Mother most admirable . . .

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Mary's Litany

What must be the depth of your love, God, that you would gift a human creature with your very life to bring your Son to the world.  Yet you choose Mary not only as your child, but the spouse of the divine Holy Spirit, and the Mother of your divine Son.  You have raised her above all created material and spiritual beings.  You created her as a loving mother for us all, above us all, yet one of us.  She has suffered our trials, worries, and hardships, and it is through her loving hands that we receive the infinite merits which her Son earned for us by his redeeming act of dying on the cross.   

No one is equal to you, O Lady, for all are either above or beneath you; above Mary is God only, beneath Mary is all that is not God. (1)  St. Anselm of Canterbury

Every grace granted to man has three degrees in order; for by God it is communicated to Christ, from Christ it passes to the virgin, and from the virgin it descends to us. (2)  St. Bernadino of Siena

Jesus, son of Mary, has no likeness among men, nor has Mary any likeness among women.  She is the most beautiful of the living; she is a splendid dawn rising. (3)  St. Bruno

It is good to ask special favors of the glorious virgin Mary, for she is the one, among all pure creatures, who was the highest in the virtue of humility. (4)  St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Although she was so great, Mary was the at the same time so humble that she merited to become the ladder by which God descended upon earth. (5)  St. Augustine of Hippo

While Mary lived among us, only a tiny bit of our earth possessed her.  Now that she is in heaven, the entire world holds her to its bosom as the universal peace-maker between it and the offended God. (6)  St. Andrew of Crete

No created mind, no created heart, no human force is capable of knowing how much love the heart of Mary had for our lord. (7)  St. Jerome

God grants us graces according to the work for which we are destined.  Because Mary was to become his mother, he gave her grace which could not be measured. (8)  St. Thomas Aquinas

The greatest saints, those richest in grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in praying to the most Blessed Virgin, looking up to her as the perfect model to imitate and as a powerful helper to assist them. (9)  St. Louis Marie de Montfort

It seems unbelievable that a man should perish in whose favor Christ said to His Mother: ‘Behold thy Son’, provided that he has not turned a deaf ear to the words, which Christ addressed to him: ‘Behold thy Mother.’ (10)  St. Louis Marie de Montfort

The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary. (11)  St. Louis Marie de Montfort

There is no doubt that Mary willingly gave her Son for the salvation of the human race. (12)  St. Bonaventure

Mary rejoiced in her sorrow, because she offered the sacrifice of her Son for the salvation of mankind.
  (13)  Blessed Simon Fidati of Cascia

Jesus was Mary's first-born according to the flesh, but that all mankind were her second-born according to the spirit.
(14)  St. Gertrude

When Mary saw the love of the Eternal Father towards men to be so great that, in order to save them, he willed the death of his Son; and, on the other hand, seeing the love of the Son in wishing to die for us: in order to conform herself to this excessive love of both the Father and the Son towards the human race, she also with her entire will offered, and consented to the death of her Son, in order that we might be saved. (15)  St. Bonaventure

What mother, loves her children, and attends to their welfare, as you love us and care for us, O most sweet Queen.  For do you not love us and seek our welfare far more without comparison than any earthly mother? (16)  St. Bonaventure

Through a woman (Eve) a curse fell upon the earth; through a woman (Mary) as well there returned to the earth a blessing.
  (17)  St. Peter Damian

O Mary, you are the noblest, the must exalted and purest, the fairest, the holiest of all things created!  I desire a greater and more tender love of you, and this you must obtain for me, because love of you is a great sign of predestination, and a grace granted by God to those who shall be saved. (18)  Pius VII, pope

To desire grace without recourse to the Virgin Mother is to desire to fly without wings. (19)  Pius XII, pope

The Blessed Virgin from the fact that she is the Mother of God has a certain infinite dignity which comes from the infinite good, which is God. (20)  St. Josemaria Escriva

Mary gives herself completely to doing the divine will: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word." (Luke 1:38).  Isn't that marvelous?  The blessed Virgin, our teacher in all we do, shows us here that obedience to God is not servile, does not bypass our conscience.  We should be inwardly moved to discover the "freedom of the children of God." (21)  St. Josemaria Escriva

