Mother Mary Speaks To Me

How can you explain the love you have for your mother?

My mom always calls and leaves me voicemails. But every single time, she leaves me the exact same message. No information, really. Just, "Hey there, it's Mom. Just calling to see how things are going. Call me back!" Every time. I don't even have to listen to them anymore, but I do because I like the way she announces herself, as if I don't recognize her voice. So predictable.

We love our mothers the same way throughout our lives. They soothe us, comfort us, reduce us to tantrums, reassure us, encourage us and remind us of where we come from. A child's tie to his mother is the strongest tie there is.

When God chose Mary to be the Mother of God, He wasn't choosing her to give birth and let him go. She truly mothered him. She nursed Him, disciplined Him, rocked Him to sleep, carried Him on her hip, kissed His skinned knees, taught Him to be respectful to others, sang lullabies at night, fed Him, watched His persecution and eventually His death. She was His mommy, and we all know what that means to a child.

As Catholics, we believe that Mary sits with God the Father and Jesus, her Son. 

 This link is a good start - here's an excerpt.

Pope Pius XII, in 1950, defined the Dogma of Mary's Assumption thus: "By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory" (Munificentissimus Deus, no 44).

That is, at the end of Mary's life, Jesus took her, body and soul, to heaven, just as He will for all of us at the Final Resurrection, and just as God did for Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament. There's an important distinction to be remembered here. Mary was assumed into heaven, unlike Jesus, who ascended to heaven. The difference is this: while Jesus rose to heaven on His own power, because He is God, Mary was brought up to heaven by God, and not by her own power.

This Dogma is a fitting conclusion to that of Mary's Immaculate Conception, for physical death was a consequence of Original Sin. Since Mary herself was free of Original Sin, it was impossible that death should hold her. Whether or not Mary did, in fact, die, is unclear from the definition. The oldest traditions, however, hold that she did. Being free of Original Sin, this death, it seems, would be unnecessary, but Mary chose to die in order to more fully imitate her Son, Jesus.

  

The confusion comes into play when people assume that the Catholic Church worships Mary. Well, that's just silly. She's not God, is she? Mary is a model of love, peace and motherhood to the entire world. She knew that her Son would be taken away from her in a brutal and horrifying way, and because of her love for the world, she wept at the foot of the Cross as He died. She didn't make demands or yell in the Heavens. Her path had been laid out before she was ever conceived and she accepted her vocation and God's plan for her life. We as Catholics may not worship her, but we adore her and love her as our own mother.

At the Wedding at Cana, Mary told Jesus that they had run out of wine, presumably to encourage Him to "do something" about it. He told her that His time had not yet come and initially refused her request. And yet, the wine multiplied and the feast continued. We all know how difficult it is to refuse a request by our mothers, don't we? Jesus may have been God, but he was still a man who listened to His mother. As Catholics, we pray to Mary because of that maternal bond between Mary and her child. Who better to intercede on our behalf? Who in Heaven could lay our requests at His feet and get the best results? And who can teach us to accept our path when our prayers aren't answered as we'd like or expect? 

Many people speak internally with the souls in Heaven. When a grandchild says to her friends, "I know Grandma sees me from Heaven and is proud of me," it's really no different than knowing that the Blessed Mother sees us. We feel a strong connection to the woman who carried Christ inside her, just like we're called to carry Christ in our hearts. Of course we should imitate her! Who better to model ourselves after than someone conceived without sin and chosen to life a life worth imitating? 

So that's just the "why" of Mary in a nutshell. We love her because she's our Mother, chosen by God to carry His son. We love her unfailingly, just as Christ loves her. And it's no wonder we pray to her, crown her in May, lay our intercessions at her feet and dedicate liturgical feasts to her. Anyone with a mother like her would celebrate Mother's Day all year long!