Deepening our Marian devotion

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

NOW that we are in this Marian month of May during this wonderful celebration of the 500 years of our Christianity, perhaps we can review how our devotion to our Lady, the Mother of God, Mother of Christ and our Mother, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, is, if only to see how we can deepen and strengthen it some more, considering that our Lady plays a crucial role in our Christian life.

She is the epitome of motherhood who knows how to be a mother even to God and to all of us. All that because of her perfect identification of her will to the will of God, giving us a concrete example of how a human being can be so identified with God’s will that she becomes God’s perfect image and likeness as God wants her and also us to be.

We are often incredulous, even skeptical, about this possibility. But she managed to do it. Obviously, she was given the necessary graces for that. But she also corresponded to those graces with everything that she had, reflecting in the most perfect way the redemptive mission full of suffering of her son. How our Lady was and continues to be should also be how we should be.

And she is all there to help us achieve that dignity of being true children of God who can even be a mother of God and a spouse of God as our Lady was the most dutiful daughter of the God the father, mother of God the Son and spouse of God the Holy Spirit.

Let us just imitate our Lady’s perfect faith shown especially when she said, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum,” (Be it done to me according to your word) during the Annunciation. With that faith which for sure she could not understand completely, she put herself entirely under the designs and dynamics of God’s will of love, of redemption, toward mankind.

Let’s try our best that we can channel Mary’s faith in our life. We can do that despite our limitations, weaknesses and even our sins, because God’s grace and mercy are always available and are given to us in abundance. All we have to do is to avail ourselves of them.

We have to understand that by doing this we would be enhancing our humanity and would be approaching the ideal condition that God wants for us—that is, that we be his image and likeness, and sharers of his divine life. It is an overwhelmingly tremendous prospect for us, but that’s what God wants for us, and we should just try our best to correspond to that will of God.

Our Lady as our mother can truly help us. Thus, it would be good if we can bring her to all aspects of our life, since we would need her in everything that we are, that we have and that we do. She also is our best defender before God, considering that despite our best efforts, we somehow would fail somewhere.

Let us try our best to live well all the Marian practices of piety—the Rosary, the Angelus, pilgrimages to Marian shrines, etc.—using each one of them to develop a greater love and affection for her. Let us aim at reaching that point where we can truly feel her presence and her motherly care for us.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com