the-glories-of-mary

130 GLOKIES OP MARY.
what David intended to express,
says a certain
author, when he said:" He hath protected me in
the secret place of his tabernacle."* And what
is this tabernacle, if not Mary? As St. Germanus
calls her, a tabernacle made by God, in which
none but God has entered, in order to complete
the great mysteries of human redemption.! On
this subject the great Father St. Basil says: The
Lord has given us Mary as a public hospital where
all the infirm are poor, and destitute of every
other help, may assemble:
nobis Deua
"Aperuit
publicum valetudinarium." Now, in hospitals
established expressly for the reception of the
poor, I would ask, who have the first claim to be
received, if not the poorest and most infirm?
Wherefore, let him who finds himself not mis
erable, because most destitute of merit, and
most afflicted
by the maladies of the soul, name
ly, sins, say to Mary: Oh Lady, thou art the refuge
to the infirm; do not reject me, for, because I am
the poorest and most infirm of all, I have the
greater claim upon thee to receive me. Let us
say with St. Thomas of Villanova: Oh Mary, we
poor sinners know no refuge but thee. Thou art
our only hope; to thee we intrust our salvation.
Thou art the only advocate with Jesus Christ; to
to thee we all have recourse.!
* Protexit me in abscondito tabernaculi sui. Psal. xxvt. 5.
t Tabernaculum a Deo fabricatum, in quo solus Deus ingressut
eat sacris mysteriis operaturus in te pro salute omnium hominum.
$ Nescimus aliud refugium nisi te. Tu sola es nnica spes nostra
to. qua confidimus. Tu sola patrona nostra, ad quam omns aspici
Bras.
Serra. 3. de Nat B. Y-.