Call

“Mother! Call her again and again. She is listening, she sees you in danger perhaps, and with her Son's grace she, your holy Mother Mary, offers you the refuge of her arms, the tenderness of her embrace. Call her, and you will find yourself with added strength for the new struggle. (Saint Josemaria, “The Way”, 516).

Virgin Mary (Magdalena Waluki)

I have a little daily routine that I follow.

Each morning after I leave my children at school I give my mother a quick call on the phone.  Usually, I only talk to her for a few moments.  I might ask, how she is and what she is doing in her day.  She might ask me the same thing.  I may only spend five minutes or less on the phone with my mother in a day and yet that is possibly the most important phone call of my day.

I have been reflecting on what it is that I find so comforting in those phone calls, and I think it is the connection to my mother who I know loves me…

Each morning when I attend Holy Mass, I find myself sitting in the Marian Chapel of my local Parish Church.  I light a candle and ask my Blessed Mother to help me through my day.  I pray for my children and my husband, for my siblings and parents and friends.  And I feel – in that space – that in some way the Blessed Virgin is wrapping her mantle around me and keeping me safe.  Obviously, this is a little bit silly.  After all, the Blessed Virgin is everywhere and has no need for me to creep into the Marian Chapel to make contact with her.  She is more than capable of seeing me and hearing my prayers no matter where I stand.  And yet, I continue to try to be close to her.

I have been thinking how it would be if I truly made myself close to the Blessed Virgin in the way that I should be close to her – spiritually.  Imagine a world where I was focused on my behaviour and on my sinful state to a point that I could keep the Blessed Virgin in my mind and in this way aim to please her.  And what pleases the Blessed Virgin?  Obeying her Holy Son!  Following her Holy Son!  Pleasing her Holy Son!  So, I have nothing to lose by trying to be closer to the Virgin…

“Mother! Call her again and again. She is listening, she sees you in danger perhaps, and with her Son's grace she, your holy Mother Mary, offers you the refuge of her arms, the tenderness of her embrace. Call her, and you will find yourself with added strength for the new struggle. (Saint Josemaria, “The Way”, 516).

I am asked to love the Blessed Virgin as my mother, because Christ gave her to me.  And just as I call my mother daily because I know she loves me, I should be calling on my Heavenly Mother daily in a spiritual way because in that way she can direct me towards her Son…

And there is such a help in a call like that – such a wonderful, unimaginable, help to me…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.