Mary, Our Mother

Refer to our Sunday Experience pages to find different prayers to pray as a family sometime during the week as well as setting up a prayer space and other activities as a family.

For the Learn do the following:

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Relates to Jesus: Mary is the Mother of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ being both fully God and fully man, she is rightly called, "the Mother of God".

Relates to my Faith: If I truly desire to grow in deeper relationship to Jesus, the secret is to have a deep devotion to his Mother, Mary.

Sample Script:

I think it is safe to say that if I asked you to name your three favorite people, one of those three favorite people would be your mother. Whether you are in first grade or if you are an adult, there is a very good chance that your mom is someone who is special to you. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had a loving relationship with His mother that made her very special to Him in His life.

Mary was certainly a very special girl. From the very first moment of her life, the Church has taught that she was especially blessed as God had chosen her to have a special role in bringing humanity back to the love of God. And while Mary was especially blessed by God, she was an ordinary girl just like any other girl that we have met. She was born into a loving home to her mother Anne and her father Joachim. Anne and Joachim raised Mary in the Jewish faith and it is said that from a very young age, Mary had a special relationship with God in she decided to consecrate or commit her life to Him all the days of her life.

This she certainly did, for when Mary was around the age of 13, she was visited by the angel Gabriel who announced to her that she will be the Mother of God (cf. Luke 1:26-38)! The overshadowing of the Holy Spirit that graced Mary with the gift of her son Jesus, the Son of God, gave Mary the title of being Theotokos, a word from the Greek language that means “God-bearer”. This title of Theotokos or Mother of God is one of four Marian dogmas, undeniable truths that tell us something special about Mary and her relationship to her Son, Jesus Christ.

Another really cool thing about Mary is that, as the Mother of God, she helps you and I come to know and follow Jesus by praying for us. It is said that Mary’s prayers for us carry a special attention that is noticed by Jesus. We all know that it is not easy to say no to our mother, and with Jesus there is no exemption here (please see John 2 and the Wedding Feast of Cana). Mary through her prayers seeks to unite us to her Son and desires to show us the love that God has for us in our life.

Here, in a very real way, we come to understand ourselves as the adopted sons and daughters of God that we are. Through our connection with Jesus as brothers and sisters in living a Christian life, Mary becomes our mother who nurtures us, care for us, and looks after us as we seek to be the holy Christians that we are called to be. What does this mean? Well, just like we are called to follow the role model of Jesus Christ by loving God and loving neighbor, so too can we follow the example of Mary who models perfectly the virtues that her Son Jesus calls us to model in our own lives seeking holiness.

Following Jesus by seeking the example and guiding support of Mary should look a couple of ways. First, Mary was a very humble girl. She wasn’t weak; rather she was strong in her belief that God is Lord of her life. This practice of humbleness allowed her to say yes to the angel Gabriel with fullness. Secondly, Mary said her prayers every day. By doing this, she was able to hear the voice of God through the angel that allowed her to recognize the great gift God was entrusting to her. This allowed Mary, as a young teenage girl, to offer her entire life to God as His mother, which was probably an incredibly grace-filled and deeply reflective moment for such a young soul. By practicing our humility and speaking to God through prayer, we are following our call to be holy and are modeling ourselves after Mary and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Questions:

What made Mary special?

Tell the story of the Angel and Mary.

What did the Angel ask of Mary?

How did Mary answer the Angel?

How can you model yourself after Mary everyday?

Activities:
1. Memorize and be able to recite aloud the prayer of the Hail Mary.

2. Draw a picture of Mary talking to the Archangel Gabriel and draw yourself in the picture. 

Relates to Jesus: Mary is the Mother of Jesus and because Jesus is both fully God and fully man, Mary can be rightly called, the Mother of God.

Relates to my Faith: Mary's role is to lead us closer to her Son, Jesus. If we want to develop a closer relationship to Jesus, we must have a strong and loving devotion to Mary, his mother.

Sample Script:

Mary is a very special and important figure in our Catholic understanding of things. She plays a most critical role in assisting with God’s plan to bring humanity back into relationship with Him. It is very right to say that if there was no Mary, Christianity would have looked a lot different. We can never downplay the role that Mary plays, and still does play, in our Church.

From the very beginning of Mary’s life, she was destined to be a very special and important piece of the puzzle that makes up Catholicism. Mary was kept free from Original Sin and all the effects that sin has had on humanity, even though Mary herself is fully human just like you and I. This graced state that Mary finds herself in is known as the Immaculate Conception, which was a special gift given to Mary to assist her in her path to holiness in her life.

You see, you, I and every human that has ever and will ever walk this earth are called to live a life of holiness. This life of holiness is special and unique to each person in that we are given different gifts to help us live holiness out. No matter what God is calling us to, He provides grace to help us use our calling to grow in holiness. The same was true for Mary.

For Mary, her gift was one of an extra special call. She was called to be the Mother of God by being the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For you and me, the call to be holy will be different because God calls all of us to do different things in is Kingdom. That will take time and practice to figure out, but we can start by doing the simple things like being holy, being obedient to our parents, and loving to our brothers and sisters and people we know, and to pray so we can grow closer to God. A virtue is a good habit. Humility is an important virtue. Humility means that we don't think we are more important or better than other people. Mary is a woman of humility and prayer, and when we model ourselves after her by being humble and prayerful with God like Mary, you, too, will discover how God calls you to holiness in your own life.

Another special gift that God gave Mary was the gift of being free from Original Sin and the bad things it does to us. This special gift in Mary began when God first made her in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. We call this special gift, the "Immaculate Conception." Even with this gift, Mary still needed to practice living a virtuous or holy life in humility and prayer so that she could do God's will in all things. Doing good and saying "yes" to God became such a natural habit for her, that when it was time for Angel to ask her if she would become the Mother of God, she naturally, said, yes, by saying, "Let it be done unto me as you say." God’s plan for Mary to be the Mother of God was strengthened in Mary through her life of prayer and humble acceptance of what came her way. With Mary saying yes to the angel Gabriel and receiving the gift of a child from the Holy Spirit of God, we see in Mary the fulfillment of God’s promises to be with His people.

