So compassionate, then, and kind is this queen, says St. Bernard, that when a sinner recommends himself to her mercy, she does not begin to examine his merits, and whether he is worthy or not of being heard, but she graciously hears all and succors them.[801] Hence St. Idelbert remarks, that Mary is called fair as the moon: “Pulchra ut Luna;”[802] because, as the moon illuminates and benefits the smallest bodies upon the earth, so Mary enlightens and helps the most unworthy sinners.[803] And although the moon receives all her light from the sun, she moves more quickly than the sun; for, as a certain author remarks, what the sun does in a year, the moon does in a month.[804] Hence, says St. Anselm: Our relief is sometimes more immediate when the name of Mary is invoked than when we invoke the name of Jesus.[805] Wherefore Hugo of St. Victor tells us, that if by reason of our sins we fear to draw near to God, because he is an infinite majesty that we have offended, we should not hesitate to have recourse to Mary, because in her we shall find nothing to alarm us. She is indeed holy, immaculate, queen of the world, and mother of God; but she is of our flesh, and a child of Adam, like ourselves.[806] In a word, says St. Bernard, whatever appertains to Mary is full of grace and mercy; for she, as mother of mercy, has become all things to all, and by her great charity has made herself a debtor to the just and to sinners, and opens to all the bowels of her compassion, that all may share it.[807] As “the Devil,” according to St. Peter, “goeth about seeking whom he may devour,”[808] so, on the contrary, says Bernardine de Bustis, Mary goeth about seeking to whom she can give life and salvation.[809] We should understand that the protection of Mary, as St. Germanus says, is greater and more powerful than we can comprehend.[810] And how is it that the same Lord, who was under the old law so severe in punishing, exercises so great mercy towards the greatest sinners? Thus asks the author del Pomerio;[811] and he also answers: He does all this for the love and merits of Mary.[812] Oh, how long since would the world have been destroyed, says St. Fulgentius, if Mary had not preserved it by her intercession![813] But we may with confidence go to God, as St. Arnold Carnotensis asserts, and hope for every blessing, now that the Son is our mediator with the divine Father, and the mother with the Son. How can it be that the Father will refuse to hear graciously the Son, when he shows him the wounds he has received for sinners? And how can it be that the Son will not graciously hear the mother, when she shows him the breasts from which she has nourished us?[814] St. Peter Chrysologus says with great energy, that this favored Virgin, having received God in her womb, demands in return, peace for the world, salvation for the lost, life for the dead.[815]