Madonna of the World

Mary has always seemed just beyond by reach. I’ve tried to get on a “Rosary schedule” numerous times, never with much luck. I’ve prayed to her and asked for intercessions, but never with much conviction. But after hearing of the importance, better yet necessity, of Mary to a priesthood, I decided that it was time to stop messing around.

I’ve already mentioned this book several times, but this is because it has truly made an impact in my life and changed my whole relationship with Mary, our mother. The book is titled The World’s First Love by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. In it he describes “the Woman the World Loves,” going over Mary’s role in the Gospels and in the life of our Lord. After this he talks about “the World the Woman Loves,” describing Mary’s role in our lives and our world today.

Fulton Sheen says that, “If fatherhood has its prototype in the Heavenly Father…then certainly such a beautiful thing as motherhood shall not be without some original Mother, whose traits of loveliness every mother copies in varying degrees.” And clearly, this original Mother is Mary. She prepares the way for Jesus, physically as His mother, and spiritually as the one who prepares our souls for her Son.

A few good friends at the seminary performed a consecration to the Blessed Virgin this past school year. I was asked to join in, but I knew that I was nowhere near ready to do something like that. I admired their obvious love and reverence for her though. And I knew that one day I would be there too. Well, while being here I have certainly had to rely on the Lord more than ever, but at the same time I have also turned to Mary in an honest, if not at times desperate way.

I always knew that Mary held an incredibly special place in our Church, but it wasn’t until I learned more about her and the impact she played in the life of her Son, and the entire Church, that I started to appreciate this in a more personal way. Now I have started to realize the true love that she possesses, for her Son first of all, but also for all of us to whom she received at the crucifixion when Jesus said, “Woman, behold your son.”

And in this love Mary has sacrificed much, but now in heaven she intercedes for us in the same way that our earthly mothers do before the justice of our fathers. And I can say without a doubt that I have felt her presence and her mercy while being here. This is not only a great comfort being so far from my own earthy mother, but it also shines a whole new light on my faith. I don’t think I could describe it any better than Fulton Sheen when he says:

As, in the physical order, a man who grows up without the loving attention of a mother misses something that makes for gentleness and sweetness of character, so, in the spiritual order, those who grow up in Christianity without Mary lack a joy and happiness that come to those only who know her as mother. Orphans of the Spirit! Your Mother lives!

-Dan
written 07/10/11