MollyMac…
Reading the context of your parents’ comments that they ‘had’ to pray to Mary…I think what they really meant here…is they needed her to pray with them as a prayer partner, her prayers that magnify the Lord.
Also, I never came to Mary in devotion in the USA. I felt I did not need her. I was talking about the Eucharist with my Protestant friend…who later became Catholic…and some how, I began to speak of Mary…must have been the Holy Spirit…because the flesh of Christ was given to Him by our Blessed Mother, and when I receive the Eucharist…that is now comprised of the Risen…and Glorified Lord (reflecting His ascension into heaven), this all could not have happened without Mary.
When I was with foreign born Italian and Portuguese professional missionaries, highly educated people, in fraternal life day to day, their devotion to Mary became visible to me. That means, we went to daily Mass together and prayed the evening vespers together from the Liturgy of the Hours, we went to Mass with the priest/pastor who had meals with us, who worked with us every day, and reflected on the Scripture together in the evenings.
In the afternoon, the Portuguese laywomen, who were about twice as old as me…(in their 40’s and I considered them old), they would return to the church to pray the rosary for the preseverance of the just and conversion of sinners. I would feel the Holy Spirit moving me to go pray with them, but I didn’t want to, but during those 15 minutes, I would walk around the mission grounds looking for something to do for the Lord, and would find empty results.
It was on Christmas Eve, at an Italian nursing mission, and living with a young Italian nurse who was a member of Chiara Lubeck’s movement of the ‘fok lori’ ( spelling), that she shared her ideal of Mary to me, how she lived her work in Mary’s spirit…not as a god, but as a most faithful servant to the Lord doing His will, loving the Lord in silence in those who came to us suffering and poor, that I gradually came to experiencing Mary bearing and renewing Christ within me on Christmas Eve Mass, and then experiencing her actuall presence with me Christmas Day.
Mary revealed to me the presence of heaven where she is queen now. And she filled light…not visible light, but spiritual light in my soul and all around me. And the sufferings that were weighing me down from those who suffer and my own shortcomings, she made the Cross lighter, and I then felt a very subtle sense of inner joy.
I could see the difference between her and St. Francis of Assisi, who reading his stories, brought alot of joy and freedom to me.
But with Mary, I could see she was far greater, and much more efficacious in bringing the spirit of God deeper into my being, bringing the kingdom of God into my being, that St Francis couldn’t do, and confirming the reality that we cannot but help reflect and remember Mary at times when we receive the Eucharist, that brings true light and Christ’s kingdom and eternal life into our souls.
I wrote about the experience to my parish back home and they made copies for all the parishioners. They experienced this as well with me.
The saints pray for us constantly before the altar of God.
The saints want to help pray for our needs. The saints see God and are in communion with Him.
The Lord never intended us to be alone without help as believers. Our friends we have o this earth have their own problems and concerns and can only do so much for us. It is wonderful to be in Church and be in communion with the saints.
We have 2,000 years of glorious testimony of countless saints who are great examples of faith in all sorts of conditions and times, whose stories strengthen us in the Lord, and show us how they responded to the same crosses we have today and who bore witness to Christ to those around them giving outstanding witness.
We know all about the great people of salvation history in the Old Testament, and we know about the great saints who have given witness to the Risen and Glorified Lord.