In the Old Testament, the blessings of God, as seen through things like the stones of the Ten Commandments, were kept in a very special and decorative chest, like a treasure chest, called an Ark. This was called, the Ark of the Covenant. A "covenant" is a special promise by God to his people if we do his will. The Ark symbolized God's covenant. The contents (the things inside) of the Ark of the Covenant pointed to God’s presence among His people. Mary is sometimes referred to as the Ark of the New Covenant. The New Covenant is Jesus. Mary is called the Ark of the New Covenant because the treasure inside of her was Jesus, who is God, himself, in his Second Person. As we may be preparing for our first Holy Communion, we recall that like Mary, who is the Ark of the New Covenant who is Jesus, when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we, too, become a little Ark for him. This makes us very special because just like Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, we will be holding Jesus inside of us. When we receive Holy Communion, we should ask Mary to be with us so that Jesus can come into through Mary, just like when he was born. This will make our Holy Communion even more special.

For us, Mary is the model for us to follow in how to receive our Lord Jesus Christ. Mary always brings us closer to Jesus, and always leads us to the Holy Eucharist, because that is where Jesus is most present to us in this life. By being good listeners and followers of our parents and family members and teachers, we show our humility by being kind in this way. By being consistent with our daily prayers to God, we open ourselves up to hear and receive the Word of God. When we go to Eucharist, or as we prepare to receive Eucharist for the first time, we can think of Mary holding Jesus within her and how special it is to have Jesus, who loves you and I so much, being so close to you, dwelling right within you!

Questions:

Why was Mary like the Ark?

What was Mary's special call by God?

Other than being the mother of God, how else was Mary different than all others when she was born?

What does God ask of all of us including Mary?

Who is Mary's mother?
 

Activities

1. Test yourself to see if you have memorized the Hail Mary by praying it out loud. if you still haven't memorized it, memorize it so you can say it out loud without any help. After you memorize it, pray with great love for Mary in your heart.  

2. Ask your mom or your dad to pray five decades of the Rosary family style. Use the Joyful Mysteries, perhaps after dinner before bedtime. Use a bible to read a couple of different verses from the first chapter of Luke before you begin each decade of the Rosary. Everyone take turns leading a decade. 
 

Relates to Jesus: Jesus experienced all that we experience, and that includes living within a family. Jesus lived with Mary, his Mother, and Joseph, his foster father. We should turn to Jesus to seek His example in relating to our own family.

Relates to my Faith: God's God's fourth commandment is to Honor thy Father and Mother. God desired that they make up the foundation of a family. The Church calls the family "the domestic church", which is to say family is the church lived at home and models for us how to love and communicate and relate to others. We should pray for the intercession of the Holy Family.

Sample Script:

Forever and for all eternity, the Holy Trinity has and will exist. This Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who we call and have come to know as God, is entirely love and freely creates and shares that love with His creation. Humans, that is, men and women, through the ages, are gifted with life from God, being made in His image and likeness and blessed with a rational soul that is able to love and to receive love just as God does. God and humanity are meant to be tightly linked in relationship with each other so that we might be in relationship with God all the days of our life.

Unfortunately, humans fell into sin and severed our relationship with God. The harmony and justice and even the love we experienced became disjointed and unconnected, causing us to run from and hide from the One of whom we were created in the image and likeness of. In order to restore this relationship, that is not only magnificent but also quite necessary, a perfect atonement was needed to make up for humankind's sinfulness before God. Since all of humanity was born into the Original Sin of our first parents, and we continued to choose our own personal sins over the will of God, a perfect offering of one’s life was nowhere to be found, trapping us in our sin apart from God.

When the time was right, in what the Church calls the fullness of time, Jesus the second person of the Trinity, was sent to a woman Mary, betrothed or engaged to Joseph, to take on our human flesh (in the Incarnation, in which God put on the flesh of man) and begin the salvific or saving mission of bringing humanity back into relationship with God. There are a number of great blessings and graces in this whole scenario:

-          Mary through her Immaculate Conception is kept free from sin, preparing her to be the holiest woman ever created by God to bring God through His Son Jesus into our human world.

-          Jesus the Second Person of the Trinity, fully adhering to the Father’s will as the eternal Word of God, takes on mortal human flesh in the Incarnation.

-          The Incarnation finds God becoming man so that Jesus Himself may make the perfect sacrifice for man, taking our sins and sacrificing these through Himself on the Cross as the perfect offering to the Father, showing God’s love for us and restoring and reuniting God and man.

-          God entrusted a good and chaste man named Joseph as Jesus’ foster father, and although this was a call that Joseph never expected, in faithful obedience and adherence to the Father’s will for his family, Joseph listens to God’s plan and plays the role of protector and provider for Mary and Jesus so that God may act in and through Joseph to bring about his plan of salvation in Jesus.

God’s mission to restore the human family through the grace given to the Holy Family clearly shows God’s love for us and how, when we are willing to be led by the grace of God that is available to us in this life, we are blessed to do incredible things knowing that we are His children who find our fullness in Him.

Questions:
What was Mary's role in God's plan of salvation?

What special gifts did God give to Mary in order for Jesus to come to us through her as her baby?

What is the Immaculate Conception?

What is one of the prayers we say that asks for Mary's intercession?

Why do you think Mary was to be free from Original Sin?


 

Activities:
1. Ask your mom/dad, or someone in your family, or your parish priest if they have a few moments to share how they have experienced God's Will in their life. Questions could include, but are not limited to: When was a time you sought God's will for your life?, How did you know that you were following God's will?, What challenges did you overcome in following God's will with His grace?

2. Together, as a family, read the Gospel of Luke, chapters 1-2. How do the characters in these scenes receive God's will? What is the fruit of following God's will? What happens when we don't submit to God's will with faith? Discuss these and other answers that are brought forth.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus as Son of God and son of Mary had as His first disciple His mother, who said yes to the angel Gabriel, thus consenting to following the will of God that He had planned for Mary.

Relates to my Faith: Mary's being preserved from sin makes her a holy intercessor for you and me to fight against sin in our lives. By growing in our relationship to Mary she will bring me closer to Jesus who will make me holy to help go to Heaven.

