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God's Mother Is Our Mother "Who is Mary?" The question is not as superfluous as it seems. Even people who have had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin all their lives cannot fully comprehend the great honor, the great power, the great glory that belongs to Mary. The human mind simply cannot grasp all this. We must make an attempt, however, to understand as much as we can of it. If we are to heed Mary's message to the modem world, we should know her position in regard to the modem world. "No one can find Mary who does not seek her," says St. Louis Marie de Montfort, "and no one can seek her who does not know her. ...It is necessary, then, for the greater knowledge and glory of the Holy Trinity, that Mary should be more than ever known."
Mary has innumerable titles and privileges. Ponderous volumes have been written about them and have in no way exhausted the subject. People who wish to make a study of the Blessed Mother can go on indefinitely. For our present purposes, the three titles that are most important are Mother, Mediatrix, and Queen. Mary is our Mother. Most of us realize this fact in a vague sort of way. We have heard it since we were old enough to remember. We have been accustomed to referring to Mary as our Blessed Mother. Yet, do we really believe it? We have a mother who brought us into the world. Perhaps she is still living. If not, we probably have vivid memories of her. We can't have two mothers, can we? Mary is our mother in a figurative sense; she is called our mother because she has taken such an interest in us. Mary is our mother in the supernatural order. She is really and truly our mother, just as much so as is our mother in the natural order . A mother is one who gives life. Our earthly mother gave us our life in this world, our natural life. Mary has given us the life that elevates our life in this world and flowers in the next, our supernatural life. After the sin of Adam, our souls were deprived of super- natural life. This life was restored through the Redemption of Christ and the Sacrament of Baptism. Mary made it pos- sible for us to receive this life. She did this at Nazareth, on Calvary and at our Baptism. At Nazareth the angel Gabriel brought to Mary the most wonderful news that has even been given to any human being. He told her that she had been chosen to be the Mother of God. Mary's consent was needed, however, before the Incarnation could take place. She thought of us at that moment. By answering "No" she could have left us in death. By answering "Yes" she could give us life. She gave her consent and the Word was made Flesh. Our Redemption had been made possible. About 34 years later Mary stood on the hill of Calvary beneath the cross on which her divine Son was giving His life for us. He was dying that we might be delivered from sin and death. Mary united her sacrifice with His. She thought of us, her children, at that moment. She bravely and gener- ously offered her Son to the Father for our salvation. Never did any creature make such a sacrifice. And she did it for us. Mary, ever Virgin, experienced only joy when she brought Jesus into the world. When she gave us our spiritual birth, she underwent the most agonizing sorrow. Because of Mary, then, we can hope to enjoy the eternal happiness of heaven. She has given us our life in the next world. This is not a passing life like your terrestrial one, but a life without end. Not a life full of imperfections and anguish like your present existence, but a life incomparably happy; not a created life, human or angelical, a participation in uncreated life, in the very life of God, in the life of the Most Blessed Trinity. And that is why this life will be endless and incomparably happy, because it is a sharing in the eternity and in the beatitude of God." So the life that Mary has given us is much greater than the life we are now living. She is truly our spiritual mother. Mary's Immaculate Heart was fashioned by her Creator This is so that God made Man could receive the perfect love of the perfect mother. Mary loves us with this same Immaculate Heart. Because she loves us so much, she watches over us always. She guards the supernatural life which she has given us. If we should lose our supernatural life by falling into mortal sin, she can obtain for us the grace to recover it. We see examples of Mary's motherly love for us in her frequent apparitions of recent years. She keeps returning to beg us to repent and to save ourselves from the effects of our sins. "How long a time do I suffer for youl" said the weeping Lady of La Salette. "If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled to pray to Him without ceasing. And, as to you, you take no heed of it. "However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have taken for you." Those are the words of a true Mother, whose love for US passes all comprehension. "God's Mother is my Mother ." What a world of ;meaning in those words! What a depth of consolation and hopel If we but heed her pleas, if we but join our prayers with hers, we need have no fears. | 
