Our Blessed Mother

Our Blessed Mother

Deacon Lex Ferrauiola

All my life I have had a deep devotion to Mary. She is known by many names: from Our Blessed Mother, to the Holy Virgin, to Our Lady Queen of the Sea, to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, etc. But regardless of the name, or the culture, or the parish, Mary touches something very deep within the human psyche.
Historically she was a young Jewish teenager who said ‘yes’ to God’s call. She nurtured Jesus into adulthood and lived a life of loving service right up to the very end.  It was not an easy life.

Mary suffered great personal losses from the disappearance of twelve–year old Jesus during a trip to Jerusalem, to the early death of her husband, Joseph, to the witnessing of her son’s brutal execution. But through all these events Mary kept her heart wide open to God’s love. She let that love flow through her to everyone with whom she interacted: everyone from her extended family, to the apostles and disciples, to the occupying Roman forces, and to each one of us who has ever turned to her for help.

Our Blessed Mother was human. She was flesh and blood like us. With all the suffering and the loss that she endured, she had to feel grief and anger; she had to question God at times in the face of such sorrow. What made Mary so special was that she never, not for one instant, allowed her heart to shut down, allowed herself to turn inward and fall into the abyss of self–pity or rage. Mary never turned away from other people. She never turns away from us.

Mary experienced loss and abandonment and betrayal like many of us. She could have caved-in to depression; she could have allowed anxiety to cripple her. But she didn’t. She lived each day in loving service to all those around her.

This young Jewish girl who became a blessed mother to all of us is our role model. Each of us is called to live our lives like Mary lived hers: to keep saying ‘yes’ to God’s call – a call we receive every morning when we open our eyes on each new day, each new beginning.
Each of us is called to deal with the inescapable sufferings of life: the hurts, the disappointments, the illnesses and losses, and the emotional and physical pain, like Mary. She could have allowed herself to give in to anger – to go through life with rage over what was done to her son. But she didn’t. She chose life, she chose love.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us who struggle.

Fill our hearts with your strength, with your loving nature.

Help us to choose to live our lives as you chose to live yours – without anger, without bitterness or self-pity.

Help us to live each day in loving service to God, to our family and to all those with whom we interact.

Amen

With love,

Deacon Lex
deaconlex@nullgmail.com

Lex Ferrauiola is a husband, father, grandfather and a Catholic deacon serving as a pastoral minister and hospital chaplain within the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. His newest book, All Shall Be Well: Finding God Among the Pots and the Pans is available now.