Sample Script:

It is incredible to think about the beautiful reality that is our Catholic Christian faith! You might have heard that the Bible, and by extension Christianity, is the greatest story ever told and they are right. The many stories of God’s loving presence, the rise and fall of humanity, the saving mission of Jesus, and the action of the Holy Spirit working through ordinary men and women is something out of your favorite superhero movie… except this is real. To top it off, we have an important and necessary part to play in it all, if you and I are paying attention.

While there are so many amazing stories to detail, the life of Jesus is most important. While there are many different “characters” or people that have played important roles in living the story of Jesus, it is Mary who has a most critical presence. Mary was there at the very beginning of the Incarnation, giving her free consent to God to bless her with the gift of a child from the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:26-38). It is said that the angel Gabriel quivered and bowed in respect at Mary’s total yes to God’s message! Mary was able to give her yes in part because she was blessed to have been preserved from the stain of Original Sin from the moment she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, (we call this grace given to Mary, the Immaculate Conception). Thus Mary's will is in harmony with God’s. Mary never committed any personal sin and her Immaculate Conception meant that she didn’t have the selfish desire or attraction to sin or to follow her will over God’s will. Although she was subject to temptation just like Adam and Eve were, unlike Adam and Eve, she did not give in to any temptations to sin in her life. This is why many Saints in the Church referred to Mary as "the New Eve".

Mary was there with Jesus to encourage Him to begin His public ministry (John 2) and ultimately His saving mission (verse 4-5) at the Wedding Feast of Cana. Just as any mother would say that she knows you so well that she knows you better than yourself, one gets the sense Mary recognizes something in this particular scene at Cana that says it is time for Jesus to begin.

Mary was there on Calvary, where Jesus is tortured and crucified for our sins. Loving her Son and suffering with Him in ways only a mother would know, Jesus returns the love Mary has for Him and leaves her not alone, but with what is looked at as the entire Church to be with her yes however and perhaps more rightly so that we in the Church will be blessed with so great a Mother to love and care for us just as Jesus does (John 19:26-27).  These few instances show the critical role of Mary in the life of Jesus.

What does this mean for us? We need to do our best to remember the love Mary has for us. Her love for Jesus and His Church is seen in the stories of the life of Jesus and just as Jesus leaves us these stories to come to understand how He relates to you and me in this life, we can be sure that the accounts of Mary show the nurturing love and tender care that is available for you and me in our relationship with the Blessed Mother of God. Mary serves as another role model for us to follow on our journey to come to know Jesus and receive His love for us in this life. Mary reminds us that we are never truly alone in our walk of faith, knowing that like our earthly mother, our Heavenly Mother is just a call away. There is no better grace and no better story on earth that can compare with Mary!

Questions:

Why is Mary sometimes called, "the New Eve"?

What were some of the things that Mary did in her life that show us how she continued to love her Son Jesus as a mother and provide a model of holiness in our lives?

Why was the Wedding Feast at Cana so important in Jesus' story?

What does Immaculate Conception mean?

Why is it important that Jesus had a mother much like we do?


Activities:
1. In the example of Mary, we find the first disciple of Jesus Christ, for she was first to say yes to accepting Jesus in her life. As a family, discuss ways that you can each grow in your discipleship and consider ways that Mary's example can by your daily guide to keeping Christ central within your family's life.

2. Pray a Rosary together as a family each night with the intention of being able to recognize God's voice more clearly. Keep a family journal of how God is speaking to you through the intercession of His mother Mary and discuss as a family ways to respond.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus is the intercessor between God and man, and wins for you and me graces that come forth through the prayerful intercession of Mary, the Saints, and the countless souls who offer prayers here on earth.

Relates to my Faith: Mary is called the "Mediatrix of Grace" because she is so in tune to the will of God as His Mother, that the grace given by Him for His people flows through her to us. This is why I should have a strong devotion and love for Mary, Our Mother.  

Sample Script:

Mary, as the Mother of God, looks out after her children just as any good mother does. One of Mary’s many titles is that she is the “Saint of Saints”, being the principal intercessor for you and me before her Son, Jesus. Throughout the centuries of Christianity, many saints wrote of the importance of forming a relationship with Mary and allowing her to guide us to her Son. Mary’s nurturing love would not only gently lead a soul to Jesus but also give the assurance of Mary, as Jesus’ Mother, as the one earthly figure who knows our Lord best. This connection to Mary with our own earthly existence makes Mary a most powerful intercessor for us.

There are a great number of ways in which we can reach out for and call upon Mary for her intercession, that is, her prayers for us before God, who is not only her Son (in Jesus) but her Spouse (in the Holy Spirit) and her Father (in God's first-person). It goes without saying that the most popular and familiar way to honor Mary and call for her powerful intercession is through the Hail Mary. The great, yet humble and simple prayer to Mary that both honors and magnifies her role as the Mother of God, and asks her prayers for us. And while the prayer is sometimes used to falsely accuse Catholics of worshiping Mary, it is actually a great proclamation that calls to mind the awesome power of God who can work through a humble and holy soul who cooperates with his grace. Everything in the prayer of the Hail Mary points to Jesus! Let’s take a look how:

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you (Luke 1:28) – These initial words of the prayer are uttered by the angel Gabriel in greeting Mary with his message from God. The “hail” greeting of Mary serves as a formal salutation, much like us using “dear so and so” in a letter today. “Full of Grace” is actually a title that the angel is calling Mary that speaks to the state of her soul, having been spared the stain of Original Sin and being free from personal sin throughout her life. “The Lord (truly) is with you” is saying that as Mary has been close to God throughout her young life, he has been even closer to her. Up to now, this closeness has been in a spiritual way. Now it will also be in a physical way.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb; Jesus (Luke 1:42) – These are the words spoken by Mary's cousin (kinswoman) Elizabeth, who upon hearing Mary’s greeting, uttered these great words of blessing. The double “blessed” refers to Mary’s place among the women of Israel both past and present, as well as among all women, and for the fruit of her womb, that is, the child Jesus in her womb, who is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death – Mary is holy, not in the sense that the Trinity is holy, but in the sense that she has been blessed by God and lives a holy life. Mary is Ever-Virgin, meaning she has dedicated her entire life, including her virginity, to God; she is Immaculately Conceived, meaning she has been specially graced by God to be free from sin; and she is the Mother of God, meaning she bore the Son of God who is Jesus come into the world to free us from our sins. We name her these titles of Ever-Virgin, Immaculate Conception, and Mother of God because she is blessed by God to be an intercessor for us, for just as she helps to bring Jesus Christ into the world, she also helps to being Jesus Christ into the lives of each and every one of us. We ask her prayers at each moment of our life, especially at the hour of our death, praying that we may have a happy death like hers and that she might help to usher us into Heaven to be with God forever.
 

