{"id":4273,"date":"2015-11-08T03:30:04","date_gmt":"2015-11-08T08:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicbookblogger\/?p=4273"},"modified":"2015-10-30T06:06:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T11:06:46","slug":"mary-comes-immediately-to-our-aid-mary-day-110","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicbookblogger\/2015\/11\/08\/mary-comes-immediately-to-our-aid-mary-day-110\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary comes immediately to our aid, Mary: Day 110"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"year_with_mary_alphonsus_2\"<\/a>Mary comes immediately to our aid<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/em>
\nSt. Bonaventure remarks that the biblical figure Ruth, whose name means \u201cseeing and hurrying,\u201d was a figure of Mary: \u201cFor Mary, seeing our miseries, hurries in her mercy to help us.\u201d The spiritual writer Novarini adds: \u201cMary, 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\u2019t help but shower down immediately the treasures of her generosity on her servants.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the exercise of her mercy,\u201d says this author, \u201cshe knows only how to act as God does. Just as he flies at once to the assistance of those who beg his aid\u2014 faithful to his promise, \u2018Ask, and you will receive\u2019 (Jn 16:24)\u2014so 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

From this we see who the woman was, spoken about in the Book of Revela- tion, to whom two great eagle\u2019s wings were given, so that she might fly to the desert (see Jn 12:14). The author Ribeira explains: \u201cShe has the wings of an eagle, for she flies with the love of God.\u201d But the blessed Amadeus, more to our purpose, remarks that these wings of an eagle signify \u201cthe speed, faster than that of the seraphim, with which Mary always flies to the aid of her children.\u201d\u00a0\u2014St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary<\/p>\n

IN GOD\u2019S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .<\/strong>
\nSt. Alphonsus suggests that when we\u2019re 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?<\/p>\n

CLOSING PRAYER<\/strong>
\nA brief prayer of St. Philip Neri: O Virgin and Mother, grant that I may always remember you.<\/p>\n

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