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 declaring her  our  Mother. From that  moment we belong  to  Mary,  and  Mary  belongs  to  us:  "Behold thy  Mother!"

ary loves  us  because  she  loves  God,  and  because God  loves  us. She loves  us  as  her brethren who  share  human  nature  with  her. She loves us  as  her  children,  whom  she  has  borne  to eternal  life. She loves  us  because  we  are  miserable and  helpless. True, we  offended  her  divine Son, but  she  knows  our  frailty,  our  blindness,  the assaults of  the  flesh  and  the  devil  to  which  we are  exposed;  and  by  all  this  she  is  moved  to  come to our  aid.

Do not,  however,  imagine  that  this  good  and amiable Mother  will  hear  your  call  for  assistance if you  continue  to  offend  her  divine  Son  with malice prepense. To obtain  her  aid  you  must make yourself  in  a  manner  worthy  of  it. This you do  by  striving  to  imitate  her  virtues. Or is there  anything  in  her  example  that  we  are  unable to imitate? True, we  can  not  attain  to  her  perfection in  virtue,  but  we  can  copy  it  to  a  certain degree. To follow  Mary's  example  there  is  no need  of  performing  miracles,  of  having  ecstasies, or of  doing  any  other  extraordinary  deeds. All that is  necessary  is  to  persevere  faithfully  in  the ordinary duties  of  life,  and  to  perform  them  to the  best  of  our  ability.