These three teachings (known as "doctrines") about Mary, that is, her title as Mother of God, her Perpetual Virginity, and her Immaculate Conception are special doctrines that the Church calls, "dogmas". A dogma is a specially defined teaching that every Catholic must believe on faith. It does not mean that we may understand it, or have to, but we take it on faith--trust in Jesus' divine revelation--that it is revealed by the Holy Spirit to the Church, through her authentic teaching authority and gift (charism) give by Jesus to Peter and the Apostles as we read in the Gospel of John (Jn 16:13) and the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 16:16-18).

There is also a fourth dogma of Mary called, the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. In this final dogma of Mary, The Church teaches that at the end of her life, Mary was taken body and soul into Heaven. Although this event is not written about in the scriptures, and though it was not declared as a dogma until 1950 by Pope Pius XII, it had been a belief and teaching of the Church, part of the Church's "Tradition", that was passed down from the time of the apostles. some of whom, according to that Tradition, were present as witnesses to that event.

How can we trust this? First, we know that Jesus gave his mother to the apostle, John, from the cross, to take care of her and help provide for her. Secondly, we know from the first chapter of Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14) that Mary remained with the Apostles, and, as Jesus' mother, they remained close to her. Thirdly, the apostles and the early Christian community preserved the tombs of Christ and the apostles as well as his burial shroud, his cross, his crown of thorns, the nails, the home of Mary (which is now in Loreto, Italy--another story entirely), and other artifacts, and thus, had Mary been buried, they would have preserved Mary's tomb, except that there is no preserved tomb of Mary because there is nothing of her to bury. While not all the apostles were with Mary when she passed from this life to heaven, extra-biblical writings speak to some of the apostles, such as John, who was only about 18 at the time of Jesus' death, being present. Also, the event is not recorded in the New Testament Scriptures because those Scriptures are not about Mary, but about Jesus and his teachings to the early Church through the letters from the apostles.

The Church holds these four dogmas in special regard in the celebration of the Church year. We celebrate the Mother of God on January 1, the Immaculate Conception on Dec 8, and the Assumption of Mary on August 15. While the perpetual virginity of Mary does not have its own special feast day by itself, it is recalled on Christmas day in the propers (special prayers proper for the day) of the Divine Liturgy (the Mass) of the Eastern rite Catholic Churches.

Questions:

What are the four dogmas of Mary and what does each dogma teach?

According to the lesson, why it is a good idea to form a special relationship with Mary?

What are the 3 days that we celebrate Mary?

Which line of the Hail Mary prayer is the greeting that Elizabeth met Mary when she visited?

What is the most recent dogma of the Catholic church regarding Mary?
 

Activities:
1. As a family, write out the Hail Mary prayer much like above. Discuss, within each section of the prayer, what this prayer says about Mary and what this prayer says about Jesus.

2. Make a list of people and situations that you know are in need of prayer. Write these down and add to this list as prayer requests come your way. Before bed each night, pray three Hail Mary prayers for these petitions.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus calls all to be humble and to have child-like trust in God. Following Jesus' example of being docile to the will of God provides us with no better witness.

Relates to my Faith: Mary's yes to the angel comes from practicing a life of prayer and listening to the voice of God through Scripture, coming to know and to place all of her trust in God.

Sample Script:

Mary, without any doubt, is a pivotal player in bringing about and sustaining Christianity at the very beginning of its inception. Mary gives her one hundred percent yes to God’s message as delivered by the angel Gabriel, consenting to the grace of the Holy Spirit to overshadow her so that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, might take on flesh and enter our human scene so that mankind’s relationship with the Holy Trinity might be restored. Mary was there throughout Jesus’ life, walking with Him as He taught and healed and proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Mary was also there after Jesus’ passion and death and resurrection, helping to announce the Kerygma or the basic Gospel message to the young Church and bring souls closer to God. So, to call Mary a pivotal player goes without saying.

Mary’s example some 2,000 years ago has a lot to say to us today. Mary’s witness to Jesus and to Christianity as a whole offers the perfect example of what an authentic disciple looks like. Her constant virtue and grace in the accounts that we have of her life point everything back to and focuses on Jesus Christ. We are called to live the same way and should reach out consistently for Mary’s intercession to accompany us in being her Son’s disciple.

Mary’s model of faith is seen in so many ways, but let us focus in on a couple. First, she possessed a humble and pure heart that was ever-ready to receive God. Mary had a deep relationship with God that she nurtured with a consistent prayer life and observance of the practices of her Jewish faith. Her humbleness allowed her to be receptive to the Holy Spirit while her pure heart allowed her to properly recognize the voice of the Lord and His will for her in her life. Mary’s example calls to mind the importance for us to be childlike in our relationship with God (see Matthew 18:2-6). This childlike call asks us to be open to the teachings of Jesus and the Church and to follow these with trust and faith, knowing that our loving God will not lead us astray.

Secondly, Mary demonstrated a commitment to listening to and following Jesus in His life. This could not have been easy, especially as His mother, having to hear the number of people who doubted and walked away from Him as well as having to contemplate the horrific things that Jesus was going to undergo for our salvation. Mary’s example shows you and me that when Christianity becomes difficult or is unpopular or is being made fun of that we are called to stand firm in our faith, realizing that God the Father out of love for us sent His Son Jesus Christ to show us that love through His life and death and win for us eternal life in our choice to live fully for Him. By faithfully choosing Christ each day, and praying for the grace of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of our Mother Mary, we can be sure that we will be given the grace to stay committed to our faith and to stand up for our loving God in whatever may come up through our life.

