Mary is the light of the world, the cause of all
consolation and joy, as Queen Esther was to the Jews, who saw her as a new
light rising in gladness and triumphant glory. It gave the keenest delight to
the Jews to have beside so great a king, so powerful a ruler, a queen like
Esther: for she was Jewish by birth, she risked her own life to save her
people, and there was nothing she could not obtain from that very powerful
prince, who loved her beyond measure for her extraordinary charm and almost
divine beauty.
And what a' delight it is to us to have Mary
beside the supreme King, the King of kings, the Most high God, the eternal
Ruler of the universe, and to know that her power over his divine majesty is
much greater than Esther's ever was over Assuerus. There is nothing she cannot
obtain from God and she watches over the interests of us all, not simply
because she is of our flesh and blood but because she loves us with a deep and
true and heartfelt love, as parents love their dearest children.
And did not Mary almost die for us when she stood
by Christ's cross, filled to overflowing with the spirit of Abraham (or rather,
with what that spirit foreshadowed) and there in spirit gave her Son to God in
sacrifice and with true charity offered him for the salvation of the world? She
stood by the cross, yes; but she could
not have done it if the Spirit had not sustained and supported her.
Mary's extraordinary love for us actually has the
quality of God's love. She is so like God in spirit that we can truly say of
her, as of him, that she so loved the world, that she gave up her only-begotten
Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life.2
What a joy it is, then, what a delight to the whole world to have such a patron
to plead its cause with the God of all power. There is nothing she cannot
obtain from God, and since she loves us with a mother's love, there is no good
thing she does not desire for us.
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