Pope Leo XIV
Our God is a God of surprises. He certainly blew us away by giving us an American pope—a Christlike man. Let’s praise and thank God for this gift that renews the hope of the whole world. Did you see the two seagulls walking around the chimney awaiting the white smoke? To me they were a sign of the Holy Spirit overseeing the voting. And then a fluffy grey baby bird joined them, a symbol of new things to come.
Mary’s Youthful Hands
We are in the month of May, the month traditionally devoted to honoring Mary, the Mother of God and our mother. Here is an overview of her life, focused on her hands…
The hands of Mary were not the soft, pampered hands of a queen, but the strong, capable hands of a working woman. As a young girl, surely she helped her mother Anne around the house with daily tasks. What was Mary doing when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her? People conjecture that she was fetching water from the well or spinning wool. Maybe she had her hands folded in prayer.
When Mary went to help pregnant Elizabeth, at their meeting her hands probably embraced her relative and caressed her wrinkled face. Then for three months, Mary’s hands were kept busy serving Elizabeth and mute Zachary with love. Perhaps the two women sewed baby clothes during this time of waiting. I can picture Mary massaging Elizabeth’s back and feet.
In Bethlehem, Mary’s hands were the first ones to hold God-made-man except for the person (Joseph?) who delivered him. Scripture says that she wrapped her newborn in cloths and laid him in a manger. From that moment—and for the next thirty or so years—her hands were at work caring for her Son. She burped Jesus, tickled him, and held his hands as he took his first steps.
She washed him when he was dirty and sweaty, and when he was hurt in the carpenter shop or playing rough with the other boys, she dried his tears and soothed him.
When Jesus as a preteen was lost for three days, I envision Mary wringing her hands with worry and then on finding him, taking him by the shoulders and giving him a little shake.
In charge of Joseph’s household, Mary kneaded dough, made clothes for her men, swept the floor, and stirred countless stews. No doubt, when Joseph died, it was her hands that lovingly prepared his body for burial.
As an Older Woman
When Jesus returned to Nazareth as a successful teacher and enraged his neighbors by his words in the synagogue, Mary was a witness. As she saw her friends and relatives ready to cast Jesus off a cliff, her hands probably flew to her mouth in horror. (On a precipice in Nazareth is a chapel in ruins called Our Lady of the Fright.)
When Jesus visited Nazareth did he stay at the parental home? Did Mary prepare meals for him and his twelve apostles? Could be.
Michelangelo’s poignant “Pieta” reminds us of the dreadful day when Mary held her Son’s body for the last time, now a mutilated, bloody body. It’s been proposed that Jesus’s garment that the soldiers gambled for had been made by his mother.
Before Jesus died, he entrusted himself into the Father’s hands, but he entrusted the apostle John into Mary’s hands. Then Mary had another “son” to care for, actually many sons and daughters.
Safe in Mary’s Hands
Mary also became Mother to all of us. In the Morning Offering we pray, “O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you….” Mary is not eternally resting in Heaven. No. She is busy working for us as an intercessor. We ask our heavenly mother to “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.”
St. Catherine Labouré had a vision of Mary, which is reproduced on Miraculous Medals. In this vision rays of light streamed from gems on Our Lady’s hands. The Blessed Virgin explained: “The rays are graces which I give to those who ask for them. But there are no rays from some of the stones, for many people do not receive graces because they do not ask for them
.”
The oldest Marian prayer is: We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
For your listening pleasure, here is Bing Crosby singing “O Sanctissima” :
Note
My book Heart to Heart with Mary with daily reflections remains my most popular book. On each page Mary speaks to you personally as her child. It is uncanny how her message for the day is in sync with your life.
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• What is your favorite prayer to Our Lady? Which of her titles is your favorite?
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