Thirdly, Mary’s example shows us that we each have a role to play in the Church. Mary, with the Apostles and other disciples after the resurrection were working together to build-up and continue the Catholic Church that Jesus had set-up for all to abide in (see Acts chapters 1 – 2). One would think Mary wouldn’t need to take part in such things; she is the Mother of God right?! Every Christian has the call to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and Mary was no exception. We need to follow Mary’s example and speak the words and perform the deeds and live the life of a good Christian and proclaim the reality of the love of God for us through His Son Jesus Christ. Mary in these above ways, and in so many other ways, is a tremendous role model of faith for us!

Questions:

According to the lesson, what is "the kerygma", and what is Mary's role in the kerygma?

According to the lesson. what are three ways Mary's model of faith is seen?

How can Mary still assist us today?

What do the Acts of the Apostles tell us?

Why is the Hail Mary so important to pray?


 

Activities:
1. Mary shows us that we each have a role to play in the Church. Have you ever considered your role? Write down some of the ways you can think of that people serve in the Church. What roles are interesting and attractive to you?

2. After you have named some roles, schedule a time to meet with people at your parish who perform these roles so you can learn more about these. Write down 5-7 questions that you could ask and see if you could have a tour of some of the physical locations this role covers at the parish.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus is the Son of God and the son of Mary, He is fully God and fully man. Jesus shows us the face of God while showing us what it means to be completely human.

Relates to my Faith: Mary is mother to all of us in the Church. Her care and concern for us who love her Son gives us a heavenly mother who prays for and protects us.

Sample Script:

Mary is the mother of all in Heaven and all on earth. While this is true in the general sense, there are important specifics to draw out that help us understand why Mary is given this title of "Mother" and how this also helps us to better understand Jesus. In understanding the various roles of Mary as Mother, we also come to understand how God might be calling us in our own particular life.

Mary has well over a hundred titles. Many of these titles speak to her many roles, such as "Health of the Sick" or "Refuge of Sinners", but some are more important than others. Her most important and basic role and, therefore, the most common title for us in the Church is to first know Mary as Mother of God, or "Theotokos", which is Greek for, "God-bearer". When the Church teaches that Mary is "Mother of God" she does not mean that God is created in her womb, but rather that she carried God in her womb and brought him into the world through the person of Jesus Christ who is both fully God and fully man. Since the Annunciation, that is, the moment when the angel Gabriel visited Mary, telling her that she was the favored one of God and that through her consent would receive the grace of the Holy Spirit which brought about the blessing of the child Jesus in Mary's womb, Mary agreed to a life with God that was to be like no other. Mary would truly be the Mother of God by being the mother of Jesus, the second person of the Trinity and the Son of God, which would be a most critical step in bringing forth God’s saving plan to all of humanity.

Another title that properly describes Mary is Mother of the Church. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church and we, the baptized faithful, make up His body in the Church. We, the Church, are united to Jesus to be the arms and legs that carry out and help to bring forth His mission into the world. Operating as the Body of Christ, the faithful model themselves after Mary, the pure disciple of the Lord who was the first to say yes to God, bringing about the physical presence of God, in the person of Jesus Christ, to all of humanity. Mary continues to guide the Church as Mother through her holy intercession, praying for the Church to stay close to the will of the Father by following the leadership of Jesus Christ.

While Mary carries the exalted title, Queen of Heaven and Earth, we must remember that she is also our humble mother. If we met Mary on earth, we would probably think, "She's such a normal person!" As Mother of God and Mother of the Church, she loves us and directs us to be one with her Son by encountering Him in the Sacraments of the Church. As all grace flows from God through the Church, Mary as a mother serves as the Mediatrix, or channel through whom all graces flow. Here, we see Mary’s role as cooperating with the will of God and assisting the children of God by guiding all towards life with Jesus. Mary’s mediation is not to be viewed as a more powerful or replacement mediation of Jesus between God and man as these two mediations are different. Jesus' mediation is one of bridging the infinite gap caused by the sin of Adam and Eve that separated us from God, which we call, "redemption". Mary's mediation helps us in our salvation by bringing us closer to Jesus. Her alignment with her Son in bringing about the presence of God into the world through her united will and perfect obedience is a model for us and assists us in reaching our fulfillment by cooperating with the grace of God.

For our part, we need to reach out to our Mother Mary and pray for the grace to be more like her. Mary was quiet, listening to and being docile towards the voice of God, contemplating all that she had received and letting the Holy Spirit direct her through these words. Her prayer and actions of her life truly completely pointed to God, setting the example for you and me to do the same and keep our eyes, mind, and heart focused and fixed on Jesus Christ, allowing Him to be Lord of our life.

Questions:

What is Mary's most basic title and why is that the most important of her roles?

What is the difference between Mary's mediation and Jesus' mediation?

What is the example that Mary set for us in our relationship with Jesus?

What does Theotokos mean?

What does it mean that Mary is the Mother of the Church?
 

Activities:
1. Titles tell us a little bit about some of the things we do. Consider what titles you might have. Write this out, list some of characteristics that each of these titles have, and then name what these titles tell you about God (I am a swimmer, and am athletic and well-trained, and God calls us to be in good spiritual shape so that we live lives of virtue and thus imitate Him, for example).

2. Talk to your godparents about their favorite Marian devotion. You could ask them questions as follows: What is it that they like about this particular devotion? What does this devotion say about Mary? How has this devotion been beneficial for you?

Relates to Jesus: Mary is the mother of Jesus. Jesus desires that we love and are devoted to his mother as he was. The closer we are Mary, the closer we are to Jesus because she will ensure that we are.

Relates to my Faith: One term used to describe the Catholic Church is that of being a Mystical Body, in which Jesus Christ is our head, Mary is our mother, and the people make up the body; all moving towards God the Father.

