How much do you love Our Blessed Mother?

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Great answer, because you point out how easy it is for love to grow cold if we are not watching and praying for God’s grace!

It helps me to remind myself of St. Teresa of Avila’s words to her sisters that the the two essentials for prayer are: to pray with attention and devotion. If we do not have those two qualities in our prayers then we may be “moving our lips” but not praying.

Sometimes, I also tell Mary I want to offer my Rosary in love for her, and ask God not to let my love be “just words”. I want to love in union with His Love for her. I wonder if your monk-friend is a Carmelite as was St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. Hope you will post something of your experience when you return.

If he belongs to a Marian order, I’d say your prospects are better than average to grow in your devotion to Mary, but remember what little St. Therese of Lisieux said so wisely: “Everything is Grace”. Please let us pray for grace for ourselves and for all God’s children to love Mary more! Thanks for your reply.
 
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Honestly, not much.

I just can’t feel a connection to her. I respect her for carrying and caring for our Lord during his formative years but there is none of that devout reverence in me towards her. She played her part but I can’t relate to her and I don’t see her as my mother at all.

Same with the Saints - Apart from having a soft spot for one (St Anthony, I’m looking at you), I just think of them as holy people. If I want to ask God for something, I have the direct line.

I’m a cradle catholic too…😊
 
Dear Latetotheparty,

Thanks for you honest but (sad for me) reply. I’m grateful you respect our Mother Mary but I wonder if you ever think of how much Jesus loved her on this earth, and continues to love her in heaven.

It always made me sad when my own siblings did not visit my Mother and she felt so bad because she missed them. I guess I felt a similar sadness in reading your post. I don’t know what might cause love to spring up so easily in some hearts for Mary than in others, or for some children in a family to seem to love their Mother more than others.

Is it a matter of God’s Grace? Anyway, I will keep you in my prayers, dear cradle Catholic, and trust God’s Grace fill you with a “new found love” for Mary who loves us all – having received us all with John when Jesus told him and us from His Cross: “Son, behold your Mother” and to Mary, “Woman behold your Son”.
 
Not as much as she deserves, that’s for sure.

Growing up (I’m a cradle Catholic) I could never get myself to feel for her. I admired her, but didn’t truly love her. I rarely prayed for her intercession. I called her “Blessed Mother” only because that was what I was taught.

Then something happened in my life (long story short, near death of a friend) and I began to call on her and regard her as a “bringer of hope.” She became one I prayed to in hard times.

When I was early in my discernment, she became “my Lady.” The Mother of my Lord and Savior was certainly my Lady and Queen. It wasn’t a particularly affectionate love, but it was a respectful one and warmer than before.

Then a statue of a certain apparition was raised in my area, and it introduced me to a tale of persecution, perseverance, and love that I hadn’t heard before. At the heart of it was an apparition in which she comforted the faithful and showed them how to heal their sickness. I think the unfamiliarity of the story helped me to really consider how wonderful it was, that God sent her to bring comfort. I thought about that and all the other times she came to her people, all over the world. She became “Our Lady” to me, and I loved her more.

Then I came across the writings of a Redemptorist Brother roughly around the same time I made a Catholic friend with a strong devotion to Mary. I quickly noticed that the Redemptorist Brother and the friend both referred to her as Mother Mary. As I read more of that Brother, I saw how he shared everything with Mother Mary, trusted her completely in everything, and truly regarded himself as her little child. It was one thing to be told that she is Our Mother, but to “get into the head” so to speak of someone who really believed that and made it such a part of his life did me a world of good.

Now, she is Mother Mary, Our Mother, or sometimes even Mama Mary to me. My love for her is still very weak compared to what it should be, but now I know she’s my True Mother and it’s much stronger than it ever was before.
 
She was undoubtedly a very holy woman and I’m glad that we have her testimony in the Scriptures. I have a lot of respect for her.
 
Blessings
I love God, The Trinity, first and foremost. God the Father scares me a little. Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I have a love affair w them. Since they are all God, they’re all passionately loved.
I love Mary. She was Jesus’s Mother. The tenth station ( I think) brings me to tears. I can feel her pain watching Jesus of Nazareth. The Passion of the Christ. The Rosary is a problem for me. I feel bad. I was in detention in HS. We had to say the rosary. Is that why?? I say it daily.
I asked my priest, if my feelings aren’t as I feel they should be, are my prayers being heard. He said,” The Holy Spirit prays our prayers in heaven.” OK.
I feel sad, I don’t have the Saintly posture as St. Bernadette and Gemma! SIGH! It is what it is. My free lance prayers have more passion in them than saying the rosary.
I’m happy for you.
In Christ’s Love
Tweedlealice
 
I love her so much. I pray the Holy Rosary everyday and even made a devotion to Mother of Perpetual Help. My family have received so much grace and blessings thru her intercessions.
 
Not to be “that person”, but how does one quantify love?

I will say this, I read “The Mystical City of God”, and I’ve never been the same since.
 
Dear Talitha,

Thanks so much for your encouraging reply. It warmed my heart and I hope it may warm the hearts of many more! 🙂
 
Dear drac,

It is good to have “respect” – I believe God requires that of us for the Mother of His Son and His Son requires it for the Mother He gave to us from His Cross. The word “respect” however has a rather cold sound when one is referring to our Mother Mary.

