Page:The Catholic prayer book.djvu/318



1. A more  pure,  excellent,  or  more  amiable  being than this  glorious  Virgin,  was  never  yet  created. God having,  from  all  eternity,  destined  her  to  be  the Mother of  his  Son,  it  was  proper  she  should  be embellished  with  every  created  excellence,  and  that her dignity  and  influence  in  heaven  should  far  surpass the dignity  and  influence  of  all  the  other  saints. Most justly,  then,  is  she  entitled  to  our  veneration, respect, and  esteem.

2. Let  us  place  ourselves  under  her  protection; let us  recommend  ourselves  to  her  prayers. How great soever  our  wickedness,  or  how  numerous soever our  faults  may  have  been,  let  us  always  have recourse to  her,  and  hope  through  her  prayers  for  the grace of  our  conversion. Her charity  is  so  great, her interest  is  so  powerful,  that  she  must  always plead successfully  for  the  repenting  sinner.

3. But,  let  us  never  forget,  that  to  honour  her properly is  to  imitate  her  virtues — that  to  persevere in sin  upon  the  hopes  of  her  future  intercession,  is equally  absurd,  impious,  and  detestable. Her hatred of this  error  should  be  always  before  our  eyes. Her purity, her  mildness,  her  patience,  should  be  ever present to  us.

“ Hail, full of  grace.” — Luke  i.

"O Name! under  which  no  one  should  despair.’' — St.  Anstin.

1. As  Christians,  it  would  be  very  profitable  for us to  reflect,  every  morning,  that  we  have  on  that day a God  to  glorify,  a Saviour  to  imitate,  our  souls to save,  our  bodies  to  mortify,  virtues  to  acquire,  sins to satisfy  for,  heaven  to  seek  after,  hell  to  avoid.