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The Lord God loves those who love Him: I love them that love me (Prov. viii. 17). He showers down His graces on those that seek Him by love: The Lord is good … to the soul that seeketh him (Lament. 25).
If it be true that the intercession of the Saints is necessary for us, much more is it true of the intercession of the Mother of God, whose prayers are certainly of more value in His sight than those of all the rest of the inhabitants of Heaven together.
A man will go on committing venial sins, and foolishly says: “It will be enough for me to be saved!” But I answer: By continuing that course you will not be saved! For, as St. Gregory says, the soul never remains where it falls, but descends much lower.
Hope increases Charity, and Charity increases Hope. Hope in the Divine goodness undoubtedly gives an increase to our love of Jesus Christ. St. Thomas says that in the very moment when we hope to receive some benefit from a person, we begin also to love him. On this account, the Lord forbids us to put our trust in creatures: Put not your trust in princes (Ps. odv. 2).
Since it is certain, and even of Faith, that by our suffrages, and chiefly by our prayers, as particularly recommended and practised by the Church, we can relieve those Holy Souls, I do not know how to excuse that man from sin who neglects to give them some assistance, at least by his prayers.
God has pity on those who fear Him, but not on sinners who despise Him. To offend God because He shows us mercy, is to provoke Him in the highest degree to chastise us.
The true lover of Jesus Christ keeps Eternal Truths constantly in view, and orders all his actions according to them….
Here a question arises, whether it is necessary to have recourse to the intercession of the Saints to obtain the grace of God.
Moreover, Prayer is the most necessary weapon of defence against our enemies; he who does not avail himself of it, says St. Thomas, is lost. He does not doubt that the reason of Adam’s fall was because he did not recommend himself to God when he was tempted: “He sinned because he had not recourse to the Divine assistance.”
Whoever loves a person believes all that proceeds from the lips of that person; consequently, the more a soul loves Jesus Christ, the more lively and unshaken is her Faith. When the Good Thief beheld our Redeemer, though He had done no ill, suffering death upon the Cross with such patience, he began at once to love Him; under the influence of this love, and of the Divine light which then broke upon his soul, he believed that Jesus was truly the Son of God, and begged not to be forgotten by Him when He should have passed into His Kingdom.