Revolution of Love.com
May Belongs to Mary
by Brian
I really like the month of May, not because the days are longer or the weather is a bit warmer, but because May belongs to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Just as Jesus gave us spiritual food in the Holy Eucharist to strengthen us during our earthly pilgrimage, He also gave us His Mother to guide us to His Heavenly Kingdom. As he said to the apostles on Holy Thursday, “Take and eat…take and drink,” so he said while hanging on the cross, “Son, behold your mother…Mother, behold your son.” In doing this, Jesus gave us His Mother to be our mother.
Jesus never did anything by halves nor did he do anything without specific meaning or purpose. He did not give His mother to the “beloved” disciple, while hanging on the cross, because He could not think of anything else to say or do. Rather He made this declaration because He knew that all His little brothers and sisters throughout the ages would need her help and guidance.
Our Mother in Heaven loves us! She knows how precious we are in the sight of the Father and how her Son longs to see each of us enter through the gates of Heaven. Like any mother, Mary’s heart breaks when one of her children rejects God or dies in a state of mortal sin. In 1925, when the Christ child appeared to Sr. Lucia, before she entered the Carmelite Order, he pointed to His Mother’s Immaculate Heart that was surrounded and pierced by thorns. Sr. Lucia asked about the thorns and Our Lady said that the thorns were the result of man’s “ingratitude and blasphemies.”
I am sure the thorns that surrounded Our Lady’s heart eighty-five years ago have not gone away, in fact, they may be more numerous and painful. It is no secret that our world has dramatically changed since the 1920’s. The days of Catholicism being a moral voice in the public and private arena are long gone, as are the days when the majority of Catholics practiced their faith and lived the teachings of the Church.
With our society spiritually unraveling at the seams and our culture marching to the tune of relativism and hedonism, a good number of Catholics have fallen off the bark of Peter into the dark and murky waters below. In order for Catholics to remain strong and courageous in these trying and chaotic times we must look to the Our Lady, the “Morning Star,” to guide us safely to Heaven’s harbor.
I believe each Catholic must have a personal and real relationship with Our Lady if they want to stand firm against the tide of evil that is washing over our land. Our Lady is not some quiet, impartial observer watching the spiritual/cultural war that is currently being waged against her children, but she is a Mother who is in the fray of the battle. As Fr. John Corapi once said, “Our Mother wears combat boots.” And he is absolutely right!
St. Louis de Montfort, the great missionary and Marian apostle, wrote in his classic work True Devotion to Mary, “The most terrible of all enemies which God has set up against the devil is His Holy Mother Mary.” This statement should convince us that having a relationship with Our Lady is invaluable in fighting against the forces of evil. To fight in this spiritual war without Our Lady’s help is like a professional boxer fighting for the championship with only one arm. If we want to win the ultimate prize, Heaven, we must lean on Our Mother by establishing a personal relationship with her.
I am sure most of you reading this article already have a relationship with Our Lady, but we can always do better and grow closer to her. I believe the best way of achieving this is by talking to her from the heart. Speak to her humbly and simply. Bring your hopes, concerns, needs, sufferings and joys before her. If we do this faithfully, she will slowly draw closer to us. As she draws closer to us, her spouse the Holy Spirit will follow. And where the two meet, there Christ will be formed.
I encourage all of you to turn to Our Lady to grow closer to her and to make May Mary’s month!
God bless.