he power to preserve her from original sin? And
does it not appear to you most fitting that God, the Holy Ghost, should
preserve His spouse, and God, the Son, His Mother, from sin of every
kind?

"Hail, full of grace," the angel said to her. If she was full of grace,
no vacancy was left for sin. Grace denotes the absence of sin, as light
denotes the absence of darkness. Hence if Mary was full of grace, she
was never subject to sin; she was always pure and her conception
immaculate. It is but natural, then, that we arrive at the belief in the
Immaculate Conception, at the belief in the sinlessness, the
spotlessness of the Blessed Virgin from the very beginning of her
existence. If we honor Mary principally because the angel honored her,
because God honored her, we honor her, also, because of her immaculate
conception and total freedom from sin. She was a model of all virtues.
Is it not reasonable, then, to honor Mary, to love her, and to believe
that she loves us? If we honor the good and virtuous, where can we find
a nobler example of virtue than Mary? What a beautiful model Mary is for
Christians, and especially for Christian women! Good Catholic mothers
are continually urging upon their daughters the necessity of choosing as
a model Mary, the true type of female excellence. In Mary you find all
that is tender, loving, constant, and true. In her you find all virtues.
In her humility she refused the highest honors; while in patience she
endured more anguish and agony than any other creature on earth.

Mary is a creature of God. As the praise we bestow on a beautiful
picture redounds to the glory of the artist, so the honor we give Mary
redounds to God, since we honor her for His sake. Let us honor her. That
person who honors the Blessed Virgin; who loves, respects, and venerates
her as the Mother of God; who takes her as a model and imitates her
virtues; who prays to her in trials and afflictions and asks her
intercession with her divine Son, does not only act in a reasonable
manner, but such action is certain to make the path through this world
smooth and easy and at the same time safe to a life of _eternal
happiness_.

VI. Confession of Sin

"Whom when He saw He said: Go, show yourselves to the priests" (_Luke_
xvii. 14).

"Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins ye shall forgive, they are
forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall retain, they are retained"
(_John_ xx. 23).

THE whole of the life of Our Lord an