“The Gospel says, in reference to his parents, Joseph and Mary, ‘He was subject unto them.’ (Luke 2:51.) What a grand and shining revelation we have in these few short words: ‘Jesus was subject unto Mary!’ Is it not written in the same Gospel, that ‘Jesus is the same to-day, as he was yesterday, and will be forever?’ He has not changed. He is still the Son of Mary, as he was when only twelve years old.
“This is why our holy Church, which is the pillar and foundation of Truth, invites you and me, to-day, to put an unbounded confidence in her intercession. Remembering that Jesus has always granted the petitions presented to him by his divine mother, let us put our petitions in her hands, if we want to receive the favors we are in need of.
“The second reason why we must all go to Mary, for the favors we want from heaven, is that we are sinners—rebels in the sight of God. Jesus Christ is our Saviour. Yes! but he is also our God, infinitely just, infinitely holy. He hates our sins with an infinite hatred. He abhors our rebellions with an infinite, a godly hatred. If we had loved and served him faithfully we might go to him, not only with the hope, but with the assurance of being welcomed. But we have forgotten and offended Him; we have trampled His laws under our feet; we have joined with those who nailed Him on the cross, pierced his heart with the lance, and shed His blood to the last drop. We belong to the crowd which mocked at His tortures, and insulted Him at His death. How can we dare to look at Him and meet His eyes? Must we not tremble in his presence? Must we not fear before that Lion of the tribe of Judah whom we have wounded and nailed to the cross?
“Where is the rebel who does not shiver, when he is dragged to the feet of the mighty Prince against whom he has drawn the sword? What will he do if he wants to obtain pardon? Will he go himself and speak to that offended Majesty? No! But he looks around the throne to see if he can find some one of the great officers and friends, or some powerful and influential person, through whose intercession he can obtain pardon. If he finds any such, he goes immediately to him, puts his petitions into their hands, and they go to the foot of the throne to plead for the rebel, and the favor which would have been indignantly refused to the guilty subject, had he dared to speak himself, is granted, when it is asked by a faithful officer, a kind friend, a dear sister or a beloved mother.
“This is why our holy church, speaking through her infallible supreme pontiff, the Vicar of Christ, Gregory XVI., has told us, in the most solemn manner, that ‘Mary is the only hope of sinners.’
Winding up my arguments, I added: “We are those insolent, ungrateful rebels. Jesus is the King of Kings against whom we have, a thousand times, risen in rebellion. He has a thousand good reasons to refuse our petitions, if we are impudent enough to speak to Him ourselves. But look at the right hand of the offended King, and behold his dear and divine mother. She is your mother also. For it is to every one of us, as well as to John, that Christ said on the cross, speaking of Mary, ‘Behold your Mother.’
“Jesus has never refused any favor asked by that Queen of Heaven. He cannot rebuke His Mother. Let us go to her; let us ask her to be our advocate and plead our cause, and she will do it. Let us suppliantly request her to ask for our pardon, and she will get it.”
I then sincerely took these glittering sophisms for the true religion of Christ, as all the priests and people of Rome are bound to take them to-day, and presented them with all the earnestness of an honest though deluded mind.
My sermon had made a visible and deep impression. Bishop Prince, coadjutor of my Lord Bourget, who was among my hearers, thanked and congratulated me for the good effect it would have on the people, and I sincerely thought I had said what was true and right before God.
But when night came, before going to bed, I took my Bible as usual, knelt down before God, in the neat little room I occupied in the bishop’s palace, and read the twelfth chapter of Matthew, with a praying heart and a sincere desire to understand it, and be benefitted thereby. Strange to say! when I reached the 40th verse, I felt a mysterious awe, as if I had entered for the first time, into a new and most holy land. Though I had read that verse, and the following, many times, they came to my mind with a freshness and newness as if I had never seen them before. There was a lull in my mind for a few moments. Slowly, and with breathless attention, supreme veneration and respect, I read the history of that visit of Mary to the sacred spot where Jesus, my Saviour, was standing in the midst of the crowd, feeding his happy hearers with the bread of life.