The Need for Mary in our Lives

We live in a world where, in our darkest times, we feel we are alone -- no one to turn to. But we do, we have our heavenly family who are always ready to accept us, no matter who we are or what we have done.

At the cross, Jesus gives us a very important directive, one I feel that is often forgotten by many Catholics — he tells John that Mary is his mother and that John is Mary’s son. By doing this, he makes Mary the mother of the world, giving her the role as out intercessor. She, like any mother, is here for her children, and here to defend us against the ills of the world and before her son.

We often turn to Jesus in our lives — he becomes our emergency life line, and although God shouldn’t just be our God during emergencies, we truly do bring out the most religious aspects of us during these times. And it is great that we turn to Jesus when we need help — turning to the only thing that can truly bring us complete happiness or solace is natural and logical. But we often forget about turning to our heavenly mother, the mother of our Lord and Savior, our heavenly defender and intercessor: Mary.

Historically, people have been weary of devoting themselves to Mary as our intercessor and making her too prevalent in our lives. But that is a misguided conclusion. Catholics have never and will never worship Mary, but we have and will always honor, respect, and in many cases devote ourselves to Mary. Similarly, we are meant to follow the example of Jesus Christ and the way he lived on this Earth. And during his time here, he did nothing but respect His mother and lead us closer to her.

The importance of Mary and devotion to her in our Church is quite prevalent when you take a look. For example, there are two Churches that bear her name within 5 miles of my home town. Better yet, reflect on this quote from the second eucharistic prayer at mass (which has come the most popular in the United States): “Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God…we may merit to be coheirs to eternal life.” We make a point of expressing our devotion to Mary and the help she can give us in the most important part of the mass. That defiantly says something.

So what’s my point, you might be asking. Jesus has told us she is our heavenly mother — so in times of need, times of distress, times of sadness, let us turn to her, let us seek her motherly guidance.

In times of regret, despair, loneliness, guilt, failure, depression, and more, we always have a mother’s love that we can turn to. Mary is always there for us to turn to. We should follow the example of our Lord and Savior and make her our heavenly mother. Just as we do our mothers on Earth, we should turn to Mary in our times of most weakness and vulnerability, and truly “let it all out.” Cry to the Blessed Mother, Embrace the Blessed Mother, and truly bring your needs before her so that she can intercede for us to her son.

Let us also take a look at the prayer, the Hail Mary. In the second part of the prayer we ask Mary to pray for us, now and always, because like any son, we are broken. We are in need of a Mother’s open arms and forgiving nature. Let us remember the story of the prodigal son. Our heavenly parents are always ready to welcome us back into their loving arms — they will even search for us. But if we continue to reject them, despite their love for us, and out of their love for us, they will respect our wishes, and discontinue the search. But we can’t let that happen. We have to turn to Mary, whether we haven’t prayed since lunch or since your first communion 60 years ago, because our heavenly Mother is always ready for us, and waits to reintroduce us to God.