On Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

First Point - Jesus and Mary are so closely united, that they can not well be separated. We can not love and honor the Son without loving and honoring the Mother. All the merit and glory of the Mother come from the Son, and all the honor that we render to the Mother is, at the same time, rendered to the Son. The heart is not divided by the devotion we have for Mary. On the contrary, it is united more strongly to the heart of Jesus. The confidence that we have in the protection of the Blessed Virgin does not diminish the confidence we should have in her Son. On the contrary, it increases it and renders it more just and efficacious. The love of Jesus for Mary is unbounded; therefore Mary's power is unbounded; and her love for me is in proportion to my confidence in her. How unbounded then should be my confidence! Loving and generous as she is, can she refuse to love one who loves and serves her? Since Jesus loves Mary with an infinite love, can He refuse to love those that she loves? Will He permit any one to be lost whom she desires to save? Will He suffer a heart that burns with love for His Mother to burn in the flames of hell?

Second Point - How culpable would I be, if I should ever despair of the mercy of God, when I have for my mother the Mother of mercy. I will oppose the justice of the Son with the mercy of the Mother. Must not the one yield before the other? Will not the prayers of Mary be more potent to appease the justice of her Son, than my crimes are to excite it? I know that my salvation is assured when I leave it in the hands of Mary. If she does not obtain it, it will be the fault either of her power over her Son, or of her love for me: can I doubt of either without outraging both the Son and the Mother? Can she be lacking in power over her Son, she to whom her Son has delegated in an especial manner His omnipotence; she who can do all things by her Son, who can do all things with her Son, and who has great intercession with her Son? The power of Mary ought to be measured by her dignity as Mother of God, by the love of her Son for her, by the grandeur of her obligations to Him, and by the title of Mediatrix of men with which He honors her.

Third Point - But if power is not wanting to Mary, neither is love for us wanting. (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux) By becoming the Mother of God she became the mother of men. Christ, in giving His Mother to Saint John, gave her likewise to all the faithful. We are then her adopted children; wretched children we are, it is true, but our miseries augment her love and her tenderness, because she is the Mother of mercy and the Refuge of sinners. Mary is the Mother of God, she is my mother. She has great intercession with her Son and her love for me is unbounded. Therefore, if I serve her well, if I place my confidence in her, should I not feel assured of my salvation?

Take the resolution to have a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin and a great confidence in her protection; but strive to merit her protection by being zealous in her service and faithful to her Son.

He that shall find Me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord. - Proverbs 8:35

God who has given us His Son through Mary, has willed that we should obtain the graces He has merited for us, by the intercession of Mary. - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

- text taken from Meditations for Every Day in a Month, by Father François Nepveu