How often do we truly take a moment to contemplate the love, holiness, and sacrifice of Mary throughout her life? How often do we actually speak to her as our mother? What about consider her role throughout the gospels and Jesus’ life? The day can pass by quickly without a thought or prayer given to our Mother. What a shame this is! I have been considering this week how amazingly significant the little events in her story are…

God chose Mary, of all the other women of all eternity, to be the mother of God. Why? Can you imagine what she must have been feeling after her encounter with the angel Gabriel? Yet, she still accepted His will in a way that I can not do in the smallest of things sometimes. How incredibly full of faith she is! Here is a great article touching on the significance of the Annunciation.

Mary serves as an incredible example of the acceptance of suffering. She watched her only son die on a cross. She saw him brutally beaten, crowned with thorns, slashed with a lance, and when everyone else had run away, she was at the foot of the cross, gently taking Jesus’ lifeless body into her arms. Can you imagine the pain, the suffering, the anger you would have felt? Yet, she remained strong, full of optimism, and faithful the will of God.

Finally, after Christ’s passion and death, the disciple John took Mary ‘to his own home’ (John 19:27). Let’s stop and consider this. Did he just take her to his house, to stay with him in her old age? No, from that point on, Mary truly became our mother, forming a bond with Christ’s family stronger than any other human bond, a spiritual bond that is a pathway to the unending grace of Christ. Not only has the disciple welcomed all the Lord has taught him, he welcomes his OWN mother into his life in a profound way, one which we are to model today.

Mary is truly my mother. It took me a long time to recognise that, but once I at least partly opened my eyes to her beauty, I was amazed at the depth of her significance and prevalence in the story of salvation. She served as an example of faith, hope, and love in such a special way that God chose her to play an incredibly crucial role in our salvation. How blessed are we! While the day can fly past us with unrelenting speed, I pray that we stop, contemplate our love for Mary each day, and ask ourselves how we can love her more. How can we devote our lives to Jesus, through Mary? How can we learn to turn to her in times of suffering or grief? Let’s take time to pray the rosary, to pray to our mother in an intimate, honest, open way that she is able to transform our will to God’s. What a better way to draw ourselves into the love of Christ than to draw close to the one person who knows him most intimately.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace!