Dear Joe:

This book, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary, was written by the great St. Alphonsus de Liguori, doctor of the Church. In the 1830s or 40s his book was given approbation by Archbishop Samuel Eccleston, of Baltimore.

Here is the full context of the passage you quoted (in red):

And now, as to the visits to the Most Blessed Virgin, the opinion of St. Bernard is well known, and generally believed: it is, that God dispenses no graces otherwise than through the hands of Mary: "God wills that we should receive nothing that does not pass through Mary's hands." Hence Father Suarez declares that it is now the sentiment of the universal Church, that "the inter- cession of Mary is not only useful, but even necessary to obtain graces." And we may remark that the Church gives us strong grounds for this belief, by applying the words of Sacred Scripture to Mary, and making her say: In me is all hope of life and of virtue. Come over to me, all ye that desire of me. (Ecclus. 24, 25.) Let all come to me; for I am the hope of all that you can desire. Hence she then adds: Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. (Prov. 8.34.) Blessed is he who is diligent in coming every day to the door of my powerful intercession; for by finding me he will find life and eternal salvation: He that shall find me shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord. (Prov. 8, 35.) Hence it is not without reason that the Holy Church wills that we should all call her our common hope, by saluting her, saying, 'Hail, our hope!"

"Let us then," says St. Bernard, who went so far as to call Mary 'the whole ground of his hope,' "seek for graces, and seek them through Mary."

The entire book can be found online here.

Of course God can do all things without the participation of man, but He chooses to allow His children to participate in His graces because we are family and families do things together. The Father always allows his children to help him in his tasks.

In fact, as best as I can remember, except for Creation itself, God had human beings participating in every miracle recorded in the Bible. The parting of the Red Sea was accomplished through Moses and the graces of God are given through Mary, the perfect Christian, and most powerful intercessor, the Queen of Heaven.

We see an image of our Blessed Mother in this role in the story of Solomon and his mother, Bathshe'ba. Bathshe'ba was the Queen Mother. People would come to her to ask her to intercede with her son Solomon, the king:

(1 Kings 17-20) And he said [to Bathshe'ba], "Pray ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Ab′ishag the Shu′nammite as my wife." Bathshe′ba said, "Very well; I will speak for you to the king."

So Bathshe′ba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adoni'jah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, "I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you."

We have another example in Scripture was the economy of the Queen Mother as intercessor to her son, the King, on behalf of the people in the story of the wedding at Cana. Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine at the behest of his mother, to whom he could not refuse, even though it was not yet his time:

(John 2:3-5) When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Because Mary is the mother to King Jesus, as Queen Mother she is the greatest and most powerful intercessor for God's people. As King Solomon said to his Queen Mother, "...I will not refuse you."

She is the conduit that God has chosen to flow His graces to his people. He doesn't have to do this, but He has chosen to do this, which gives Him glory and shows His majesty and power. The Catechism says:

. . . she is our Mother in the order of grace

967 By her complete adherence to the Father's will, to his Son's redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church's model of faith and charity. Thus she is a "preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church"; indeed, she is the "exemplary realization" (typus) of the Church.

968 Her role in relation to the Church and to all humanity goes still further. "In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope, and burning charity in the Savior's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace."

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."

970 "Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." [my emphasis] "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source."

It is by this singular grace given to Mary, as Mother of God, as Queen Mother to King Jesus, that God has chosen to administer His graces.

God does not need us to do anything, but as a good Father he allows us to participate and even to help Him in his graces. Thus, because this is God's chosen economy Mary's intercession is "not only useful, but even necessary to obtain graces" even if the person receiving the grace does not know this.

Concerning Mary saving us from hell here is the full context of what you quoted on this (in red):

And full context of the second quote you gave (in red):

Most holy Immaculate Virgin and my Mother Mary, to thee who art the Mother of my Lord, the Queen of the world, the advocate, the hope, and the refuge of sinners, I have recourse today, I who am the most miserable of all. I render thee my most humble homage, 0 great Queen, and I thank thee for all the graces thou hast conferred on me until now, particularly for having delivered me from hell, which I have so often deserved. I love thee, 0 most amiable Lady; and for the love which I bear thee, I promise to serve thee always, and to do all in my power to make others love thee also. I place in thee all my hopes; I confide my salvation to thy care. Accept me for thy servant, and receive me under thy mantle, 0 Mother of Mercy. And since thou art so powerful with God, deliver me from all temptations, or rather obtain for me the strength to triumph over them until death. Of thee I ask a perfect love for Jesus Christ. Through thee I hope to die a good death. 0 my Mother, by the love which thou bearest to God, I beseech thee to help me at all times, especially at the last moment of my life. Leave me not, I beseech thee, until thou I me safe in heaven, blessing thee, and singing thy mercies for all eternity. Amen. So I hope. So may it be.

The Cross, in itself, does not save us. Rather, Jesus on the Cross redeems mankind and gives man the "opportunity" for salvation. People must still make a free will decision to profess Jesus has savior and convert to Him. It is by the graces of God that we are able to make that decision. As Jesus said, (John 6:44) "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..."

Since Mary is the mediatrix, the Queen Mother, through whom God has chosen for His graces to flow to His children, those graces that deliver us from hell also flow through her.

We, too, can participate in this. When we talk to an unbeliever about Christ and that person converts, the grace that allows him to convert flowed through us. Thus, we helped in delivering the man from hell. This grace flowed from God, through Mary, then through us, to the unbeliever who converts. This is God's economy, His economy of family.

I hope this helps.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary