Cause of our joy . . .

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We have an advocate before God the Father.  Mary loves us.  She desires us to open our hearts and minds to her Son's message of love.  She leads us to him, always desiring our spiritual good.  Mary's message at Medjugorje is so clear, "My child, if you knew how much I love you, you would cry for joy."  Knowledge of her Son and the desire to do his will, will bring us the only real joy and peace.

Let the soul of Mary be in each of us to magnify the Lord, and the spirit of Mary be in each of us to rejoice in God.
  (1)  St. Ambrose

She is my greatest security; she is the source of all my hope. (2)  St. Bernard-abbot of Clairvaux

All generations shall call you blessed, because you have been given life and glory to all nations.  (3)  St. Bernard-abbot of Clairvaux

Hail, God’s palace; hail tabernacle of the most high; hail, house of God; hail, his holy vestments; hail, handmaid of God.
  (4)  St. Francis of Assisi

The heart of this good mother is all love and mercy; she desires only to see us happy.  We have only to turn to her to be heard.  The son has his justice, the mother has nothing but her love. (5)  St. John Vianney

Mary is the queen of the world.  The tabernacle of God.  The celestial ladder by which the king of heaven descended to earth, and man ascends to heaven. (6)  St. Peter Damian

God would not become man without the consent of Mary; in the first place, that we might feel ourselves under great obligations to her, and secondly, that we might understand that the salvation of all is left to the care of the blessed virgin.
  (7)  St. Peter Damian

She has given us so many proofs that she cares for us like a mother. (8)  St. Teresa of Lisieux

As chickens when they see a hawk soaring above, run and find refuge under the wings of the hen, so are we preserved under the shadow of your wing, Mary.  And you, who are our lady and mother, have to defend us; for, after God, we have no other refuge than you, who are our only hope and our protectress; towards you we all turn our eyes with confidence. (9)  St. Thomas of Villanova

Be comforted then, O you who fear; breath freely and take courage.  This great virgin, who is the mother of your God and judge, is also the advocate of the whole human race; fit for this office for she can do what she will with God; most wise, for she knows all the means of appeasing him; universal, for she welcomes all, and refuses to defend no one.
  (10)  St. Thomas of Villanova

Jesus and Mary, my most sweet loves, for you may I suffer, for you may I die; grant that I may be in all things yours and in nothing mine.       
  (11)  St. Alphonsus Rodriquez

Think of what the Saints have done for their neighbor because they loved God.  But what Saint’s love for God can match Mary’s?  She loved Him more in the first moment of her existence than all the Saints and angels ever loved Him or will love Him.  Our Lady herself revealed to Sister Mary Crucified that the fire of her love was most extreme.  If Heaven and earth were placed in it, they would be instantly consumed.  And the ardors of the Seraphim, compared with it, are like cool breezes.  Just as there is not one among all the Blessed who loves God as Mary does, so there is no one, after God, who loves us as much as this most loving Mother does.  Furthermore, if we heaped together all the love that mothers have for their children, all the love of husbands and wives, all the love of all the angels and Saints for their clients, it could never equal Mary’s love for even a single soul. 
  (12)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

When, at the Annunciation the most Blessed Virgin gave the consent which was expected by the Eternal Word before becoming her Son, she from that moment asked our salvation of God with intense ardor, and took it to heart in such a way, that from that moment, as a most loving mother, she bore us in her womb. (13)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

People of the world never abandon a friend as long as he is in prosperity; but should misfortunes overtake him, and more particularly should he be at the point of death, they immediately forsake him.  Mary does not act thus with her clients. (14)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

This divine Mother, is that powerful rod with which the violence of the infernal enemies is conquered.
  (15)  St. Peter Damian

Who would dare accuse one who is patronized by the Mother of Him who is to judge.  Mary not only assists her beloved servants at death and encourages them, but she herself accompanies them to the tribunal-seat of God.
  (16)  Richard of St. Laurence

Michael, the leader and prince of the heavenly army, with all the administering spirits, obeys thy commands, O Virgin, and defends and receives the souls of the faithful who have particularly recommended themselves to thee, O lady, day and night. (17)  St. Bonaventure

You are indeed fortunate, if at death you are bound with the sweet chains of the love of the Mother of God.  These chains are chains of salvation; they are chains that will insure your eternal salvation, and will make you enjoy in death that blessed peace which will be the beginning of your eternal peace and rest. (18)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

