Untitled - Saints' Books

"
The
"
In
4ro Material for Instructions. [PART u.
the mediation of
those that are nearer."
And as the
saints in heaven are near God, we who are prisoners in
the body and who travel far from God, we cannot, ac
cording to the order established, return to our supreme
end except through the mediation of the saints." 2
Other
authors, particularly the continuator of Tournely and
Sylvius, hold the same opinion. He afterwards adds:
natural law prescribes for us the order estab
lished by God. Now God wishes that inferior creat
ures in order to reach salvation should implore the
help of superior creatures." 3
But if it is a duty to ask the prayers of the saints,
how much more strictly are we bound to invoke the in
tercession of Mary, whose prayers are more efficacious
with God than the prayers of all the other saints! St.
Thomas says that through the abundant grace which God
has given them the saints can save many, but that the
Blessed Virgin has merited 4
grace sufficient to save all.
St. Bernard has written that as we have access to the
Father through his Son Jesus Christ, so we have access
to the Son through the Mother. 5 Hence he afterwards
1 "
Ordo est divinitus institutus in rebus, secundum Dionysium, ut
per media ultima reducantur in Deum. Unde, cum Sancti, qui sunt in
patria, sint Deo propinquissimi, hoc divinae legis ordo requirit, ut nos,
qui marientes in corpore peregrinamur a Domino, in eum per Sanctos
medios reducamur."
2 "
Sicut, mediantibus Sanctorum suffragiis, Dei beneficia in nos
3 "
deveniunt, ita oportet nos in Deum reduci, ut iterate beneficia ejus
sumamus mediantibus Sanctis." In 4 Sent. d. 45, q. 3, a. 2.
Lege natural! tenemur eum ordinem observare, quern Deus instituit;
at constituit Deus ut inferiores ad salutem perveniant, implorato
superiorum subsidio." De Relig. p. 2, c. 2, a. 5.
4 "Magnum est enim in quolibet Sancto, quando habet tantum de
gratia quod sufficit ad salutem multorum; sed, quando haberet tantum
quod sufficeret ad salutem omnium, hoc esset maximum, et hoc est in
Christo et in Beata Virgine." Expos, in Sal. Ang,
5 "
Per te accessum habeamus ad Filium, o Inventrix gratise, Mater
salutis, ut per te nos suscipiat, qui per te ciatus est nobis !" Adv.
Dom. s. 2.