Over the years, I’ve often written about how I’ve felt comfort in the Blessed Virgin Mary. While Jesus is indeed love itself, his promise to return as judge scared me when I was growing up.
Was Christ’s love unconditional? Today I believe it is. Then, it often felt very conditional.
In this column, I’d like to repeat some themes I touched on in a 2014 Catholic Review reflection on Mary’s unconditional love.
The famous line in the famous prayer, the Memorare, has that wonderful reference to Mary’s love: “Never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection or sought thine intercession, was left unaided.”
Mary would always be there. Mary always was there.
Growing up in a home without a father, I think Mary’s maternal love connected with my own mother’s love. No doubt I projected the fact that, since my father left the family, maybe even God the Father would abandon me. So Mary has always been a safe person, a safe place for me.
I once wrote a meditation in which I picture Jesus speaking to us right after the Crucifixion, as his body was being placed in the tomb. In that mediation, Jesus assures us that you and I were worth living and dying for. In our darkest hour, remember that we were worth the life of God.
Later in the meditation I imagine Jesus speaking of Mary: “And if you ever feel that no one loves you or cares about you, remember that my mother is now your mother. When you take your last breath, she will hold you in her arms and lead you to my arms.”
A little Latin phrase that many of us older Catholics remember is “Ad Jesum per Mariam” – “To Jesus through Mary.” That’s the true role of Mary, to point to Jesus. “Do whatever he tells you” are not just words she speaks to the waiters at the wedding feast of Cana, but also the words she speaks to us all. Mary is a sure guide to all the best that is in God.
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