Mary comes immediately to our aid, Mary: Day 110

Mary comes immediately to our aid

St. Bonaventure cried out for Mary to come running to help him, but as St. Alphonsus notes, he was in fact confident of her speed. She not only runs; she flies to our assistance.
St. Bonaventure remarks that the biblical figure Ruth, whose name means “seeing and hurrying,” was a figure of Mary: “For Mary, seeing our miseries, hurries in her mercy to help us.” The spiritual writer Novarini adds: “Mary, in the greatness of her desire to help us, cannot allow delay, for she is in no way a greedy guardian of the graces she has at her disposal as Mother of Mercy. She can’t help but shower down immediately the treasures of her generosity on her servants.” How prompt is this good mother to help those who call upon her! The compassion of Mary is poured out on everyone who asks for it, even if it should be sought for by no other prayer than a simple Hail Mary.

“In the exercise of her mercy,” says this author, “she knows only how to act as God does. Just as he flies at once to the assistance of those who beg his aid— faithful to his promise, ‘Ask, and you will receive’ (Jn 16:24)—so Mary, whenever someone calls on her, is at once ready to assist the one who prays to her. God has wings when he assists his own, and immediately flies to them; Mary also takes wing when she is about to fly to our aid.”

From this we see who the woman was, spoken about in the Book of Revela- tion, to whom two great eagle’s wings were given, so that she might fly to the desert (see Jn 12:14). The author Ribeira explains: “She has the wings of an eagle, for she flies with the love of God.” But the blessed Amadeus, more to our purpose, remarks that these wings of an eagle signify “the speed, faster than that of the seraphim, with which Mary always flies to the aid of her children.” —St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
St. Alphonsus suggests that when we’re in a pinch, even a simple Hail Mary can bring Our Lady running in a hurry. Have I found that brief prayer effective in temptation, in perplexity, and in danger?

CLOSING PRAYER
A brief prayer of St. Philip Neri: O Virgin and Mother, grant that I may always remember you.

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