I know a lot of people have a special relationship with our Mama and some strive to have a relationship. I never knew why it was so important to have a relationship with Mary until the last few months of 2014. In honor of Mothers Day I decided to write about our beloved Mother and my story about how I've become to look up to her and love her with my whole heart.
I've grown up in a devout Catholic home. I'm really into my faith and each day I fall more and more in love with Jesus, the saints, and Mother Mary but that wasn't always the case. When I was little I knew Mary was the mother of Jesus and I knew all the stories about her, I knew she was called by God to have his son by the power of the Holy Spirit, and I knew many miracles that have happened about her. I never payed much attention though. (I really regret that now...)
As I grew older I heard many people in my church speaking about our amazing mother and how awesome she is and just what a great relationship they had with her. I loved our Mother don't get me wrong she brought our Lord into the world but I didn't have a connection with her the way so many other people did.
I didn't know what to do or where to begin to have a relationship with our Blessed Mother. I didn't know how to build it up. I wasn't sure how so many people felt like Mother Mary was with them in their every day lives. They were so filled with Joy because of it. When they talked about Mary they had huge smiles on their faces and everything they said about Mary was so enthusiastic and they were so on fire. I would look at them and be like I want that but how do get it?
At the beginning of Confirmation 2. (I am aware I start off every paragraph off like this when I have this aha! moment. Confirmation really changed me and really deepened my faith.) I was just browsing on the Lifeteen store online when I saw this book on our crazy awesome Mom. It was called, 'That One Girl.' by Christina Mead. (Amazing read!)
It was then that I got the book, flipped through pages so deeply interested, and really wanting to get and grow a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mother that I realized I had a relationship with her all along I just never took the time to acknowledge her.
I learned so much from that book and from then on I now look at Mary as a teenage girl who was called on by God. I just always had a hard time wrapping my mind around that. Mary was a regular teenage girl, guys. Mary went through heartaches, struggles, and temptation. Think about it....the devil, Satan tempted Mary the most because she was the Mother of the person he hates the most....God.
I'm going to take a little piece of the book and stick it here. Mary went through suffering, the Blessed Mother did not have an easy life. She rode a donkey when she was nine months pregnant! (Most pregnant women I know complain about lying in bed; Can you imagine how much worse prego life is on the back of a slow moving animal?) She had to give birth in a stable. (When Jesus deserved a 5 star resort.) Then, when she and Joesph brought Baby Jesus to the temple a couple days after he was born she was dealt a pretty rough hand. Then enters Simon who at first probably admired the precious Savior who had a glowing face but then old Mary, "Oh by the way your heart is going to be pierced by a sword." (Luke 2:22-38.)
I bet sometimes we think Mary had it great. God was totally on her side because he picked Mary to have his only begotten Son so she didn't have to go through any of the things we have to go through. She was born without original sin, Mary was assumed into heaven body and soul, and she's the Mother of Jesus! Like I have to say that one more time.
Guess what, though? Mary did suffer. She watched her son die on a cross for our sins. The debt we couldn't pay Jesus paid for us. Mary watched her son get spat on and she couldn't do anything about it. When we suffer in our heartbreaks we need to remember Mary watched her son that she loved so much die. Mary was probably disgusted, heartbroken, and a little mad.
Quoted from the book: It's okay to feel emotions. It's okay to feel anger, it isn't a sin. Jesus even felt angry when he overturned the tables people were buying and selling things on in the temple. I love imagining Mary as a feisty, passionate, full-of-life young woman. Why wouldn't she be? Since God wants us to be fully alive wouldn't he want our Mother to be like that, too? We so often reduce The blessed Mother to a statue or a beautiful somber woman standing in the clouds as the Queen over Heaven and forget to come to the realization Mary was still human and had a wide range of emotions, even anger.
Our Mother up above in Heaven watching over us, listening to our prayers, and interceding to Jesus, and protecting us in her most protective mantle is human, like you and me. She wasn't free from sadness or anger. God let her feel those emotions because he wanted us to relate to her, to love her, and to feel free to call on her. Because after all she isn't just Jesus' mother, she's ours too.
Friends, I know it is hard to believe in things we can't see. I know it is hard to have Faith in the unseen even more to have a relationship with those we can't actually talk to but in reality they aren't unseen. We have so much proof that Jesus, Angels, Saints, and Mary are real! They were flesh and blood and now they are preparing a GREAT place in Heaven for us once we do our duty on Earth.
I wholly encourage you to have a relationship with our Mother Mary. She's Human she knows it's hard to be humans. She knows anger, she knows sadness, and she even knows purity. She understands us girls more than anyone, but for you boys she understands your sufferings too and she wants to help because she loves us, after all she is our Mother.
It was a great deal to me to have a relationship with our Mama! If you are striving for it too, please say the rosary, call on her because she wants to comfort you, dedicate a journal to her and write in it every so often thanking her, telling her things that are bothering you, and asking her things. She is your Mother and she loves you so much, oh my gosh, she loves YOU!
Until next time Mother Mary is praying for you all the time, I am praying for you, and so are all the Angels and Saints in Heaven. May God send his wonderful blessings down on you and that you may live in them like a Child of God.
Fearlessly Living Catholic,
Sammy
"As Sailors Are Guided by star to the port, so are Christians guided to Heaven by Mary." -St. Thomas Aquinas.
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