Retreat meditation on devotion to Our Lady

Devotion to Our Lady is an essential element in the Christian life. She appears continually in the Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Christian soul is filled with this devotion. In mission lands where Islam advances, it is Mary who appears to arrest it. Consider the religiosity of the indigenous people who consistently use the titles of Mary, the chapels, the rosary, the scapular, churches, pilgrimages, grottos.

1. The foundation of devotion to Mary

It is unfortunate that we preach only a poetic devotion: Rose of Jericho, Gate of Heaven, emphasizing only her beauty. The real foundation is not found in rationalizing but in praying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In our prayer we naturally discover the privilege of Mary before any personal merit of her own. We see this in the celebration of the 8th of December. The people who pray intuit this. In Louvain on the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Conception, the entire town was illuminated, even the poorest homes. A young boy was questioned: Do you envy the Virgin on her feast day? No one envies his mother.

2. The grace of Mary is functional

Mary’s grace is functional grace. All grace is functional: for the benefit of all the rest, the just and sinners. It has nothing to do with honors but with what it accomplishes. Mary’s function is to be the mother of God, and her grace is, for us, the basis of our hope since God’s favorite is Mary.

Mary’s functional grace endures: when God has chosen a person for a particular function, He does not change His mind. St. Joseph, patron of the Holy Family, that Holy Family grew into the Church, and now Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church. May was given the domestic care of the Holy Family… It grew and now she has been given the domestic care of the Church: Just as when Jesus lived, Mother, you placed the jar on your head and went to draw water from the well, please come now and bring the water of grace for us who have such need of it.

Mary Model of cooperation

Mary as Mother does not desire decorations, medals or honors, she only wants to serve. And Jesus is not going to be deaf to her requests. He commanded us to obey father and mother. Her first great act of service was to say: “Do whatever he tells you”… and her words to the angel, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1,38). God chose to allow His work to depend upon her “Yes.” Without any fuss, she gave and continues to give service: a service that fills the soul with a holy joy and ensures that the children who adore the son, will be unable to separate themselves from the Mother.