The Love of a Mother

I remember the first time I had a personal encounter with role of Mary Mother of God in my prayer life. It was back in 2010 when I was desperately trying to convince a 14-year-old that there was a way out of her bondage as a victim of trafficking. Things had been going well up until this point, but we seemed to have hit a wall and try as I might there was no way through. She turned to ice at my fingertips and a dark spirit was nearly palpable. I had tried everything, prayed till I didn’t know what to pray anymore. And that’s when my childhood Catechism rhetoric came back. I didn’t know how to fight this battle anymore and I didn’t have any words for this 14-year-old in front of me but who became someone I had never known that day. Desperate for help, I closed my eyes and said, “God, I got nothing. What do I do?” And the words came back to me. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”  With my eyes still I closed, I repeated it without effort or thought, like it was a part of me. I didn’t know what I was doing or why I was even praying it. I said a decade, which felt like more than enough at that time when I thought Catholics were way too crazy about Mary; then, I opened my eyes. I was shocked at what I saw. I wish I could have recorded it. I wish I could have even watched it for myself. But something happened unseen in the timespan it took me to pray one decade of the rosary. The dark mask that had overtaken the 14-year-old had disappeared. Her skin was lighter and there was life in her eyes again. She looked at me as if I was the crazy one and took my hand saying, “Come on, let's go.” The ice had melted. Like a snap of a finger. That’s the first time I wondered…maybe these crazy Catholics know something I don’t know.

Now to be clear, I was Catholic. But I had my concerns. And Mary was one of them. Why did it seem like they worshipped her? I wasn’t for that. At all. And I didn’t like repetitive prayer, like the rosary, as it somehow felt unholy and certainly not personal. Yet, I couldn’t explain away the power of praying even one decade of the rosary. It took me about ten years from then to learn and understand what I now know.

Having to learn how to navigate spiritual warfare I never knew existed and encountering demons (yes, they’re real), I learned real quick I needed spiritual assistance. When the body of a frail 16-year-old becomes stronger than four grown women and one grown man put together, you know the battle isn’t again flesh and blood but against the powers of darkness. [No, it’s not a mental illness (we have those ones, too), it’s the Satanic cult she confessed to giving her soul to.] It was like the line between the physical realm and spiritual realm became so thin, I could see the battle between angels and demons. (Yes, angels are real, too.) And Mary is the Queen of angels. If we believe in angels (and demons), then why is it so hard to believe Mary is also on the front lines of our battles as our Spiritual Mother? What I experienced with that 16-year-old was remarkable. When we had been praying for almost two hours, I finally fell to my knees and started praying the rosary. A vision unfolded as I prayed, and I saw this glorious Mother come to me and wrap me in her arms, and then she absorbed me. She became me in the vision, kneeling and praying for this 16-year-old like it was her very own daughter. At that very moment, the aggressive spirits vanished, the chaos subdued, the violence ended, and the 16-year-old crawled onto my lap as I still knelt in the midst of this vision, and the moment she touched me, she started weeping and returned to consciousness. (Someday, I’ll write a book of all these encounters, because honestly there is so much more to tell, but we’ll wait for the right time.) Ah, the love of a Mother, especially when this girl never experienced love from hers.

What I came to appreciate deeply about the Catholic faith is not that they worship Mary (that would be idolatry) but I came to appreciate God the Father so much more for giving us a Spiritual Mother. Not an idol; a gift! A mother on the front lines of our spiritual battles, the prophecy over her that “a sword shall pierce your soul, too” referring not just to Jesus her son, but us, her spiritual children, if indeed we are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

So, in lieu of Mother’s Day that recently passed and today’s celebration of Mother of the Church, I want to thank our incredible Father who in His genius plan gave us His Son through a woman, a mother. Where Eve, who was the “mother of all the living” (Gen 3:20) failed, Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph became the new Eve, the Mother of Christ, our mother, too. “How does it happen to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43). Is it really that outrageous to repeat the words of Scripture when the angel Gabriel came to Mary saying, “Hail Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you!” and Elizabeth, who being filled with the Holy Spirit said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:28,42)?

They say that experience is life’s greatest teacher. And my experiences have taught me that giving honor to our Blessed Mother does not diminish the ministry of Jesus, it magnifies it! So, Jesus, I, too, will follow your instructions to the Apostle John, “Behold your mother” (John 19:27).

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.

Image by: Sr. Grace Remington, Mary and Eve, 2005

Interview of the artist: Mary Consoles Eve by Sr. Grace Remington and Joy Clarkson (plough.com)