Page:MaryHelpOfChristians.djvu/70

 shall put  enmities  between  thee  and  the  woman, and thy  seed  and  her  seed;  she  shall  crush  thy head" (Gen.  iii.  15).  Mary  is  the  woman  in whom  Satan  never  had  a  part.  Her  intimate  connection with  God  was  announced  by  the  angel: "Hail,  full  of  grace ;  the  Lord  is  with  thee."  Now was  fulfilled  the  saying  of  the  Psalmist,  "The Most High  hath  sanctified  His  own  tabernacle. God is  in  the  midst  thereof,  it  shall  not  be  moved : God will  help  it  in  the  morning  early"  (Ps.  xlv. 5-6).  Mary  was  chosen  to  be  the  glorious  tabernacle of  the  Son  of  God  "in  the  morning  early," that  is,  in  the  first  moment  of  her  existence.  God called  her  into  being  that  she  might  assume  the exalted  dignity  of  the  Mother  of  His  Son,  and therefore  granted  her  the  singular  privilege  of exemption  from  original  sin.  In  her  were  fulfilled Solomon's  prophetic  words  of  praise,  "Thou art all  fair,  O  my  love,  and  there  is  not  a  spot  in thee"  (Cant.  iv.  7).  It  was  in  view  of  her  Son's merits  applied  to  her  beforehand  that  God  thus produced  in  her  the  image  of  the  new  man  regenerated in  the  Holy  Ghost.

he spirit  of  darkness  holds  mankind  enslaved, but one  human  being  escapes  him. A destructive fire  lays  waste  the  whole  earth,  but  one tree remains  unscathed. A terrible  tyrant  conquers the  whole  world,  but  one  fortified  city  repels