Love and Mama Mary

Today, December 8, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In the midst of the festive anticipation for Christmas, much focus is on gifts and parties. Love (our God the Father’s love), expressed in His sharing of His only begotten Son to us, the real essence of the season, is forgotten and so is the important role of Mama Mary not only for this special time of the year but for human redemption forever.

For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son to restore us back into the presence of the Lord. This is the meaning of this season. God’s Love for us all is at the center of this season and celebration.

Christ’s birth would not have been possible had Mama Mary refused to obey and to consent to God’s plan to be Christ’s mother and be the channel to bring Christ into this world. Through her readiness and obedience, Mama Mary had from the start been the crucial help to allow God’s plan of love and redemption for all humankind. From the start and forever, Mama Mary will always be our Mother of Perpetual Help.

As the mother of Christ the King, Mama Mary would have been showered with all that a Queen Mother would have been entitled to. However, to be the mother of the Savior of a world that rejected Him and instead crucified Him, Mama Mary’s consent and obedience entailed a lifelong experience with much pain and tears, seeing her Son bear His cross and seeing her Son die on the cross.

Mama Mary, however, chose to see beyond the cross, beyond the pain, beyond the tears. The litany prayed during the Rosary invoke her various roles for the redemption of all and to fulfill God’s plan to redeem us all because of His greatest love for us.

Mama Mary is our “Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ, Mother of divine grace, Mother most pure, Mother most chaste, Mother inviolate, Mother undefiled, Mother most amiable, Mother most admirable, Mother of good counsel, Mother of our Creator, Mother of our Savior, Virgin most prudent, Virgin most venerable, Virgin most renowned, Virgin most powerful, Virgin most merciful, Virgin most faithful, Mirror of justice, Seat of wisdom, Cause of our joy, Spiritual vessel, Vessel of honor, Singular vessel of devotion, Mystical rose, Tower of David, Tower of ivory, House of gold, Ark of the Covenant, Gate of Heaven, Morning star, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, and, Help of Christians.”

Then we acknowledge her Queenship. She is our “Queen of angels, Queen of patriarchs, Queen of prophets, Queen of apostles, Queen of martyrs, Queen of confessors, Queen of virgins, Queen of all saints, Queen conceived without Original Sin, Queen assumed into Heaven, Queen of the most holy Rosary, Queen of peace” and more.

As we remember and thank Mama Mary today, we lift for her intercession, as Comforter of the afflicted, the cries of the victims of this latest typhoon that hit especially Compostela Valley in Mindanao. Again, destruction, damage, and deaths have marred what would have been a season of love and joy for many affected by Typhoon Pablo.  

May we all rally in prayers and try as far as possible to reach out to help those most needing comfort and assistance during these difficult days after the destructive storm.

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