“The above titles which we attribute to the Mother of God speak of her principally, however, as the Mother of the crucified and risen One; as the One who, having obtained mercy in an exceptional way, in an equally exceptional way “merits” that mercy throughout her earthly life and, particularly, at the foot of the cross of her Son; and finally as the one who, through her hidden and at the same time incomparable sharing in the messianic mission of her Son, was called in a special way to bring close to people that love which He had come to reveal” (Dives in misericordia, 9).
Mother of God, Mother of the Crucified, Mother of the Risen One – called to bring people closer to the merciful love of the Savior. She knows Jesus like nobody else. She listened to His words, saw the miracles He performed, but also spent 33 years with Him in the midst of ordinary everyday life. Her mother’s task is to bring us closer to the true image of God – the One who loved us to the Cross. No one like her was close to Jesus. That is why Mary is the surest path to Him. And it is she who can teach us how to bring God’s love closer to those we live with in everyday life.
Am I looking at Mary’s life to follow her in my life?
What does my rosary prayer look like? Hasn’t it become just a simple, maybe even mechanical repetition of the words?
When I pray the rosary, do I meditate on the mysteries of the life of Mary and Jesus?
“O, sweetest Mother of my Lord, I’ll follow You throughout my life, lead me like the light of dawn, in You I sink in rapture and delight. O, Virgin Mother, immaculate, unspoiled, reflecting mirror of God’s brilliant light, ‘mid tempests teaching me to love the Lord, shielding against the foe, defending me in this my plight” (D. 1232).
“This month, I shall exercise myself in the three virtues Our Lady asked me to exercise: humility, chastity, and the love of God, accepting all that God sends me in a spirit of utter submission to His will” (D. 1624).
