Our Heavenly Mother

"When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” John 19:26-27

When Jesus is on the Cross, He gives all of humanity an incredible gift. When He tells "the disciple whom he loved, "here is your mother," He is giving all of us a heavenly Mother. In that moment, Mary becomes Mother of all humanity. In his 1987 encyclical Redemptoris Mater, Saint Pope John Paul II says: "This is true not only of John, who at that hour stood at the foot of the Cross together with the Mother (of Jesus), but it is also true of every disciple of Christ, of every Christian (45.3)."

As I was growing up, I did not have a close relationship with my Heavenly Mother. Even though I attended a Catholic school in Spain that was all about Mary, I found the rosary tedious and boring. It could be because they made us pray it so much at school, and for an 8 or 9-year-old child to be on their knees on wooden pews, praying the rosary, was just not fun. 

My relationship with Mama Mary, has grown and strengthened in the past thirty years. The turning point happened when I had trouble becoming pregnant. After months of infertility treatment, I turned to Mama Mary and prayed to Her for Her intercession. I began to pray the rosary again and shortly thereafter, I found out that I was expecting. 

Now, She is my confidant. As a mother of three, every time that I am going through a difficult time with one of my sons or daughter, I feel that She can relate. She can understand my pain better than anyone because as a Mother herself, She felt in Her heart the agony of every mother on earth. When Simeon told her, "a sword will pierce your own soul (Luke 2:35)," he was also talking to all mothers for generations to come.

No matter what relationship we have or had with our earthly mother, it is a great comfort to know that we have a second Mother that we can trust with our deepest worries. She is always present, ready to listen to us. She brings us peace and love. After I pray the rosary, a serenity invades my heart like no other prayer does. Mama Mary, understands better than anyone, the pain of a mother's soul. She sits with us at night when we are worried for that son or daughter that is out there somewhere and is keeping us from a restful sleep. She holds our hand when our child is sick and we are agonizing because we wish it was us instead of him or her. And when a mother loses a child, Mama Mary cries with her. Yes, "a sword pierced her soul," just like Simeon predicted, and She knows, better than anyone, the pain that a mother experiences when she has to bury her own child.

Jesus couldn't have given us a bigger gift. By giving us His Mother, He made sure that none of us would ever be orphans. She is the greatest blessing to humanity. And whether we accept Her as our Mother or not, it's a choice that everyone has to make on their own. But because I have embraced Her, I can honestly say that our Blessed Mama Mary, is our model of Love and Mercy, and She intercedes with her Son Jesus for us, her children on earth.