Marion Month is the month to celebrate mothers. It is indeed the month we celebrate Mother's Day and us Catholics also celebrate the Blessed Mother of Jesus. It is right and fitting to celebrate the Mother of our LORD the same month we celebrate all Moms. I feel like Mother's Day is a gift to me and I treasure it each year! I was blessed to be a mom and it is so special to celebrate this day each and every year. The gifts are not what makes the day meaningful to me. It is the means I went through and the end result that make me so happy on this day. It was a struggle for us to have our children, but I am thankful each year that I have this day to celebrate with my girls. I know many women who would do anything to be so blessed. What a gift I have in my girls and I do treasure them.
Many want to know why Catholics put so much emphasis on Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was the mother of our Savior, you really can't get more important to that. In all of my worst hours as a mother I have called to her because she knows suffering and I was suffering and I needed somebody to get what I was going through. Miscarriage- I probably said The Hail Mary a hundred times in the ER that night. It was painful, emotional, and horrible, our Lord's mother-she has that t-shirt. She can relate to all of those things. She got it. I needed that because at the time I felt no one else did. Most people who are non-Catholic may not even know the words.
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the LORD is with thee." Luke 1:28
What does that mean to me? It means Mary was given grace by our Lord and that she is presently with our LORD and Savior.
"Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." Luke 1:42
She is the most blessed of all women and mothers. Elizabeth says it to her when she visits. The baby Jesus is the most blessed. Blessed by His father in Heaven.
"Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death."
I always ask for her to pray for me in my darkest hours. The prayer itself has calmed me, but also, I feel that when I have had enough and I just don't think I can bare anymore pain or heartache, Mary pray that Jesus will hear me and stop it sooner rather than later. I find hope in her grace and it helps me to survive these types of life changing events. As my children are getting older, I have started saying the prayer when they are nervous or scared. Both of my girls have a fear of speaking in front of people on stage or with any type of crowd watching. I think it comforts them that Mary, our LORD's mother is watching over them as they go up on a stage in front of people and speak. It just seems to calm them when I tell I will pray the Hail Mary prayer for them.
As I think of Mary sitting at the foot of the dead Jesus on the cross and then I think of the Pieta- holding her dead son in her arms. The sadness just washes over her and it washes over me. I just can't bare to watch that part of the "Passions" movie. It hurts me every single time. It also pains me to look at the detail of the Pieta statue by Michelangelo. Mary is holding her grown dead son, Jesus like a mother would hold a 4 year old, but the anguish, sadness on her face is just hard to see. My sin caused her this pain. It is my sin that Jesus died for and she too is suffering from my sin at that moment. It is very hard to accept the realness of it. I am blessed to have my Catholic faith and have this understanding of Mary and also the saints. It has truly helped me over the years.
Mary don't forget me and please intercede for me to your son.
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