Listen to your mother!

St. Paul wrote to the Colossians regarding, “. . . the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to the saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:26-27). Mary was the first who could truly say this. This is an example for us. Mary was with Jesus throughout his youth, his ministry, even to the foot of the cross. She was with the apostles at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:14). The Holy Spirit had come upon her many years before when she said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

I would like to share a quote from a Pope in the late 19^th century who wrote a great deal on the Rosary.

While nature itself made the name of mother the sweetest of all names and has made motherhood the very model of tender and solicitous love, no tongue is eloquent enough to put in words what every devout soul feels, namely how intense is the flame of affectionate and active charity which glows in Mary, in her who is truly our mother not in a human way but through Christ [1].

“But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). So just remember what St. John says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child (I John 5:1). We love God by obeying Him. Why can’t we also say that we love Mary as well? She is, after all, the mother of our Lord. She has a very important role to play in the salvation of the whole world.

Ave Maria!

Praise be Jesus Christ!

[1] Magnae Dei Matris (On the Rosary), Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, September 8, 1892.(12). Retrieved from http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro2.htm

All Bible quotations from the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 2006.