Submitted by Dr. Chris Wroe
Mary is a mother. She gave birth to a son, Jesus. Jesus entrusted John with the responsibility for her care at the foot of the cross. Now, we are asked to welcome His mother into our homes and into our hearts as our Mother. Like all mothers, she knows the joy and pain of motherhood. We should never forget that Mary, “Queen of Heaven and Earth” is also our Heavenly Mother and feels our happiness and our pain. As she says to Elizabeth Kindelmann, her suffering did not end with the death of Jesus, it continues for all her children (including you and me), whom she sees being deceived by Satan and whose souls could be lost forever. Mary is our Mother, and she asks for our help.
Mary asks us, through Elizabeth, to help her to spread her “flame of love” throughout the world, starting in the home, family by family. We cannot ignore the constant downgrading of the Christian model of ‘family’ with the growing acceptance within society for people living together without marrying; same gender unions; people having several sexual partners and loose definitions of morality. In short, society is increasingly keen to embrace whatever form of relationship you decide will work best for you and reaffirms it is no-one else’s business. In a world where belief in God is steadily declining how can we expect any moral code to be taken seriously that impinges on ‘individual choice’? Consequently, notions of ‘family’ and ‘morality’ are relentlessly under challenge, particularly in the more developed societies,
Mary is The Ark’. She wants Elizabeth, and us, to join her in praying for all her children to know they do belong to a very special family, the family of God. She mentions, with affection, Joseph, her husband, and tells Elizabeth to ask for his help every day. She recalls how while he worked in the evening, she would be praying and invites Elizabeth to join them on their nightly walks – it speaks of her loving respect and devotion to her husband, parents to Jesus, “the Holy Family” in the gospel of Matthew. Mary longs to protect us from the snares of Satan and this is why she is bestowing this wonderful grace of “the flame of love” upon her children, blinding the demons so they can be freed from the confusion and evil influences surrounding their choices to see God’s love for them and the true beauty of His creation for them.
Mary is on our side in the battle between good and evil that many fail to recognize is happening. She is ‘ The Ark’ we need to embrace, the bringer of ‘The Flame of Love’ (that is Jesus), to set our hearts on fire with love for God, our Father, when we see the greatness of His love for us. Mary, Mother most loving, wants all of us, her children, to find our way ‘home’, to Heaven. So, like the apostle John, let our hearts be ready to welcome the Mother of Jesus, our Lord and our God, in praise and thanksgiving. Mary’s heart, bursting with love, is bringing Jesus into our world again!