Sample Script:

Based on the written account from Sacred Scripture, we don’t have a whole lot on Mary. However, due to her closeness with God as Jesus’ mother and her whole unique participation in the grace from God throughout her life, not to mention her tireless love for the Church as we are children of God through baptism, God has allowed Mary through the ages to be made present to all people. God has given the Church great and many insights about the life and role of Mary through the Holy Spirit working in the world and the Church. The great number of Marian apparitions, or appearances throughout various times and locations, the many inspirations given to theologians and saints, and the numerous devotions that have developed through the Church has inspired a significant account of this humble servant of the Lord. Specifically, through Scripture and Tradition, the Magisterium (the teaching office of the Church) has recognized and defined four dogmas (definitive Church teaching revealed by God) of Mary: Mary as Theotokos, or God-bearer, (i.e., Mother of God), Mary’s perpetual virginity (before, during, and after the birth of Jesus), Mary as Immaculate Conception, and Mary’s Assumption (Dormition).

1.      Mother of God or Theotokos (God-bearer): Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully man. She, therefore, gives birth to God, not in the created sense (as God is the uncreated), but as the instrument through whom divinity enters the world.

2.      Perpetual Virginity: The Church also teaches that Mary remained a virgin before giving birth to Jesus, during his birth, and ever after his birth. Mary being Ever-Virgin preserved her purity, both of body and of heart, so that the stain of any sin would never touch this chosen soul who brought forth the Son of God. Mary’s purity is also a gift to the Church, which allowed her to love us and intercede for us just as her Son Jesus does. Mary is a model for you and me in how to strive for purity in our thoughts, words, and deeds in seeking our relationship with God. The “brothers” of Jesus mentioned in Scripture can at best only be half-brothers as sons of Joseph from a marriage not mentioned in Scripture in which he would have had to become a widower, or close relatives. However, in Jewish culture and life at the time of Jesus, the word used for “brothers” was the same word used for other close relatives, which is the traditional interpretation of the Church Fathers. Furthermore, in the Letter of James, written by James, the apostle, in which he refers to himself as "the brother of the Lord", it should be noted that there were only two James who were apostles, one was James, the brother of John, whose father was Zebedee, and the other was James, Son of Alphaeus. So, obviously, there is the use of the word Greek word for "brother" in the New Testament scriptures that goes beyond the meaning of sibling.

3.      Immaculate Conception: The teaching that, unlike every other human conceived, Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin through what the Church calls, “prevenient grace”, that is the pre-application of the grace of Christ’s saving passion in advance of Mary human conception in the womb of her mother, Anne. This teaching has been in the tradition of the Church since the beginning, and is scripturally based on the Angel’s greeting in Luke 1:28, “Hail, Full of Grace”. The Church finally defined this as dogma (specifically defined doctrine) in 1854.

4.      Assumption or Dormition: Like the Immaculate Conception, this is a teaching the Church has held since the end of Mary’s life in the home of St. John the Evangelist, but which was not defined as dogma until1950 by Pope Pius XII. The assumption teaches that at the end of Mary’s earthly life, she was taken body and soul to Heaven. Church tradition has it that several apostles witnessed this event. Furthermore, no tomb of Mary has ever been marked or discovered. Given Mary’s importance in the early Church, such a tomb would very likely have been marked and venerated. In the Eastern Church, both Orthodox and Catholic, the teaching of this dogma is called the “dormition” or “falling asleep” of Mary in the sense of passage from this life at the end of one’s earthly journey. The specifics of whether Mary physically “died” as all other people die or whether she journeyed from this life in some other sense is left to faith to ponder and theologians to speculate. The takeaway for our purposes is that Mary was taken body and soul into Heaven. All four dogmas are “de fide”, meaning they must be held (i.e., given “religious assent”) by every Catholic.

It is certainly clear that Mary, through her role in Sacred Scriptures, her many titles, and the Church's teachings about her, and the Church's approved apparitions which have given us greater "unofficial" insight about her role in the Kingdom of Heaven, is given great attention throughout Church history. Being the Mother of God, the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, allows you to have a special place of recognition without a doubt. What all the above titles and prayers and everything about Mary does, just as she did in her short but powerful presence in the Scriptures, is point everything to Jesus Christ and His active presence among His people, especially those with a prepared and willing heart. It seems too that Mary is given much attention in the Catholic Church because of all humans that ever existed, she, through the grace given her by God, is the only human to be free from sin and that which distorts this world. Mary is said to be the “Scourge of the Devil” as we find in this most strong woman, one that he was not able to get to. Mary is a most powerful protector and intercessor for each of us and we should seek her loving guidance often as she will bring us to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ, who conquers all things. Mary most holy, pray for us!

Questions:

List the four dogmas of Mary.

Pick one dogma, perhaps your favorite, and explain what it means and how it makes Mary special among mankind.

What is the specific grace that God gave to Mary at the time of her birth that no other human has had?

Why is the Hail Mary such as significant prayer?

What does it mean that Mary is an intercessor for each of us?

 

Activities:
1. Pick one of the Marian dogmas and research why the dogma that you picked is important for the Catholic faith. What does this dogma say about Mary? About Jesus? About my personal faith life? Write a one page paper to this end.

Extra Material (For Deeper Study)

Relates to Jesus: The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Not only did God choose her to bring his human nature into the world, but since Jesus is also fully divine, she bore his divinity in her womb from the moment of his conception by the Holy Spirit, but bore it into the world. 

Relates to Faith: Mary is the Mother of my Savior and, by adoption, my Heavenly Mother who will watch over me with special care, draw me ever closer to her Son, and make me a saint if I am fully devoted to her through the Rosary, prayers, novenas, devotions, celebrating her feast days and having an intentional mindfulness to her Immaculate Heart, especially when I offer them in a spirit of reparation against the sins committed against it. 

Catechism References: CCC Nos. 963-975

Scripture References: Gen 3:15; Ps 45; Is 7:14; Mt 1:16; 18-25; 2:1-23; Lk 1:26-56; 2:1-34; 2:39-52; Jn 2:1-12; 19:25-27; Rev 11:19-12:18

VIdeos:

Dr. Edward Sri discusses Mary, Mother of God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpph7nwpZN8&ab_channel=AscensionPresents (4min:49 sec)

Catholic Apologist Trent Horn and Tim Staples discuss arguments for the Perpetual Virginity of Mary: . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mc1m_-Pbvk&ab_channel=AscensionPresents (about 10 mins Start at 3 min mark).

