The defender of a beleaguered citadel concentrates his forces on the outer fortifications and towers, knowing well that the capture of these outworks would endanger the citadel itself, and that _their_ safety involves _its_ security.
Jesus Christ is the citadel of our faith, the stronghold of our soul's affections. Mary is called the "Tower of David," and the gate of Sion which the Lord loveth more than all the tabernacles of Jacob,(254) and which He entered at His Incarnation.
So intimately is this living gate of Sion connected with Jesus, the Temple of our faith, that no one has ever assailed the former without invading the latter. The Nestorian would have Mary to be only an ordinary mother because he would have Christ to be a mere man.
Hence, if we rush to the defence of the gate of Sion, it is because we are more zealous for the city of God. If we stand as sentinels around the tower of David, it is because we are more earnest in protecting Jerusalem from invasion. If we forbid profane hands to touch the ark of the covenant, it is because we are anxious to guard from profanation the Lord of the ark. If we are so solicitous about Mary's honor, it is because "the love of Christ" presseth us. If we will not permit a single wreath to be snatched from her fair brow, it is because we are unwilling that a single feature of Christ's sacred humanity should be obscured, and because we wish that He should ever shine forth in all the splendor of His glory, and clothed in all the panoply of His perfections.
But you will ask: Why do you so often blend together the worship of God and the veneration of the Blessed Virgin? Why such exclamations as _Blessed be Jesus and Mary_? Why do you so often repeat in succession the Lord's prayer and the Angelical salutation? Is not this practice calculated to level all distinctions between the Creator and His creature, and to excite the displeasure of a God ever jealous of His glory?
Those who make this objection should remember that the praises of the Lord and of His Saints are frequently combined in Holy Scripture itself.
Witness Judith. On returning from the tent of Holofernes, she sang: "_Praise ye the Lord, our God_, who hath not forsaken them that hope in Him, _and by me His handmaid_, He hath fulfilled His mercy which He promised to the house of Israel.... And Ozias, the prince of the people of Israel, said to her: _Blessed art thou, O daughter_, by the Lord the Most High God, above all women upon the earth, _Blessed be the Lord_ who made heaven and earth ... because He hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men."(255)