The Easter Season concludes on May 19, the Solemnity of Pentecost, when we will celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit from the Risen Jesus to His followers and His Church. Our Catholic tradition dedicates the month of May to Mary, the Mother of God. Faith-filled devotions that honor the Blessed Mother and express the love of the faithful for her take place in our parishes, schools and religious education programs during this month. May processions, the Crowning of Mary, the public recitation of the Rosary, the offering of flowers and placing personally written petitions at a Marian shrine are some of the traditional devotions to the Mother of God that take place.
When the fire of the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost on the followers of Jesus, Mary was present among them. As she was present at the Annunciation of the Lord and at His Birth in Bethlehem, Mary is present at Pentecost when the Church was born by the breath of the Holy Spirit. She was in the midst of the Church at its beginning. She is always in the midst of the Church. There is no Church without Mary.
Traditional devotions to Mary in the month of May remind us of her unique role in the salvation of the human race and, even more, the honor and esteem in which she has been and is held by the Church. She is truly the Mother of God and truly our Mother. We approach her as our Mother with the confidence of children. The petitions in one of my favorite prayers to Mary, the Memorare, express this childlike confidence to our holy Mother.
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary
That never was it known that anyone who fled thy protection,
Implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee,
O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother.
To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful;
O Mother of the Word Incarnate,
Despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency
Hear and answer them. Amen.
This prayer is titled the Memorare because its first word is “Remember.” We seek her help and intercession. Whatever our need, our trouble or our difficulty, we turn to the Mother of God, who is our advocate before her Son who listens to His Mother’s prayer. We confidently seek her help, which she brings to Jesus.
Recently, I read an opinion written by an expert in child development. He wrote that the most important work a mother can do for her newborn child is to gaze into the eyes of the infant. It is his opinion that the trust and love that develop between mother and newborn find their origin in this experience of the Mother’s gaze. The connection between the mother and the infant bonds through their eyes.
Whatever may be the scientific validity of this opinion, let us reflect on the gaze between the Mother Mary and the Infant Jesus, whom she conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and whom she loved with a “love beyond all telling.” She was truly His Mother who bonded with Him through her maternal gaze. Her bond lasted throughout His human life. At the end of His life when dying on the Cross, He gave her to us. For us, she is truly our Mother. Not in the physical reality of motherhood, but in the spiritual reality of Motherhood. She has bonded with each of us through her maternal gaze. She loves us and prays for us to Her divine Son.
The Byzantine tradition of icons captures best the gaze of the Mother of God on each one of the faithful who venerates a Marian icon, of which there are many expressions. An icon is a mirror into the divine. It takes the person who venerates it beyond this world to the heavenly realm. When the icon is that of the Mother of God, she gazes on the one who venerates her image. She bonds with him or her.
During this month of May, let us approach our Mother with childlike confidence and experience her maternal love. She takes us to Jesus, her divine Son, on whom she gazed in His infancy. He is our Lord and Savior, the Risen One, who gifts us the gift of Holy Spirit and the gift of the love of His Holy Mother. Holy Mary, pray for us. Gaze on us who are bonded by faith with you.
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