The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-10-25
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIR-
GIN MARY, MOTHER OF GOD.

Love for Mary is a mark of the truly
Catholic and Christian heart. If it is
not there, something is wanting, and
that something is not a mere orna-
ment or a beautiful sentiment, but it
is a grace. Numberless passages
from the Fathers, Saints, and Doctors
can be quoted to prove that devotion
to the Blessed Virgin Mary is a mark
of predestination. The absence OF
that devotion displays so singular a
want of heart that it is difficult to see
how the soul in such a disposition can
~persevere. Our attraction must be
either outward or inward; if it is the
latter, we shall love Jesus, and we
cannot love Him except as He is-the
Son of a Virgin Mother. A soul in
sensible to her may have high thoughts
about God, but it will not have that
intimate and domestic n of the In
carnation of the Son of God, without
which perseverance is well-nigh hope
less.
We wish to impress on our readers
that devotion to Mary is a solid, true,
and most important devotion. Hear
what the great apostle of Mary, st.
Alphonsus, says: "If it is true (and
l hold it as certain, according to the
now generally received opinion) that
all the graces that God d~ispenses to
men pass through the hands of Mary,
it will be equally true that it is only
through Mary that we can hope for
this greatest of all graces-perseVer-
ance. And we shall obtain it most
certainly if we always seek it with
confidence through Mary."-Glorles OF
Mary, chap. ~. Do not, then, devout
soul. let the sneer or sophism OF her
esy deter you from opening your heart
wide to Mary the ever-blessed Virgin
Mother of God. Guard against that
GOODNESS and cowardice so prevalent
in an heretical land, which would keep
your steps back and bid you be eau
tious and mot to go too far" in your
love to her. Your own simple, pure,
childlike Catholic heart will tell you
how far to go, and it will teach you
the practical lesson that to love Mary
is to love Jesus, and that she will lead
YOU to the Infinite Good, u Lord
Jesus Christ, her Divine Son.
It cannot fail to be observed that
our Holy Father Pope Leo XIII places
before us as the immediate end and
object of the Rosary an increase OF
devotion towards the ever-blessed VIZ
gin Mary, the Immaculate Queen OF
Heaven, CONSIDER of the afflicted, and
Refuge of sinners. In each one OF his
encyclicals and other documents on
the Rosary he urges that the devotion
to Mary should grow more and more,
and become more and more deeply ana
tenderly cherished by all Christian
people. He uses the remarkable
words: 1--WE believe it to be in the
designs of Providence that, in these
times of trial for the Church, the an
cient devotion to the august Virgin
should live and flourish" And he
goes on to say: May the Christian
people now seek the protection OF
Mary with an ardor growing greater
day by day. Let them betake them
selves more and more to the protec-
ton of Mary, and trust in her. Let
them cling more and more to the
practice of the Rosary" (Encyc. 1st
Sept, 1889.
The Church seems to be growing
more and more wildly conscious OF
that truth proclaimed by st. Bernard,
that all grace to us from God
through Mary. "See," he exclaims,
with what great love and devotion
He would have us honor her, VINO has
set the fulness of all good in Mary;
that, therefore, if there be in us any
hope, if any grace, if any salvation,
we may know that it flows out upon
us through her, cometh up flowing with
delights" (Sermon on the Nativity B.
V. M.
Pope Leo XIII has taught the same
truth as follows: "We may assert
with equal truth and propriety that
nothing whatever out of that vast
treasure of all grace which our Lord
has brought, since the time that Grace
and Truth came by Jesus, nothing is
granted to us, God so willing, except
through Mary; so that as no n can
have access to the Sovereign Father
except through His Son, so no n can
have access to Christ except through
His Mother (Encyc., 22nd Sept,
1S91).