You will, without doubt experience the same joy and contentment in death, if you can then remember that you have loved this good mother, who cannot be otherwise than faithful to her children who have been faithful in serving and honoring her, by their visits, rosaries, and fasts, and still more by frequently thanking and praising her, and often recommending themselves to her powerful protection.  Nor will this consolation be withheld, even if you have been for a time a sinner, provided that, from this day, you are careful to live well, and to serve this most gracious and benign Lady.  In your pains, and in the temptations to despair which the devil will send you, she will console you, and even come herself to assist you in your last moments. (19)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Let us be of good heart, though we be sinners, and feel certain that Mary will come and assist us at death, and comfort and console us with her presence, provided only that we serve her with love during the remainder of the time that we have to be in this world.
  (20)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Mary's conversation with St. John of the Cross.  "John, what were you thinking, it is not in me to forsake my clients at such a moment as their death.  Did you think that I have abandoned you?  And don't you know that I never abandon my clients at the hour of death?  If I did not come sooner, it was that your time was not arrived; but now that it is here, behold me here to take you; let us go to Heaven."
  (21)  St. John of the Cross 

Mary, not one of your devout servants has ever perished; may I, too, be saved! (22)  Benedict XV, pope

Mary is as much a creature as we are, with a heart like ours, made for joy and mirth as well as suffering and tears.
  (23)  St. Josemaria Escriva

We repeatedly celebrate those glorious titles of her ministry as Mediatrix.  Her do we greet who found favor with God, who was in a signal manner filled with grace by him so that the superabundance thereof might overflow upon all men. (24)  Leo XII, pope

What she asks, she obtains.  Her pleas can never be unheard. (25)  Pius IX, pope

It is a great thing in any Saint to have grace sufficient for the salvation of many souls; but to have enough to suffice for the salvation of everybody in the world is the greatest of all; and this is found in Christ and in the Blessed Virgin. (26)  Leo XIII, pope

Mary is Mistress of all things because she restores them to their original dignity by the grace which she merited. (27)  Leo XIII, pope

Mary, you had indeed reason to say that in God was your joy: and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior; for in this world you desired to love no other good by God. (28)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

As the dawn is a cause of joy, after the darkness and gloom of night, so was the birth of Mary, who is our dawn, a cause of joy to the world, which, before the coming of Jesus Christ, had been, for four thousand years, immersed in the darkness of sin.
  (29)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

The dawn is the forerunner of the sun, and Mary was the precursor of the Incarnate Word, the Sun of Justice, the Redeemer, who, by his death delivered us from eternal death. (30)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

O Mother of God, you are my joy and my hope; for you deny your graces to no one, and you obtain all you will from God.
  (31)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

Mary is more anxious to grant us graces than we are to receive them. (32)  Bernardine de Bustis

Know, O holy Lady that on account of your prayers, the Son of God hastens his coming into the world to redeem the world; and moreover know that you are that blessed one chosen to be the Mother of your Creator. (33)  St. Alphonsus de Liguori

O Immaculate and wholly-pure Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Queen of the world, hope of those who are in despair: you are the joy of the saints; you are the peacemaker between sinners and God; you are the advocate of the abandoned; the secure haven of those who are on the sea of the world; you are the consolation of the world, the ransom of slaves, the comfortress of the afflicted, the salvation of the universe. (34)  St. Ephrem

Mary is a woman of hope: only because she believes in God's promises and awaits the salvation of Israel, can the angel visit her and call her to the decisive service of these promises. (35)  Benedict XVI, pope

Mary teaches that to love according to God it is necessary to live in him and of him: God is the first "home" of human beings, and only by dwelling in God do men and women burn with a flame of divine love that can set the world "on fire." (36)  Benedict XVI, pope

Mary was a young girl but she was not afraid, for God was with her, within her.  Jesus' presence filled her with the Holy Spirit.  When she entered Elizabeth's house, her greeting was overflowing with grace: John leapt in his mother's womb, as if he were aware of the coming of the One whom he would one day proclaim to Israel.  The children exulted, the mothers exulted. (37)  Benedict XVI, pope

Mary went without delay to communicate her joy to her cousin Elizabeth.  This is the real commitment of Advent: to bring joy to others.
  (38)  Benedict XVI, pope

Let us follow and imitate Mary, a deeply Eucharistic soul, and our whole life can become a Magnificat, praise of God.  May this be the grace that we ask from the Virgin Most Holy. (39)  Benedict XVI, pope

Mary, Mother of the Good Shepherd.  May she who responded promptly to God's call, saying: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord," help all of us to accept with joy and willingness Christ's invitation to be his disciples, always motivated to be "of one heart and soul."
  (40)  Benedict XVI, pope

May we too one day, be able to share in the same destiny of Mary, let us imitate her now in her meek following of Christ and her generous service to the brethren.  This is the only way to have a foretaste, already on our earthly pilgrimage, of the joy and peace which those who reach the immortal destination of Paradise live to the full. (41)  Benedict XVI, pope

Let us ask Mary to teach us how to become, like her, inwardly free, so that in openness to God we may find true freedom, true life, genuine and lasting joy. (42)  Benedict XVI, pope

Understand what must be the joy and glory of Mary in the celestial Home when even in this valley of tears and place of sorrows, the very remembrance of her name makes one taste such sweet joy and pure delight. (43)  St. Bernardine of Siena

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