There is no reason why certain others should not be called in a certain way mediators between God and man, that is to say insofar as they co-operate by predisposing and ministering in the union of man with God.  Such are the Angels and Saints, the prophets and priests of both Testaments, but especially has the Blessed Virgin a claim to the glory of this title.  For no single individual can even be imagined who has ever contributed or ever will contribute so much towards reconciling man with God. (22)  Leo XII, pope

O mankind heading for eternal ruin, she offered a Savior when she received the announcement of the mystery brought to this earth by the Angel, and in giving her consent gave it in the name of the whole human race.  She it is from whom Jesus is born; therefore she is truly his Mother and for this reason a worthy and acceptable "Mediatrix to the Mediator.' (23)  Leo XII, pope

Whereas other saints excelled, each in some particular virtue, - the one in chastity, another in humility, another in mercy, - the Blessed Virgin excelled in all, and is given as a model of all. (24)  St. Thomas

Mary deserved to be made the worthy repairer of the lost world, because she was the most holy and the most pure of all creatures,  The pure sanctity of her heart, surpassing the purity and sanctity of all others creatures, merited for her that she should be made the repairer of the lost world. (25)  St. Anselm

The moon illumines the night with the light that it receives from the sun, and you enlighten our darkness with the splendor of your virtues. (26)  St. Bernard

O most holy Lady, by the favor that God did you, in raising you so high as to make all things possible in you with him, act so that the plentitude of grace, which you did merit, may make us partakers of your glory. (27)  St. Anselm

Remember always that our Creator took human flesh of you, not to condemn sinners, but to save them. (28)  St. Anselm

You alone were found worthy to be chosen as the one in whose virginal womb the King of kings should have his first abode.
  (29)  St. Bernard

The Blessed Virgin is said to have merited to bear the Lord of all; not that she merited his incarnation, but that she merited, by the graces she had received, such a degree of purity and sanctity, that she could becomingly be the Mother of God.
  (30)  St. Thomas Aquinas

Her singular sanctity, the effect of grace, merited that she alone should be judged worthy to receive a God.
  (31)  St. Augustine

When God chooses any one for a particular dignity, he renders him fit for it; and since God, having chosen Mary for his Mother, he also by his grace rendered her worthy of this highest of all dignities. (32)  St. Thomas of Villanova

The Blessed Virgin never committed any actual sin, not even a venial one.  Otherwise, she would not have been a mother worthy of Jesus Christ; for the ignominy of the Mother would also have been that of the Son, for he would have had a sinner for his mother.
  (33)  St. Thomas of Villanova

When speaking of Mary for the honor of our Lord, whom she merited to have for her Son, he would not entertain even the question of sin in her; for we know that through him, who it is evident was without sin, and whom she merited to conceive and bring forth, she received grace to conquer all sin. (34)  St. Augustine

As Mary was chosen to be the Mother of God, it was quite becoming that God should adorn her, in the first moment of her existence, with an immense grace, and one of a superior order to that of all other men and angels, since it had to correspond to the immense and most high dignity to which God exalted her. (35)  St.. Bernardine of Sienna

The Blessed Virgin was chosen to be the Mother of God; and therefore it is not to be doubted that God fitted her for it by his grace.
  (36)  St. Thomas

Mary is totally emptied of herself; she has given herself entirely to Christ and with him is given as a gift to us all.  Indeed, the more the human person gives himself, the more he finds himself. (37)  Benedict XVI, pope

Mary was the first, in a way which can never be equaled, to believe and experience that Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is the summit, the peak of man's encounter with God.  By fully accepting the Word, she "was blessedly brought to the holy Mountain" and lives for ever with the Lord in body and soul. (38)  Benedict XVI, pope

Do you want certain salvation?  Then have great devotion to the Virgin Mary.  She will guarantee your salvation.  She infallibly saves the one who honors her. (39)  St. Sharbel Makhlouf

Wear on your breast the holy scapular of Carmel.  - Few devotions - and there are many very fine Marian devotions - as so deep-rooted among the faithful and so richly blessed by the popes.  - Besides, how motherly this sabbatine privilege is!  (40)  St. Josemaria Escriva

When you were asked what picture of Our Lady aroused your devotion most, and you answered - like someone with long experience - "All of them," I realized that you were a good son; that's why you like - "They make me fall in love," you said - all the pictures of your Mother.
  (41)  St. Josemaria Escriva

Oh Mother, Mother!: with that word of yours - Fiat, "Be it done" - you have made us brothers of God and heirs to his glory. - Bless you!         (42)  St. Josemaria Escriva

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