Did St. John the beloved disciple have only “respect” for Mary when Jesus said to him (and to us) on Calvary: “Behold your Mother” – I think not, for he says in his Gspel that he took her into his home. (The Greek, by the way, does not use the word “home”; rather the literal translation is “into his own”. St. JPII heard that as John taking Mary into his life.)

I hope you will continue to grow into more knowledge of, and love for, Mary our Mother who suffered with Jesus on Calvary for our sins. Remember she loves us in union with God and prays for us now and at the hour of our death. 🙂
 
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Very much 🙂 I’m always asking Mary to place my prayers where they are needed the most because as Jesus mother and our mother she knows best.
 
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I love the Blessed Virgin Mary so much that I recite the Memorare and the Angelus to Her every morning, and bind my children and grandchildren to her Immaculate Heart every day. When I’m worried about someone in trouble or sickness, I entrust them to her protection under the Mantle of Her Eternal Love. We can never love Her enough, but continue grow in love with Her.
 
Dear Tweedlealice,

Thanks for your reply.

God created each of us unique and unrepeatable, and so in examining our own consciences, it seems to me we need not compare ourselves to anyone, not St. Bernadette not St. Gemma, but only ask God for His Grace to transform us into the unique reflection of Jesus even as He transformed Mary. She of course was transformed by Grace from the first moment of her existence. She was not born with original sin as we were.

That is why Mary is honored by the Church, above all the Saints -and Angels, because as God’s Mother she exceeds the holiness of all other persons except God Himself. Mary remains a human person but she is Queen of All Saints and Queen of the Angels because God has graced her to be so, and she always said “Yes” to all He asked of her.

Our Love for Mary began at Baptism, when the Trinity came to us — although an infant at Baptism receives the inflowing of the Trinity without knowing it – adults however and older children with the use of reason can begin to appreciate their call to holiness and to cooperate with God’s grace.

Your reply indicates that you are striving to grow in your love for God and Mary and I thank God for all the graces He has given you. Thank you for all that you have done to cooperate with His Grace. Please let us pray for one another and for all the human family that we may become the saints God created us to be.
 
Dear Katrina,

Thanks for your reply and for your love of our Mother Mary. By God’s Grace, may we continue to grow in our love for her and help others to know and love her too. 🙂
 
Dear Greenfields,

Thanks for you reply and for lovin our Mother Mary very much. please let us pray for one another and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy that we May love her more and through her love God for all eternity!
 
Dear OScarlett,

“To quantify” is “ask how much” or “to measure how much” and so to quantify Love as God Loves would take us into infinitude – there is no limit to God’s Love – HE IS LOVE. Nevertheless in the question I asked in the original post, I specify that I’m asking this question of human persons and so each person needs to examine their own conscience to determine “How much do I love our Blessed Mother?”

I’ve not read all of “The Mystical City of God” but I was impressed with what I read. I continually go back to the Scriptures, however, and ponder especially the Gospels of Luke and John to learn more about our Mother. St. Louis de Montfort’s treatise on “True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.” has been a blessing in helping me to grow in my devotion to Jesus through Mary. I cannot think of Mary without also thinking of Jesus and ultimately the Holy Trinity.

I only asked the question in the hope of “stirring the embers” in the hearts of Catholics, for I’m finding there is a decline in Marian devotion in these times. Thanks for your reply and I trust that all of us will keep asking God to help us continue growing in Faith, Hope and above all Love! 🙂
 
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She is responsible for bringing me back to my Catholic Faith after years of non-practicing. So needless to say, I’m indebted to God’s Masterpiece! I still haven’t quite come up with the words to express just what the Virgin means to me. And I’m doubtful that I ever will. What an extraordinary creature Mary is! One of the true treasures of the Catholic Church!

P.S. By the way, I love the very last poem Saint Therese ever wrote called;
Why I Love You, O Mary!
 
Dear Mark,

Thanks so much for your reply. The Poem by St. Therese, “Why I Love You, O Mary” is one of my favorites. Another one I dearly love is by Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Mary Compared to the Air We Breathe"
Poetry often has a way of expressing things as no other medium can – at least it seems that way to me. 🙂

Probably neither of us can or will ever write poetry like St. Therese or Fr. Hopkins, SJ; but I believe God reveals to His Mother how much we do love her and how we try to express our gratitude to Him and to her. She truly is His extraordinary Masterpiece and we will never be able to express all the love we have or want to have for her. Yet, isn’t it a joy just to know she is our Mother and Model for the Church?!
 
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Yes, in fact it was you who linked that poem some time ago that drew my attention to it in the first place! I know how much that Saint means to you. She’s a great one! And you know full well how much the Virgin Mary meant to her and the Martin family. But I’ll tell you something else, in all my years on CAF, you’d be hard pressed to find one with more affection for the Virgin than you, MariaChristi! Excellent thread!
 
I am extremely sorry but now I have doubts about it. I dont understand how Mary protects us or helps us. I only understand that She can pray with us and for our intentions and we ask for intercession. Please help, I have doubts in my mind. 😔
 
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