Fr. Mike Schmitz Ascension Presents explains Why Catholic Call Mary Their Mother: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mc1m_-Pbvk&ab_channel=AscensionPresents 

Scott Hahn lectures on Mary in the Scriptures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn1tWuIoZsg&ab_channel=EWTNGreatBritain (58 mins).

Fr. Mike Schmitz on the Immaculate Conception
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atbpPi0MgcA&ab_channel=AscensionPresents (8 min 14 sec)

Scott Hahn on the Assumption of Mary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=momjlXorYo4&ab_channel=St.PaulCenter (8 mins 48 secs). 

Bishop Barron on the Queenship of Mary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0dk8F0KYxY&ab_channel=BishopRobertBarron (6 min:29 sec)

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From the first moments of the Fall of Adam and Eve from grace, God had a plan for our redemption. From the beginning of Salvation History, from the Prophets to the Apostles, to the Evangelists, to the early Church Fathers, the promise of a Savior-Redeemer-Messiah was gleaned from the words God spoke to Eve in Genesis 3:15, known as “the Proto-Evangelium” that is, “the first gospel”. 

Again and again, throughout the Scriptures, the prophets foretell the coming of a Messiah who would be the Redeemer and Savior of mankind, and specifically, the prophet Isaiah, in chapter 7, verse 14, prophecies, “that a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called, Emmanuel which means, God-with-us”.

In the infancy narratives, we see that this prophecy is fulfilled and Christ’s birth comes about through the “fiat” or “let it be” or “yes” of a young virgin from Nazareth whose name is Mary when the angel, whom Scriptures tell us is Gabriel, appears to the virgin and announces that she is to give birth to the long-awaited Messiah, whom she shall name, “Jesus”, which means “Savior”.

Mary explains to the angel, “Yet how can this be since I do not know man?” The angel allays her fears by explaining it is by the Holy Spirit whom she shall conceive and explains that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, who was barren and in her old age, has been pregnant for six months, and with that, Mary gives her “fiat” and puts her complete trust in God to overcome all the obstacles she foresees in the situation.

Mary’s role is a limited one in the Scriptures, but an important one. She is there at Cana to begin Jesus’ public ministry, and she is with him on the road to Calvary to strengthen him, again under the cross to support him, and with the apostles at Pentecost. Finally, she appears again in the Book of Revelation as the Woman Crowned with Twelve Stars. Mary’s perfection of life, her humble and prayerful trust in God, her immediacy of faith and action when prompted by the Spirit, makes her the model disciple par excellence and our model of faith, trust in God, and holiness of life.

Through Scripture and Tradition, the Magisterium, that is, the teaching authority of the Church, has recognized and defined four dogmas of Mary. First, Mary as Theotokos, or God-bearer, (i.e., Mother of God), Second, Mary’s perpetual virginity before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, third, the Immaculate Conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, and fourth, Mary’s Assumption, known in the Eastern rites as the Dormition of Mary.

Now let’s look briefly at each dogma, but before we do, we should first understand the relationship between a doctrine and a dogma. A doctrine is a teaching of the Church. A dogma is a formally and specifically defined doctrine. While all dogmas are doctrines,  not all doctrines are dogmas. In terms of a Venn Diagram, if we can imagine a circle which we label Doctrines, dogmas would be a smaller circle fully contained within the larger circle.

Now let’s look at the Church’s four dogmas of Mary.

The first dogma teaches that Mary is the Mother of God or Theotokos, which is the Greek term used by the fathers of the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. meaning, God-bearer. In this dogma, the Church teaches that Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine. Therefore, when Mary gave birth to Jesus, she gave birth to not only his humanity but bore his divinity. That is, she bore God’s divinity within her from the moment of Christ’s conception in her womb, and through her, God’s divinity physically entered the world. Therefore, she gives birth to God, not in the sense that divinity was created in her womb, for that would make no sense because God is the Uncreated, but rather, she is the instrument through whom divinity enters the world.

The second dogma we will consider is Mary’s Perpetual Virginity: In this dogma, also defined at the Council of Ephesus, the Church teaches that Mary remained a virgin before, during, and ever after the birth of Jesus. That is, as Catholics, we believe that St. Joseph and Mary lived chastely as brother and sister, never engaging in marital relations. Though the Gospels mention “the brothers and sisters” of Jesus, if Mary remained a virgin, at best these can only be half-siblings coming from a presumed prior marriage of St. Joseph not mentioned in the Scriptures, but discussed at length in the apocryphal, “Protoevangelium of James,” written approximately 70-80 years after the inspired Gospels were written and published. 

Let’s explore this further since the subject of the “brothers of the Lord” comes up in multiple places in the NT scriptures and is a point of contention for many Protestants and even some Catholics. First. It should be noted that all three synoptic Gospels, that is, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, mention three women at the cross, two of which are named Mary. What is strange, however, is that none of the synoptic evangelists mentions Mary, “the mother of Jesus”, or any other title that links her to her own son as she stands under his cross. Yet, Luke uses that title--Mary, the Mother of Jesus--to identify Mary in his next book, the book of Acts at 1:14.  While Matthew, at 13:55, identifies James, Joseph, Simon and Jude as Jesus’ brothers, he does not say they are the sons of Mary, Jesus’ mother, nor the sons of Joseph as would be the custom of the time. He also says, “...and are not all his sisters here among us?”, implying at least three sisters (since you would likely use the word "both" not "all" for only two). This would give Mary at least seven children, none of whom are mentioned as following their mother around as would have been---and still is--culturally normative in times of family crisis, especially in tribal cultures such as in a public crucifixion of a brother. Rather, here we are at the death of Jesus, her son, the Messiah, and his supposed mother is simply referred to as the mother of James and John’ or even more oddly, if not insultingly, as merely “the other woman” as if she is persona non grata? This makes little sense.

