While we as sinners are unworthy of approaching Our Lord and Master, the Blessed Virgin – as the Perfect Handmaid of the Lord – is perfectly worthy.
I have been reflecting on our Blessed Mother.
The other day I was listening to a Christian podcast about Christ and the Passion and Death of Christ. It was a Christian – but not a Catholic – podcast. And, for the first thirty minutes or so, it seemed to go very well. I liked listening to what they were talking about, and I understood what they had to say. The preacher’s views about the suffering of Christ and His Passion and Death were moving and resonated with what I already knew and understood…
And then – about thirty minutes into the presentation – I suddenly heard a comment that caused me to feel such great offence that I could not listen to another word…
The preacher said, “Mary, the mother of Christ, was a person just like any other, and just like any other person she was a sinner.”
Now, those are the words of that preacher, but even writing them down on the page causes me to feel a terrible pain. You see, I had not realised how fundamentally critical the Blessed Virgin is to me until I heard those terrible – and incorrect words…
Hearing someone mistakenly say that the Blessed Virgin – Mother of God – is somehow imperfect or sinful quiet literally broke my heart.
And I have been thinking about that today.
When Pope Saint John Paul II was shot by an attempted assassin the first time, as he fell to the ground and unconsciousness, he cried out, “Mother Mary Help me.” His potentially final words in this lifetime were a calling out to his eternal mother. When he recovered, the Saint made a pilgrimage to Fatima in thanksgiving for his life and said in his homily there that his pilgrimage was for the “mercy of God… and the Mother of Christ.” And the Saint preached often that the path to the Sacred Heart of Christ was through His Blessed Mother…
And I have been thinking about that today, because a dear one asked me recently why we pray through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, if we can go directly to God… And the answer is very simple. We pray through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin (who is the foremost Saint and Queen of Heaven) because while we as sinners are unworthy of approaching Our Lord and Master, she – as the Perfect Handmaid of the Lord – is perfectly sinless and worthy of approaching God for anything that I could ever ask for and anything I could ever say…
And because Christ gave us His Mother as He was dying on the Cross, she accepted – willingly – the role of intercessor and mediatrix. That perfectly sinless soul – for love of God – accepted the role of messanger for me and for love of me so that she could ensure that I would be able to speak to her Beloved…
And for that, I know that I can never hear anyone or anything speak unfavourably of my Blessed Mother ever again because for love of me she has been given en-trustation. Because she gives me everything and I have nothing at all to repay her with other than my love and respect. And even that is not enough for all she suffers for me…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.