Help for despairing sinners, Mary: Day 120

Help for despairing sinners

Are you convinced that your sins and weaknesses keep you from Mary’s assis- tance? St. Alphonsus urges you to overcome your fears; she’ll help you as soon as you ask.

In the revelations of St. Bridget, Mary is called “the star preceding the sun.” This image helps us to understand that when devotion toward the Mother of God begins to manifest itself in a soul that’s in a state of sin, it’s a certain mark that before long, God will enrich it with his grace.

The devout Benedictine abbot, Blessed Louis de Blois, declares that “Mary is the only refuge of those who have offended God, the asylum of all who are oppressed by temptation, calamity, or persecution. This mother is all mercy, kindness, and sweetness, not only to the righteous, but also to despairing sinners. As soon as she sees them coming to her, and seeking her help from their hearts, then she aids them, welcomes them, and obtains their pardon from her Son.

“Mary doesn’t know how to despise anyone, however unworthy he may be of mercy. So she denies her protection to no one. She consoles everyone, and as soon as she is called upon, she helps the one who invokes her.

“By her sweetness, she often awakens and draws to her devotion those sin- ners who are the most at enmity with God and the most deeply plunged in the lethargy of sin. Then, by the same means, she arouses them effectively, and pre- pares them for grace. In this way she renders them fit for the kingdom of heaven. “God has created his beloved daughter of so compassionate and sweet a disposition that no one can fear to turn to her. It’s impossible for anyone to per- ish who attentively, and with humility, cultivates devotion towards the Mother
of God.” —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Do I avoid asking Mary’s assistance because I think my sins are too offensive to her? Am I willing to admit my need for her help and then seek it?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Bonaventure: Mary, if you are the Queen of Mercy, and I am the most miserable of sinners, it follows that I am the first of your subjects. How, then, my Lady, could you do anything but extend your mercy on my behalf ?

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