Page:Anecdotescatechi00spiruoft.djvu/116

 Q.  Is the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  truly  the  Mother  of God?

A.  The Blessed  Virgin  Mary  is  truly  the  Mother  of God,  because  the  same  Divine  Person  who  is  the  Son  of God  is  also  the  Son  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary.

In a London  charity-school  a Protestant  bishop and several  other  Anglican  clergymen  were  hearing the waifs  recite  their  prayers. Among them  was  a Catholic  lad. This latter,  having  said  the  “Our Father,” etc.,  began,  as  he  had  been  taught,  to  recite the “Hail  Mary”;  but  the  bishop  interposed  hastily, saying: “No,  no!  we  want  to  hear  nothing  about her. Go on  to  the  next.”  The  lad  then  began the “ Apostles’  Creed  ”; but  when  he  arrived  at  “ was conceived of  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the  — ” he stopped,  and  looking  up  said,  “Now,  what  am  I to do,  sir,  for  here  she  comes  again.”  And  so  it  is,  indeed, for  the  Virgin  is  as  irrevocably  bound  up  with our Redemption  and  our  religion  as  is  a loving  mother with the  existence  and  the  fortunes  of  her  children.

Pius X.  in  his  very  first  message  to  the  world  mentions Mary  as  “participating  in  all  mysteries  and dispensing every  grace.”

Q. '' Did the  Son  of  God  become  man  immediately after  the  sin  of  our  first  parents? ''

A.  The Son  of  God  did  not  become  man  immediately after  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  but  was promised  to  them  as  a Redeemer.