As Jesus hung on the cross, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son,” and to his beloved disciple, John, “Behold, your mother.” From early in the Church, Mary has been seen as the Mother of the Church. As any mother who loves her children, Mary cares for us and will intercede for us whenever we turn to her in need.
Throughout the Church’s history, we have often turned to Mary in our particular time of need. In 593AD, tradition tells of Pope St. Gregory the Great carrying the icon of Mary, Health of Rome (Salus Populi Romani) as he processed through the streets of Rome calling the faithful to pray to Mary for her intercession to end the great plague that was inflicting the city. In 1837, Pope Gregory XVI offered special prayers to Mary before this same icon as he pleaded for the end of the cholera pandemic. Our own Pope Francis often prays before this icon which hangs in the Pauline chapel in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. He did so twice in March, first privately and again as part of his Urbi et Orbi Holy Hour in front of St. Peter’s Basilica as he prayed for an end to our current coronavirus pandemic.
During the middle of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire invaded Europe, threatening Christianity. Pope St. Pius V called for a rosary crusade to defeat them and, on 7 October 1571, the Christian military forces overcame the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto. Many attributed this hard fought victory to the intercession of the Blessed Mother in response to the rosaries that had been prayed. This date – 7 October – is now the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary.
At the beginning of this month, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, led all the faithful throughout our nation in prayers of consecration to the care of the Blessed Mother in the face of our current coronavirus pandemic. Catholics of several other countries around the world have entrusted themselves to Mary’s care as well.
Mary has also appeared during particularly trying times in our history, offering her solace to those in special need. Mary appeared a few times to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, just northeast of Mexico City, over the winter of 1531-32, and instructed him to build a church there in order to strengthen the faith of the native Mexicans who were struggling under the oppressive Spanish rule. And, Mary appeared several times in 1917 to Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Francesco and Jacinta Marto at Fatima, Portugal; we celebrated this feast just this past Wednesday. During these apparitions, Mary promised God’s protection as she foretold the beginning of World War II and the spread of communism. We can identify with these apparitions in a particular way today since they occurred at the outbreak of the Spanish Flu pandemic and Francesco and Jacinto both died as a result of that pandemic.
You might ask why we turn to Mary during particularly difficult times in our lives. After all, it is God and only God who is all powerful. But, as many of us have turned to our own mothers in the face of our own struggles so, as a Church, we turn to Mary, our mother, to intercede for us to her Son. And, as she directed her Son to come to the aid of the newly-married couple in Cana, so we are assured that she will also plead our case before him in our need.
As we continue to struggle under the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, we do well to turn to Mary for her intercession. In the middle of March, I made the prayer to the Blessed Mother that Pope Francis had composed for universal use during this pandemic available at the church doors and encouraged you to join me in praying to Mary daily for her intercession. In case you haven’t picked one up at church, you will find it below.
Our school will hold its annual May Procession this Wednesday evening, 15 May; of course, this year, it will be a virtual prayer service. You will receive a link to this special Marian celebration through Flocknote, Option C or an email message from our PREP office. Come join us in prayer and veneration of the Blessed Mother, begging her to intercede for us in this special time of need.