“MARY bears the price of our redemption. The water which gushed out of the rock to refresh the people of Israel is her symbol (Nm 20:8). Hers is the integrity of maidenhood, the fruitfulness of wedlock, the purity of chastity. Let us bless her often, and sing her praises: ‘for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call be blessed’ (Lk 1:48).”
~St. Thomas Aquinas: Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, 47.
Madonna of the Roses,
by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1903.