This Mother’s Day: Comfort’s Name is Mary

Our Solace During this Trying Mother’s Day

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”

    ~Washington Irving~                              

Mother’s Day Prayer

In wishing all mothers a blessed Mother’s Day, I would like to begin this article with a Mother’s Day Prayer.

O almighty and eternal God, Lord of both the living and the dead, Your tender mercy embraces all men foreknown to be Yours by faith and a good life. Through the intercession of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary our Mother, and of all the saints, grant Your merciful pardon to all mothers for whom we pray, whether they still are living in this world or have departed from this flesh into the world to come. Especially, dear Lord, grant the requests I now make of You for my own beloved mother.

~Catholic.org.~

Difficult Times

We are living in trying times. It is Mother’s Day and many of us will not be able to spend time with our mothers. Some have crossed over the veil, others are separated by distance. These circumstances would be considered normal but the conditions we are experiencing today would not at all, be considered normal. Because of the monster we have come to know as the Pandemic, many mothers and children are experiencing heartache rather than joy. This virus has taken mothers from their children and children from their mothers; children, teens, middle-aged and elderly, and in countless cases, there was no opportunity to say a final, “I love you” or “Goodbye.” I know of no words that would bring comfort to grieving parents or children nor would I attempt to offer any. The best words are prayer.

The Lord is Close to the Brokenhearted

Psalm 34 tells us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” We trust this to be true but when we are brokenhearted, it can be difficult to feel His closeness. Is there any comfort for a grieving mother or child? Can the void of a broken heart ever be filled? Sadly, the void can never be filled but we learn to live with it. Yes, there is comfort. Comfort’s name is Mary. Comfort is the mother whose heart was pierced and who, better than anyone, knows the pain of grief.

Comfort’s Name is Mary

When praying the Seven Sorrows/Delores Rosary, we are meditating on seven of the sorrowful experiences in Our Lady’s life, but her heartache goes far beyond the seven. This devotion does not tell us of the grief she experienced during the three days before His Resurrection. Scripture tells us nothing of the pain of missing His physical presence after He ascended, or how she must have re-lived every moment of His Passion over and over again. Of course, Our Lady also held on to her joyful memories; times when He was a child learning carpentry from Saint Joseph or times when they laughed and just enjoyed being together. She loved her Son in a way that is incomprehensible to our human minds and when we are grieving we may not be able to consider that her grief exceeded any heartache that came before or will come after her. There are writings of the saints and mystics that tell us how she desperately longed for Him to come for her, take her from her earthly life so that they would be together for eternity.  In your sorrow, please think about this and know that Comfort’s name is Mary.

 Call to Our Lady

Call to Our Lady. Just ask her to hold you; to wipe your tears. You don’t have to tell her how you feel. She knows and she shares your pain. On this Mother’s Day, we can honor the most perfect mother who ever existed; the Theotokos, the Mother of God. Remember that she is our mother and there is none who is worthy of greater honor. Our mother waits for us to call to her. She wants to be our solace. She wants to surround you with the fragrance of roses. She wants to assure you that, although agonizing, your pain is temporary, just as her pain was temporary. She wants you to be comforted in knowing that you and your loved one will be together again and when you are, there will be no separation, ever.

Blessed Mother’s Day

To all mothers, I wish for you a happy Mother’s Day. To those of us who are missing our mothers, may we know that they are watching over us and their love did not die when their physical bodies left us. I wish a blessed day to all mothers including single mothers, grandmothers, fathers who have to be both father and mother, expectant mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and aunts who love like mothers. I wish a blessed day filled with the fragrance of loving memories to all who are grieving, especially those who lost loved ones to this Pandemic.

 We pray for its end and restoration to a life that resembles the life we knew as normal.

Remember that Comfort’s name is Mary.

“Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence.”

~Saint Francis de Sales~

 

Marilyn Nash   www.Gardenias4Lina.com