Plainly Speaking - True Devotion to Mary

Dear Friends,

To increase our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, an occasional brief meditation on Mary’s love and devotion to us would be most helpful. Just considering that Mary is our mother who loves us dearly, should awaken thoughts of gratitude and filial affection.

It is an article of our Faith that all of us have descended from Adam and Eve. According to Holy Scripture, Eve is the “Mother of all the living.” Our Lord is the new Adam and Mary is the new Eve in the realm of grace. The Church calls Mary, “Mother of Divine Grace.” She brought the Author of all grace into the world and she continues to bring the life of grace into the souls of men through the sacramental channels instituted by her Son.

We call her “Our Blessed Mother,” and we have proof that she loves us as her children. It was in pain and suffering freely accepted that she bore us when at the foot of the Cross she consented to her Son’s sacrifice for our redemption and rebirth to the life of grace. “…God so loved the world, as to give His only begotten Son; …” Mary too, offered her Son for our salvation.

But the love of Mary applies to each one of her children. We know this when we pray to her and sense that we have her individual attention and that she is listening attentively to our requests. How many personal graces and favors do we not owe to her intercession?

Her motherly care is not limited to the spiritual but extends also to our temporal welfare. At the wedding feast of Cana, did the wedding couple know that it was through Mary’s intercession that Jesus multiplied the wine? The good turn of events in your life are not accidental. You have a heavenly Mother always watching over you.

As a mother, Mary does not keep us from all suffering because this is not for our best interest. We are called to bear our cross and follow Christ in order to reign with Him in Heaven. Rather she meets us while traveling the way of the cross, consoles us, and gives us strength to continue to the end. How many death-beds has she attended to console as only a heavenly mother can? Just as many Hail Marys and rosaries without number have gone up to Heaven begging intercession at the hour of death.

The Hail Mary, the Rosary, the Brown Scapular, the Miraculous Medal are all signs of a mother’s concern for her children. Her many visitations to earth, numerous cures and miracles worked through her intercession at shrines such as Lourdes, Fatima, La Salette and Knock are proof that she is ever close to us. No one seeking her intercession has ever been left alone. She is truly our “life, our sweetness and our hope,”—and “Mother of Fair Love.”