“Even when you are in the kitchen, Our Lord is moving among the pots and pans.” (Saint Teresa of Avila).
I read a short story about a little ten-year-old boy who went to Lourdes with his family to pray for a miracle. The boy was a paralytic and was attending Lourdes in a wheelchair.
During the Benediction, while the Blessed Sacrament was being carried in procession, that little boy pointed to the Monstrance and called out in a loud voice – while staring at Jesus in the monstrance and pointing to Heaven with his finger – “If you don't heal me, I'll tell Your Mother!” At the end of the prayers, the little boy called out again, “Sure I will... I'll tell Your Mother!” And then – much to the amazement of the entire congregation, that little boy stood up – completely healed.
Now, I have not verified the authenticity of that story – though I have little reason to doubt its truth as many hundreds of people have been miraculously healed at Lourdes – but I have been reflecting on that story nevertheless because it is a good example of how much the Blessed Virgin helps us. You see, as a MOTHER – a PERFECT MOTHER – the Blessed Virgin ALWAYS intercedes for me. She stands in front of me and talks to God on my behalf. She shelters me – and you too – with her virginal mantle and under her shelter and protection, she speaks to God and petitions Him for me – and she does this for you too.
You see, when Christ said to His Blessed Mother on the Cross, “Woman, here is your son...” (John 19:26). He was trading HIMSELF for us. And Our Blessed Mother so LOVES GOD and wishes to please Him hat she traded her PERFECT SON – GOD HIMSELF – for miserable souls like mine…
“Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ So from that hour, this disciple took her into his home.…” (John 19:25-27).
Saint Louis de Montford wrote at page 42 of “A True Devotion to Mary”, “Let us say boldly with St. Bernard that we have need of a mediator with the Mediator Himself, and that it is the divine Mary who is the most capable of filling that charitable office. It was through her that Jesus Christ came to us, and it is through her that we must go to Him. If we fear to go directly to Jesus Christ, our God, whether because of His infinite greatness or because of our vileness or because of our sins, let us boldly implore the aid and intercession of Mary, our Mother. She is good, she is tender, she has nothing in her austere and forbidding, nothing too sublime and too brilliant. In seeing her, we see our pure nature.”
You see, I have a Mother, who is a Queen, who intercedes for me. And she loves me more perfectly than I could ever love or deserve to be loved. Because she loves me at the request of her Beloved. And no soul ever loved the Lord Our God more than hers, so no soul has the capacity to love more than she does…
And this means – through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin – “Even when you are in the kitchen, Our Lord is moving among the pots and pans.” (Saint Teresa of Avila).
For God gave us a Mother – the SAME ONE HE HAS – and He shares her with us out of love…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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