But it is not enough to wear the medal as a mere pledge of the Immaculate Mary's love; we must regard it also, as an assistant in reaching perfection. This Mother, all amiable, proposes herself to our imitation, she places herself, in a measure, before our eyes, that seeing her so pure and perfect, we may be attracted by her charms. It is the image of her beauty and goodness she brings us from Heaven. It is a mirror in which we learn to know the Sun of Justice, by the perfections with which he has enriched His divine Mother.... It is on one side, the picture of what we should be, and on the other, an eloquent lesson of what we should practice. The shining purity of the Immaculate Mary, reveals to us the beauty of our soul, created in the image of the thrice holy God, and exciting in us, the love of that amiable virtue which makes us resemble the angels, it necessarily inspires us with the most vivid horror of evil, and causes us to shun the slightest imperfections, since they tarnish this divine resemblance. And, as though it were not enough to excite our fervor by the sight of her ravishing beauty, this faithful Virgin discovers to us the means of preserving innocence or recovering it, should we have been so unfortunate as to lose it. This is the lesson of the symbolic figures engraven on the reverse of the medal: "Nothing shall be written on the reverse of the medal; ... what is already there says enough to the Christian soul." The Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary placed beneath the cross tell us that purity is preserved or restored by love and union with our Lord.... Love covers a multitude of sins; love is the bond of perfection, the consummation of all virtues.... Love assures fidelity. It must be stronger than death to make us die to the world, to sin and ourselves, that we may be attached inseparably to Jesus crucified. There is also another lesson to be learned--that taught by Mary's holy name, united to the sign of the cross. It is placed above the two hearts because true love leads to sacrifice; it immolates, it fastens, it nails to the cross of Jesus Christ, and this union of sufferings on earth is the pledge of a glorious and eternal union hereafter.