the crucified orator 708 Surely, God Himself wanted to draw our attention to this, speaking to sinners thus: “See now that I, even I, am [H]e, and there is no god beside [M]e; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of [M]y hand” (Dt 32:39). The erudite Richard [of Saint-Laurent] quite cleverly arranged the words of God into the form of a conversation. Some are assigned to Christ the Lord, the Judge of Sinners, and others are attributed to His Mother, the sinners’ advocate. For our own immense comfort, he reasons in the following manner: “Often, those condemned by the justice of the Son, are set free by the mercy of the Mother: So it would seem as if the justice of the Son, and the mercy of the Mother are in disagreement. It is as if the Justice would say: ‘I will slay and wound.’ The Mercy of the Mother would then respond: ‘And I will bring back to life and heal.’ The mercy of the Mother still adds: ‘And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.’” Concluding this dialogue, the inquisitive Father incites and encourages the sinner to flee to Mary for refuge as for a most certain haven from the wrath of God. Richard exclaims, “Therefore, may you flee to the protection of her hand, and there is nothing to be feared,”47 absolutely nothing at all: not the violence of the accuser, nor the magnitude of the infernal tortures, nor the eternal prison of the condemned. Omost powerful and most tender City of Refuge! Under whose protection there is nothing for the sinner to fear, nothing, nothing at all! O Mother, you are much more merciful than can be said or thought! The guilty sons of Adam are received into your bosom, immune from all fear and danger of eternal death, and they obtain the assurance of a blessed Eternity. Indeed, the goodness and kindness of the Lord our God have no limits. Therefore, so that He never has to chastise or destroy us, who shamefully have fallen, according to the rigor of His severe justice, in His solicitude He gave us the Virgin Mary as our intercessor before Him, just as for the Hebrews He had prepared Esther to be an intercessor before the king of the Medes 47 Cf. Richard a S. Laurentio, op. cit., col. 89.
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