Happy, Holy, and Hopeful Mother’s Day

The beautiful graphic about praying the rosary, attributed to Christ Our Life Catholic Conference, was reposted on their Facebook page by St. Mary’s Church in Humboldt, Iowa, on April 22, 2020.

It appeared there at a time when all of us were still reeling from the shocking onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Humboldt, along with many other communities in western Iowa, had just been engulfed by overflowing rivers. The people of another St. Mary’s Church in Hamburg, Iowa, were also dealing with the aftermath of devastating spring floods. Unprecedented deluges had destroyed churches and homes in both communities at the same time.

Today, these parishes in the Diocese of Sioux City and the Diocese of Des Moines have been fully restored, with help from all four dioceses in Iowa. This is hope. This is faith and the kind of love St. Paul called charity. This is a fulfillment of God’s promises through Jesus.

“… For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance … And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will …” Romans 8:24-25, 27 (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8#53008027-t).

Our Blessed Mother Mary was chosen as a vessel to help bring these promises to fulfillment on earth.

When I was an RCIA candidate in 1988-1989, my own earthly mother was dying of cancer. My sponsor lent me a prayer book that contained a beautiful image of Mary’s Assumption into heaven. As I explored what devotion to Mary really means, I began to encounter the richness of our Catholic Church’s unbroken traditions.  We honor Jesus’ mother as our loving and prayerful intercessor with God’s Son. He gave her to us, from the cross, to share.

I was raised in a reverent Protestant home, but I now believe that the stripping of Mary’s feminine grace from the liturgical cycles of Christian worship was one of the greatest spiritual errors of the Reformation. In RCIA, I learned that prayers for Mary’s assistance are optional devotions. Yet, they have always been a recognized and approved Catholic practice.

I’ve been blessed with opportunities to walk my own feet on the sacred ground of several Catholic shrines in the United States, South America, and Europe.  I look forward to sharing with you in future CWG Blog posts a few of my adventures, challenges, and lessons learned on those pilgrimages.

In this blessed month of May, children around the world crown Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth. I hope my reflections offered here this month might help us all to renew our dedication to the power of the Holy Rosary. No matter what we may be facing, we are wrapped in our mother’s mantle, and we are safe in the care of her Immaculate Heart.

Ave Maria.

Copyright 2022, Margaret Zacharia
Rosary Image From COL via St. Mary’s Humboldt IA