Wrestling With Mary

God is generous and offers us many means to obtain salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.  All Christians have their church and Scripture.  In addition, Catholics have the Eucharist (Jesus in the form of bread), the Saints, The Magisterium (the teachings of the Catholic Church), and Mary.  Of course, all religions can "have" Mary too, but they overlook her for fear of worshipping her as they think Catholics do. 

So, just to clarify, Catholics honor Mary as the Mother of Jesus (Who is also God), they do not worship her.  They know that Mary would never allow you to come to her without leading you to her Son.  It is not possible for them to be in competition with one another.  All roads (including Mary) lead to Jesus.

God chose for Jesus to come to the world through Mary.  It also pleases Him that the world returns to Jesus through her.  "Mary does not have an ounce of divinity in her."  Her entire existence consists of leading people to her Son.  No more.  No less. She is special because God chose her and because she was humble and obedient out of love for Him.  No one loved Jesus better than Mary.  We are called to imitate her humility, obedience, and love.

One of the last things Jesus did before He died, was to give John (called disciple) His Mother.  He entrusted her to him and him to her.  John 19:26-27 ~

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."  Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother."  And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

It is the same for us.  Mary is to be our spiritual mother.

Some people have a natural devotion and love for Mary (maybe because their own mothers were very Marylike, or because they desperately needed a mother, or they are from Mexico and have ties to the incredible miracle when Mary appeared to Juan Diego as Our Lady of Guadalupe).  None of these apply to me.  I just mostly ignored her existence.  It didn't offend or trouble me that some people were strongly devoted to her, I just wasn't.

However, as the years have gone by, I've read more and more about the holy men and women who have gone before us, and have seen what a help Mary was to so many of them.  So, albeit slowly, I have learned to ask Mary for her help:  help to love Jesus as she did, help to imitate her humility, help to bring the greatest glory to God, and help as prayer to obtain graces from her Son.

In fact, after reading one of the best books I've ever read, Consoling the Heart of Jesus, by Michael Gaitley, another book of his fell into my lap.  It was called 33 Days to Morning Glory.  This book is a 33-day preparation to consecrate your life to Mary.  This seemed a little beyond what I was ready to do, but I started it anyway.  On the 33rd day, I was ready to go for it.   I was convicted that Mary always and only wants what God wants, and because of that I could entrust myself to her as my spiritual mother. I knew if I put my life in her hands, she would lead me to her Son by the shortest way possible.

Dear God, thank you for giving Mary the grace to be the Mother of Your Son, Jesus.  Thank you for letting us have recourse to her, as we try to be as closely united to Jesus, as possible.  Thank you for giving us Jesus to understand and love You better.  Thank you for giving us Mary to understand and love Jesus better. 

Dear Jesus, Thank you for giving us Your Mother.  Since she was important to You, I want her to be important to me, too. 

Mary, thank you for loving and guiding us as our mother.  Please lead us to Jesus by the shortest and surest way possible.  Amen.