Page:Sermons for all the Sundays in the year.djvu/73

 she is in Paradise?”Great was the mercy of Mary while in exile on earth; but it is much greater now that she is a queen in Heaven; because she now sees the misery of men." (St. Bona. in Spec. Virg., cap. viii.) Mary in Heaven enjoys the vision of God; and therefore she sees our wants far more clearly than when she was on earth; hence, as her pity for us is increased, so also is her desire to assist us more ardent. How truly has Richard of St. Victor said to the Virgin: “So tender is thy heart that thou canst not see misery and not afford succour." It is impossible for this loving mother to behold a human being in distress without extending to him pity and relief. 9. St. Peter Damian says that the Virgin ”loves us with an invincible love." (Ser, i. de Nat. Virg.) How ardently soever the saints may have loved this amiable queen, their affection fell far short of the love which Mary bore to them. It is this love that makes her so solicitous for our welfare. The saints in Heaven, says St. Augustine, have great power to obtain grace from God for those who recommend themselves to their prayers; but as Mary is of all the saints the most powerful, so she is of all the most desirous to procure for us the divine mercy: ”Sicut omnibus sanctis potentior, sic omnibus est pro nobis sollicitior." 10. And, as this our great advocate once said to St. Bridget, she regards not the iniquities of the sinner who has recourse to her, but the disposition with which he invokes her aid. If he comes to her with a firm purpose of amendment she receives him, and by her intercession heals his wounds, and brings him to salvation. ”However great a mans ,sins may be, if he shall return to me, I am ready instantly to receive him. Nor do I regard the number or the enormity of his sins, but the will with which he comes to me; for I do not disdain to anoint and heal his wounds, because I am called, and truly am, the mother of mercy." 11. The blessed Virgin is called a”fair olive tree in the plains:" "Quasi oliva speciosa in campis." (Eccl. xxiv. 19.) From the olive, oil only comes forth; and from the hands of Mary only graces and mercies flow. According to Cardinal Hugo, it is said that she remains