The Only True Child-like Gaze Ever Raised Upon Our Shame

The Virgin was innocence itself. Do you realize what we, the human race, are to her? Oh, of course she despises sin, but when all is said and done, she has no experience of it. The Virgin has the only true child-like gaze that was ever raised upon our shame and wretchedness. Yes, my child, when you pray to her you should feel upon you that gaze which is not one of indulgence - for indulgence is a product of some bitter experience - but one of tender compassion, pained surprise, of some as yet indefinable, inconceivable, unutterable feeling that makes her younger than the race that gave her birth; for although she is our Mother by grace, she is also humankind's little sister.