Cardinal Hugo comments: “Blessed is he in whom the Blessed Virgin rests. Mary, out of the love she professes for all, seeks to have everyone hold devotion to her. Many either do not receive it or do not preserve it: Blessed is he who receives it and preserves it. ‘And I shall abide in the Lord’s inheritance.’” That is to say, adds the learned Paciuchelli, in those who are the Lord’s inheritance. Devotion to the Most Holy Virgin occurs in those who are the Lord’s inheritance, that is, in those who will be in heaven praising her eternally. And Mary continues speaking in the same book: “He who created me rested in my tabernacle; and he said to me: dwell in Jacob, and inherit in Israel, and strike your roots among my chosen ones.” My Creator has deigned to come and rest in my womb. He willed that I should dwell in the hearts of the chosen, prefigured by Jacob, who are the inheritance of the Virgin, and he has ordained that true devotion to me should be rooted in all the predestined.
How many who are now blessed would not be in heaven had the Virgin not brought them there! “I made an unfailing light shine in heaven.” Cardinal Hugo comments, attributing these words to Mary: “I made as many eternal lights shine in heaven as there are my devotees.” And the same author adds: “Many saints are in heaven through her intercession who would never have arrived there were it not for her.” Saint Bonaventure says that to all who trust in Mary’s protection, the gates of heaven will be opened to receive them. Which is why Saint Ephrem calls devotion to Mary the entrance to paradise. And the devout Blosius, speaking to the Virgin, says to her: “Lady, to you have been given the keys and the treasures of the blessed kingdom.” For this reason we must pray to her continually in the words of Saint Ambrose: “Open to us, Mary, the gate of paradise, since you hold the key—nay, since you yourself are the gate, as the Church calls you: ‘Gate of Heaven.’”
For this reason, furthermore, the sublime Mother is called by the Church the Star of the Sea: “Hail, Star of the Seas!” Because just as sailors, says Saint Thomas, the Angelic Doctor, are guided to port by the North Star, so Christians are guided to paradise by means of Mary.
Likewise, Saint Peter Damian calls her the “ladder of heaven,” because, says the saint, through Mary, God descended to earth so that through her, humanity might merit ascending from earth to heaven. And to this end, Lady, Saint Athanasius says to her, you have been filled with grace, so that you might be the royal road of our salvation and the pathway to the heavenly homeland. Saint Bernard calls the Virgin the vehicle that carries us to heaven. And Saint John Geometres greets her thus: “Hail, most noble chariot!”, in which her devotees are conveyed to paradise. Hence Saint Bonaventure exclaims: “Blessed are those who know you, Mother of God! For to know you is the path of immortal life, and to speak of your virtues is the way to reach eternal life.”
*The Glories of Mary*, Saint Alphonsus