In a word, the mercy of Mary is so great, that as Guerric the Abbot says: Her bowels of love can never for a moment cease to bring forth for us the fruits of mercy.[771] And what, exclaims St. Bernard, can flow but mercy from a fountain of mercy? “Quid de fonte pietatis nisi pietas?”[772] For this reason Mary was called the olive-tree: As a fair olive-tree in the plains: “Quasi oliva speciosa in campis.”[773] For, as the olive-tree produces nothing but oil, the symbol of mercy, thus from the hands of Mary nothing but graces and mercies proceed. Hence, justly, says the venerable Louis da Ponte, is Mary called the mother of oil, since she is the mother of mercy.[774] If, then, we have recourse to this mother, and ask of her the oil of her mercy, we cannot fear that she will refuse us, as the wise virgins refused the foolish, answering: “Lest there be not enough for us and for you.”[775] No, for she is, indeed, rich in that oil of mercy, as St. Bonaventure remarks: Mary abounds in the oil of mercy: “Maria plena oleo pietatis.”[776] She is called by the Church not only prudent, but most prudent, and by this we may understand, as Hugo of St. Victor says, that Mary is so full of grace and mercy that there is enough for all without exhausting her.[777] But why, I would ask, is it said that this fair olive is in the midst of the plains, and not rather in a garden surrounded by walls and hedges? Cardinal Hugo answers to this question: In order that all may easily see her, and thus may easily have recourse to her, to obtain relief for their necessities.[778] St. Antoninus confirms this beautiful thought, when he says: That as all can go and gather the fruit of an olive-tree that is exposed in the open fields, so all, both the just and sinners, can have recourse to Mary to obtain mercy.[779] And then the saint adds: Oh how many sentences of punishment have been revoked through the merciful prayers of this most holy Virgin, in favor of sinners who have had recourse to her![780] And what more secure refuge can we find, says the devout Thomas à Kempis, than the compassionate heart of Mary? There the poor find shelter; the sick medicine; the afflicted consolation; the doubtful counsel; the abandoned help.[781] Wretched should we be, if we had not this mother of mercy, mindful and solicitous to help us in our miseries! “Where there is no wife,” says the Holy Spirit, “he mourneth that is in want.”[782] This wife, remarks St. John Damascene, is certainly Mary, without whom the sick man suffers and mourns.[783] So, indeed, it is, since God has ordained that all graces should be dispensed by the prayers of Mary: where these are wanting, there is no hope of mercy, as our Lord signified to St. Bridget, saying to her: “Unless Mary interposes by her prayers, there is no hope of mercy.”[784]