God bestow on her a nobler name, or a greater dignity? O then, with what eyes will not one day Jesus look on those who would not honour his Blessed Mother, although he himself has honoured her so much! Is there indeed a creature more beloved by God than Mary, and will you not love her whom God loves so much?
2. The Holy Church of God itself teaches us devotion to Mary. How many churches and altars have been erected in her honour, how many feasts instituted for her glory, how many confraternities and even religious orders established under her name, how many treasures of grace and of indulgences have been attached by the church to the practice of honouring Mary!
Has not God performed innumerable miracles through her intercession, as so many privileged places of devotion and of pilgrimage show us? Have not kings and princes placed their states under her protection? All who truly revere Jesus Christ raise their voices in honour of Mary. For how can he honour the Son, who despises the Mother?
3. Mary is our Hope. The Holy Church names her so, when she salutes her with these words: “ Hail, our Hope! ” God refuses her nothing that she asks, because he is her Son. Neither will she refuse anything to us because she is our Mother. Jesus gave her to us for our Mother, with these words: “Woman, behold thy son!” She is the tenderest, the most devoted, the most compassionate, and most loving of all mothers. Are you a great sinner? Do not despair of salvation on that account: pray to Mary, the refuge of sinners, and you will not sink in the stormy waves of the sea of life. Would you grow in virtue? Ask of Mary, the Queen of
