is, for Jesus in Mary; "For by the rod we find the flower, and by the flower, God" - ("Quicumque Spiritus Sancti gratiam adipisci desiderat, Florem in Virga quaerat: per Virgam enim ad Florem, per Florem ad Spiritum, pervenimus.—Si hunc Florem habere desideras, Virgam Floris precibus flectas"—Spec. B. M. V. lect. 6.12).  And in the twelfth chapter of the same work, he adds, "If you desire to possess this flower, bend down the rod, which bears the flower, by prayer; and so you will obtain it".  The seraphical Father, in his sermon for the Epiphany, on the words of Saint Matthew, "They found the Child, with Mary His Mother" - ("Invenerunt puerum cum Maria, Matre ejus"—Matthew 2:11), reminds us, that if we wish to find Jesus we must go to Mary ("Si ergo hunc puerum vis invenire, ad Mariam accede").  We may, then, conclude, that in vain shall we seek for Jesus, unless we endeavor to find Him with Mary - ("Nunquam invenitur Christus, nisi cum Maria, nisi per Mariam.  Frustra igitur quaerit, qui cum Maria invenire non quaerit"—Spann. Polyanth. Litt. M. t. 6).  And so Saint Ildephonsus says, "I desire to be the servant of the Son; but because no one will ever be so without serving the Mother, for this reason I desire the servitude of Mary" - ("Ut sim servus Filii, servitutem appeto Genitricis"—De Virginit. Mar. c. 12).

Example

A young nobleman who was on a sea-voyage began to read an obscene book, in which he took much pleasure.  A religious noticed this, and said to him: "Are you disposed to make a present to our Blessed Lady?"  The young man replied that he was.  "Well", the other answered, "I wish that, for the love of the most holy Virgin, you would give up that book, and throw it into the sea".  "Here it is, Father" said the young man.  "No", replied the religious, "you must yourself make Mary this present".  He did so; and no sooner had he returned to Genoa, his native place, than the Mother of God so inflamed his heart with divine love that he entered a Religious Order (Nadasi, Ann. Mar. S. J. 1606).

Prayer

O my soul, see what a sure hope of salvation and eternal life our Lord has given thee, by having in his mercy inspired thee with confidence in the patronage of his mother; and this, notwithstanding that so many times by thy sins thou hast merited his displeasure and hell.  Thank thy God, and thank thy protectress Mary, who has condescended to take thee under her mantle; for of this thou mayest be well convinced, after the many graces that thou hast received by her means.  O yes, I do thank thee, my most loving Mother, for all thou hast done for me who am deserving of hell.  And from how many dangers hast thou not delivered me, O Queen!  How many inspirations and mercies hast thou not obtained for me from God!  What service, what honor, have I ever rendered thee, that thou shouldst do so much for me?  I know that it is thy sole goodness that has impelled thee.  Ah, too little would it be in comparison with all that I owe thee, did I shed my blood and give my life for thee; for thou hast delivered me from eternal death; thou hast enabled me, as I hope, to recover divine grace; to thee, in fine, I owe all I have.  My most amiable Lady, I, poor wretch that I am, can make thee no return but that of always loving and praising thee.  Ah, disdain not to accept the tender affection of a poor sinner, who is inflamed with love for thy goodness.  If my heart is unworthy to love thee, because it is impure and filled with earthly affections, it is thou who must change it.  Ah, change it, then.  Bind me to my God, and bind me so that I may never more have it in my power to separate myself from his love.  Thou askest of me that I should love thy Godk, and I ask of thee that thou shouldst obtain this love for me, to love him always; this is all that I desire. 

Amen