Down the ages various great devotions to Our Lady have flourished . . . according to the specific needs of God’s people at special times. I do not think any way of seeing our relationship with Mary or any expression of our devotion to Her can be better or more permanent than the one Jesus Himself had when on earth. She simply was His Mother. And She simply is our Mother. We must treat Her as such, not only with the respect that is due to Her as our Mother but also with the really firm trust in Her help, both as to its constant availability and its value. As a child is never insecure when it is in its mother’s care and does not think of her letting it come to harm, so we should feel as we live our lives for God under Our Lady’s motherly care.
When a child has problems and perplexities in life, it runs to its mother and she sorts it out. She does not always give a complete answer but helps the child see further into things and so grow in maturity. When we run to Our Lady with our problems, unless we are extremely special chosen souls, we shall not hear a voice from heaven giving us a message. Just as Our Lady when perplexed turned things over and pondered them in Her heart, so should we. But in seeking an answer to spiritual problems we may have, we should not only remember that we have a Mother helping us to think rightly, but try to see the implications of Mary’s Motherhood in our own relationship with Her Son Who is God. Questions of guilt and lack of inner peace, of imperfections and inability to pray well and lack of virtue and such things that may trouble us can be sorted out very well if we practice our faith in Mary as our Mother. She accompanies us not only through life but into the presence of God. . .
Of course all Our lady’s care and love for us has its origin in Jesus’ love for us, and She does not in any sense whatever persuade Him against His will to have mercy on us and bless us. But one aspect of Jesus’ mercy is that He channels it to us through His Mother’s Heart by making Her our own Mother. If we ignore Our Lady, we cut ourselves off from Jesus’ mercy and from its particularly delicate and beautiful manifestation. Our Lady’s Heart is immersed in Her Son’s and brings love to us with a Mother’s tenderness. Jesus can be severe against hypocrisy and in other ways express the justice of God, which is to be feared. But He has not given Mary any part in that side of things. When we go to Her, Her reaction is one of love and mercy, even if we are not fit to go to Her Son; and she may well make us able to go to Him without fear.
I have met mothers, good mothers, whose sons or daughters have behaved abominably towards them for years and after a very good upbringing. Yet the mothers have never lost their love for their children and make all kinds of excuses for them in their hearts and defend them when they are criticized. Jesus told us never to judge others. Good mothers are like that towards their children. They will judge their conduct and be desperately grieved at the damage they are doing to themselves, but they love them still and do all they can to help them to improve. Often the mother’s love makes her blind to the full evil of the child’s conduct.
Our Lady knows the truth about us, and Her love does not make Her blind to our faults at all, but Her love for us is so deep that She does not judge us or put us of. . . But we do have to choose to go to Her. She may well invite us in hidden ways before we are aware of it, but still we do have to want Her help if She is to give it to us fully. Our life is a life of faith while on earth, faith as acceptance of the truth, faith as trust, faith as commitment, a response to the grace of God.
There is no doubt that the best prayer we have to say and love and ponder over in our approach to Our Lady is the Hail Mary. . . Every time we say it, I think it must remind Her of that glorious moment when, at the Annunciation, She became the Mother of God and experienced the fullness of grace as She never had before. . .
When we greet Her as full of grace, we are not only saying something true about Her but rejoicing in it both for Her sake and for ours. When a vessel or jar is full to the brim, its contents easily flow over the edge. Our Lady is so full of grace that it overflows onto us when we come near Her. . . In fact She is the channel through which all the graces of Jesus come to us. She is full of them because She dwells in Him and He in Her in a way that surpasses any other union of a human person with God.
. . . One way devotion to Our Lady based on Our Lord’s words “Behold your Mother” has developed is found in Her plea at Fatima and elsewhere that we should dwell in Her Immaculate Heart. She said it would be our refuge. We need that refuge in these times of distress in the Church and the world and in our souls. We enter this refuge, whether as sinners or otherwise, by consecrating ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. . .
Using Biblical phrases, the Church says “You are beautiful, O Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in you. You are the glory of Jerusalem. You are the joy of Israel. You are the honor of our people.”
Let us find great pleasure in telling Our Lady how wonderful She is!
