The month of May is characterized by our particular Catholic devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus. As I travel around the diocese for ceremonies and confirmations this month, I have seen statutes of the Blessed Mother prominently displayed, often bearing a wreath from the ceremony of the May crowning.
I am delighted to see that devotion still being celebrated, even as it was when people of my generation and before were growing up and participating in it in school.
Honoring Mary in May becomes a part of the rhythm of the year, a sign of spring and new life. There is something about our Catholic devotion to Mary that unifies and strengthens our faith. She is truly a mother who brings her children together, and then unites them with her Divine Son.
As is so often the case with various elements of our faith, our relation to Mary presents us with important choices that get to the heart of what and how we believe.
In the past half century, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, there were those who argued that honoring Mary distracted us from concentrating on Jesus. Consequently, they abandoned Marian devotions and demonstrated almost hostility toward any piety involving Mary.
For others, devotion to Mary could become very regular but also very routine, a daily rosary or prayers recited by formula.
Obviously to remember to pray to Mary daily is always a very good practice. But who can love their mother fully if she remains an abstraction, or distant?
The third alternative is to relate to Mary exactly as who she is, mother.
Yes, she is the mother of Jesus. She is the door through which Christ entered the world. She is the reason that he is fully human as well as divine.
But at the same time, we take fully to heart the words of Jesus to St. John (and to us) as he hung upon the cross. “Behold thy mother.”
Jesus did not use some of his last and dying breath simply to say something nice or to ask St. John to take care of Mary when he was gone. Instead, he went beyond that to make Mary our mother.
This past Sunday, Mother’s Day, many people made exceptional efforts to send flowers, or call or be physically with their mothers. It was the summation of another year, and indeed a lifetime, of gratitude and closeness and love for the one who gave us life.
It is that same personal and heartfelt reaction that we should feel for Mary.
The reality of Jesus’ words means that she is as truly mother to us as our earthly mother. Our prayers and devotions, as conversations and whisperings to our mother, should reflect that deep and personal reality.
Pope Francis has called upon us to renew and reinvigorate our faith in Jesus Christ. He has urged us to personalize it by truly seeing Christ in those around us, especially the needy.
In essence, he has called us to personalize our friendship with Jesus Christ so that faith does not become a bland repetition of rituals and prayers that fail to change our hearts.
Devotion to Mary follows that same path.
May reminds us to keep Mary close to our hearts. It encourages us to reread those passages of the Gospels where Mary appears. We need then to unite ourselves to her faith, to her emotions and to her willingness to sacrifice all for Jesus. That is how our mother shows us the way to Jesus.
There are, of course, many ways to remember Mary.
I have always been touched by the practice at many weddings of the bride, at the end of the Mass, making a brief but special visit to the Marian altar to lay flowers. Sometimes I have seen both the bride and groom make that brief visit.
In either case, that moment serves as a reminder to the couple and to all present that Mary must be present to their family and in their married life.
Honored pictures of Mary in the home and the family recitation of the rosary or attendance at Perpetual Help Devotions serve as continual reminders and encouragement to love our mother.
Don’t let May pass without special thoughts and prayers to Mary. But make them also just the tip of the iceberg, the special reflections of our prayers and love for Mary throughout the year.