The Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary
As a convert of a year, I struggled during the first year of what to make with Mary. Yes, I believed Mary was the Mother of God, I believed in the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption and all the Marian dogmas I needed to believe in order to convert.
I believed these things because the Magisterium said so. However, my heart was not quite there. I had already been counseled that for converts, it takes a little while to fully understand the role of Mary.
The way Mary began to speak to me was simple. Little by little I began to grow in understanding of the Motherhood of Mary. Jesus, who doesn’t waste a word, while on the cross, gave Mary to John and John to Mary. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved represents the Church in this context. Jesus could have just said, “John, please take care of my mom. But instead this is what happened:
John 19:26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. 27 After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
I began to see the Blessed Virgin as my mother. She is the heavenly mother who will not fail me when a human mother might. She is the one who suffered, while her son suffered and therefore would not want to see any of us lost. She is the one whose prayer availeth much. She is the one we can turn to and pray that she will intercede for us with our Lord.
Her will is perfectly aligned with the will of her Son.
This is why we pray during the Rosary, that she would “Pray for us Sinners, now and at the hour of our death”.
The same way our Mother Mary stood at the cross while her son died and then lovingly took him into her arms, is the same way our Mother watches over us in life and when we are ready to meet our Lord.
Happy Feast Day!
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