"But notice that St. Elizabeth received the Holy Spirit by means of the Virgin. Certainly we must avail ourselves of her as a mediatrix with her Son in order to obtain this Divine Spirit, and although we can go directly to God and ask for His graces without employing the mediation of the saints for this purpose, nevertheless Divine Providence has not willed that it happen so; but It has formed still another union, for God is One, as I told you from the beginning, and so He loves what is unified. Therefore He has so united the Church Militant with the Church Triumphant that the two make only one, having only one Lord who rules, guides, governs, and nourishes them, though in different ways; thus we address ourselves to Him to ask for our daily bread as much for our bodily needs as for the nourishment required for the soul."
— St. Francis de Sales, Sermon on the Feast of the Visitation
