Ecclesiastical Blessing for Mother Mary, Mother Me Devotional
When I was a child, my parents taught my sisters and me that we had two mothers, our mother on earth and our Blessed Mother in heaven. This is one of the beautiful truths of our Christian lives, that Jesus entrusts his own mother to be our mother.
This was his dying wish and his final gift to us as he hung on the cross. He said to the Apostle St. John: “Behold, your Mother!” And we read in the Gospel that from that day forward, St. John took Mary into his home.
We know from the Gospels that the Mother of Jesus was with him at every point in his earthly life. Mary was there at Our Lord’s conception and birth, and again to present him in the Temple. She was there to help him grow from an infant to a man during those hidden years at Nazareth. She was there at Cana, at the start of his public ministry, and she was there in the crowds as he ministered throughout Galilee.
The Mother of Jesus was there when her Son died, keeping her station at the foot of his cross. And she was also there at the birth of the Church, praying with the apostles for the Holy Spirit to come down at Pentecost.
As Mary was present always in the life of her Son, now she wants to be present in our lives. Jesus calls each of us to take Mary into our own homes, into our lives and into our hearts. He wants you to love her as a mother. He wants you to feel the love that she has for you. He wants you to feel her protection and guidance in your daily struggle.
As she helped Jesus to grow, Mary’s mission now is to help us to grow as sons and daughters of God. And she has so much to teach us!
One of my spiritual teachers, St. Josemaría Escrivá, urged us to always go to Jesus, as he came to us — through Mary. St. Josemaría used to say: “Invoke the Blessed Virgin. Keep asking her to show herself a Mother to you — monstra te esse Matrem! As well as drawing down her Son’s grace, may she bring the clarity of sound doctrine to your mind, and love and purity to your heart, so that you may know the way to God and take many souls to him.”
This little book can help us to call on Mary as our Mother. Amy D’Ambra and Adina Braatz have brought together a series of devotions that will enable us to lift our hearts to Mary, to meditate on her maternal love for us, and to reflect on all the ways she leads us to Jesus. I pray that this book will deepen your filial love for Our Lady. May you call on her as your Mother, always, and may she inspire in your heart the desire to be more like her — bringing Jesus into the lives of everyone you meet, so that all souls will find their path to God.
Love Mary as your mother! Ask her to be a mother to you and to never leave you! Say to her, Mother Mary, mother me, because she is yours. May Our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Fair Love, intercede for us, that we may always know that where our Mother is, we can find her beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Most Reverend José H. Gomez,
Archbishop of Los Angeles
February 11, 2022
Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes
