St. Bernard: To Jesus through Mary

[Stone]

St. Bernard: To Jesus through Mary



As early as the 12th century, we find a great saint, the highly acclaimed Bernard of Clairvaux, preaching to the faithful that they must go to Jesus through Mary. It is through His Holy Mother that we find access to the God-Man. It is the Virgin, he tells us, who is the "royal way" to find Jesus Christ.

TIA | April 13, 2024

St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Taken from Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Vol !, Second Sunday after Advent, p 156

A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son (Is vii). It is now surely clear how the Virgin is the royal way by which the Savior has drawn near to us, coming forth from her virginal womb as a Bridegroom from His bridal chamber. Let us endeavor, therefore, to go up to Jesus by Mary, for Jesus came down to us by her. Let us seek His grace through her by whom He came to succor our needs.

O blessed finder of grace! O Mother of life! O Mother of salvation! May we through thee have access to thy Son. May He, Who was given to us by thee, receive us by thee. May He admit her purity and, for its sake, forgive our impurities. May He give us the pardon of our pride, because of the pleasure He took in thy humility. May thy abundant charity cover the multitude of our sins. May thy glorious fruitfulness get for us fruitfulness of merit.

Our Lady, our Mediatrix, our Advocate, reconcile us to thy Son, commend us to thy Son, present us to thy Son. By the grace thou hast found, by the prerogative thou didst merit, by the Mercy thou didst bring forth, obtain, O blessed one, that He Who deigned to become, through thy maternity, partaker of our weakness and misery, may, through thy intercession, make us partakers of His glory and bliss.