The Blessed Virgin Mary is a loving mother whose intervention brings comfort and guidance to those who ask for her help. Our Catholic catechism states that “by her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth.” (CCC 975)
To get an idea of just how that comfort and care can work, all we need to do is look at the good mothers in our own lives. Let me give you an example.
One evening when my oldest daughter was around 9 or 10, I saw her fiddling with her left hand. “What’s wrong with your hand?” I asked.
She held up her hand. Her third finger was red, and the swelling was overtaking a ring. “It’s stuck, Daddy,” she whined. Her use of the loaded word “daddy” immediately disarmed me – a perfected signature move on her part – turning my readied reprimand into sympathetic understanding. No such buzzword worked on my wife, however, who, from practically the other side of the house, knew there was a problem.
“What did you do to your finger,” my wife yelled as she walked into the living room. “Why would you even try to put that thing on? It’s clearly too small for you.”
My daughter then regaled us with a tale of a ring given to her by a best friend in elementary school. She had always loved this ring, she continued. In fact, according to my daughter, this ring could be considered one of the greatest treasures in the world.
“But it went on so easily,” she insisted.
My first instinct was to just forcefully yank the bugger off, but tears began to flow. So that was that.
Now, there are many homeopathic methods to get a stuck ring off of a finger: hold hand up high above heart; apply ice or soak in ice water; apply generous amounts of lubricants including, but certainly not limited to soap, hand lotion, petroleum jelly, olive oil. I’ve heard of people spraying the finger with window cleaner or even wrapping the finger in masking tape.
When the raised hand and ice did not work, we decided to move on to soaps and salves. So my daughter, her mother and I made our way up to the bathroom, where there was better lighting.
Unfortunately, no amount of unguents helped the ring give way.
“Let me check my toolbox,” I said. My daughter gave her mom a terrified look. In a soothing voice, holding my daughter’s hand, she quietly nodded.
The first thing I reached for was my hacksaw. But I wasn’t sure exactly how I would be able to maneuver it without some collateral damage. I thought of carrying up my power circular saw, just as a joke of course, but I figured she was already experiencing enough stress, why add to it. I finally decided on a couple of pliers and a pair of sheet metal cutting shears, which I inherited from my wife’s father and have used to cut quite a few things – none of which was sheet metal.
As I was coming up the steps, I could hear my daughter begging my wife, “Hurry up before Daddy gets back.” Now the word “daddy” rang like a profanity.
By the time I made it back to the bathroom, my wife had just finished snipping her way through the ring with fingernail clippers. Both looked at me with smiles – one with maternal gentleness and the other with ornery relief.
Let me give you one more quick example.
One morning, when I was putting shoes on my then 3-year-old daughter, she started screaming at me that I put them on the wrong feet. I looked carefully at her feet and told her that they were indeed correct. She then started yelling louder and began to cry when mommy, without saying a word, comes along, takes off the shoes, shuffles them, puts them back on the same feet and asks “How’s that?” My daughter says, “That’s better.”
Saint Padre Pio said that Mary “is the Mother of fair love, who comforts, encourages and protects her children.” When we see how the mothers in our lives intervene for their children, it’s incredible to fathom how much more our Blessed Mother intervenes and intercedes for us whenever we ask.
Deacon Dean Johnson serves at Church of the Holy Family, Sewell.
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