“AS is well known, we are wont to represent the Immaculate Conception in this manner: Mary is represented as a virgin, with eyes cast down, and hands folded as if in prayer. She places one foot upon the moon, whilst with the other she crushes the head of the serpent that lies upon the ground, bearing an apple in its mouth. Behold, in this image the reasons why so many persons so soon lose the grace of baptism; behold also the virtues, on the diligent practice of which depends the preservation of baptismal innocence!
“Mary has one foot upon the earth. This teaches us, that if we wish to retain our innocence we must sever our hearts from all inordinate desire for those things which the world offers — earthly possessions, worldly honor, worldly enjoyments. We must fully understand, that whatever the world may offer with the promise of rendering us happy here below, is naught but dross and disappointment, that can never satisfy the cravings of our hearts, which were created solely for God and for heaven. But this conviction must be so entire, that we not only do not prefer the goods and pleasures of this world to those spiritual ones which our faith and the intercourse with God grant us even in this world; but that we, moreover, regard them in the same light as did St. Paul when he said: I regard all that is not Christ, as the filth of the street. You must cherish the same sentiments if you wish to preserve your baptismal innocence.”
— “The Immaculate Conception,” Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876