In the Gospel of John, however, where we read that Jesus is entrusted to Mary from the cross, and at which John is a personal witness, Mary is specifically named as “the mother of Jesus'', and as “the Woman” hearkening back to the Woman of the proto-evangelium in Gen 3:15. Furthermore, John names three additional women including Mary’s sister (called Salome in the Gospel of Mark, who is also the wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John), then Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and finally, Mary Magdalene. So, when all four gospels are considered in light of one another, it would appear that for some reason Mary, the mother of Jesus, is either assumed to be at the foot of the cross and therefore not named, or is left out for an unknown reason in the three synoptic gospels.

A fortiori, in Jewish culture and life at the time of Jesus--even as it is today in tribal cultures and religions such as Islam--the extended family is much closer than it is in modern Western society. Scripture scholars have long noted the closeness of these relations even at the time of Jesus and note that the word used for brothers and sisters of the same parents is also used for close relatives. It is this latter understanding which was the formal interpretation of the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus and has remained the consistent teaching and Tradition of the Church since. 

Lastly, in Gal 1:6, St. Paul mentions a “James, the brother of the Lord”, and that this James was an apostle, but the only two James’ that are apostles are James, the son of Zebedee, whose mother was the sister of the Blessed Mother, Mary (see John 19:25), and James, the son of Alphaeus, (cf. Mk 3:18). So, obviously, then, “James, the brother of the Lord” is James the cousin of the Lord. The bottom line is that all this preserves the tradition of Mary’s perpetual virginity.

The third dogma we will consider is the Immaculate Conception, established as such in 1854 by Pope Pius IX: We will start by saying that this dogma has nothing to do with the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary despite the Gospel readings assigned by the Church for this Solemnity. Rather, this dogma states that, unlike every other human conceived, Mary herself was conceived without the stain of Original Sin. How is this possible, if Jesus had not yet died on the cross?  The Church explains this possibility through the notion of “prevenient grace”, that is, the application of the grace of Christ’s saving passion to Mary at the moment of her human conception in the womb of her mother, Anne.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary has been in the tradition of the Church at least as early as the 4th century, and is scripturally derived from the words of the Angel’s greeting to Mary in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke at verse 28, “Kaire Kecharitomine”, which, literally translated from the Greek means “Hail, Full of Grace”. The evangelist St. Luke and the Fathers of the Church saw in this special and unique greeting a title of Mary which spoke to a unique state of grace in its fullness given to her. The Churches of both East and West have celebrated this event in her Divine Liturgies for well over a thousand years. 

The fourth dogma we will consider is Mary’s Assumption into Heaven, also known in the Eastern Churches as the Dormition of Mary: Like the Immaculate Conception, this is a belief in the Church’s tradition that has been held since the end of Mary’s life but which was not defined as dogma until 1950 by Pope Pius XII. The assumption teaches that at the end of Mary’s earthly life, she was taken body and soul into Heaven.

Church tradition has it that several apostles witnessed this event, most notably, John the Evangelist to whom Jesus entrusted his mother from the cross. Furthermore, no tomb of Mary has ever been marked or discovered. Given Mary’s importance in the early Church, such a tomb would surely have been marked and preserved.

In the Eastern Church, both Orthodox and Catholic, the teaching of this dogma is called the “dormition” or “falling asleep” of Mary. The nuance here is that Mary did not die by the separation of body and soul as is the human norm, but rather peacefully transitioned in sleep from life on earth to life in Heaven, and like her Son, ascended in some fashion body and soul intact. 

As to the dogma itself, however, whether Mary physically “died” as all other people die and then her body and soul were taken to heaven, or whether she journeyed from this life in some other sense is left to faith to ponder and theologians to speculate. For the purposes of Catholic belief, the Church only formally declares that at the end of Mary’s life on earth, she was taken body and soul into Heaven.

All four of these dogmas are what the Church declares “de fide”, which means “of the faith”. As with all Catholic dogmas, this term means that they must be given “religious assent” by every Catholic and may not be publicly doubted or taught in opposition by the Catholic baptized. By freedom of conscience, God will always permit us to seek greater understanding for that which we do not understand, but our attitude must be one of assent of faith and trust in the Holy Spirit’s promised guidance to the Church’s teaching authority and should not be one of hostile doubt. For that which we seek greater understanding, we should ask the Holy Spirit to guide and assist us in our search for the answer. 

In terms of our faith, the Church holds Mary out to us as our Mother inasmuch as we are adopted sons and daughters of God. Likewise, Mary is the Mother of the Church, that is, our Mother who watches over us, guides us, leads us to her Son, and is the Mediatrix of Grace, that is, the instrument through whom the Holy Spirit dispenses grace to us. Mary’s motherhood is real, and when we draw close to Mary, she draws close to us and protects us in a special way. Therefore, as the Church has special devotion to Mary giving her what is termed “hyperdulia” (superabundant praise), we should have special devotion to her as individual members and have special recourse to her intercession, praying to her in all the Church’s traditional devotions, and in our own daily informal prayer.

The power of Mary’s intercession is legendary in Church history and there have been numerous well-known and well-documented instances where Mary’s intercession or intervention have changed the course of history. One of the more notable instances occurred on Oct 7, 1571, when it appeared as if Europe was to be invaded by the Ottoman Turkish fleet and European Christianity itself was threatened due to the lack of tolerance and oppression of the invading forces of Suleiman I. To meet the threat, Pope Pius V had hastily commissioned a coalition of ships of different Catholic nations and had asked the Church universal to pray the Rosary for the defeat of the Ottoman fleet and the protection of Catholic Europe. As the story goes, the battle was not originally going well for the Catholic fleet, but a sudden shift in the winds at sea gave a critical advantage of maneuverability to the Catholic coalition enabling them to defeat the Ottoman fleet. Pius V gave the glory to God and public recognition of the great victory to Our Lady and proclaimed October 7 as the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Lastly, while not part of the de fide (i.e. must believe) teachings of the Church, the Church nonetheless has recognized a number of historical instances where Our Lady has appeared to groups or individuals in history, most notably such as to Saint Juan Diego in Guadalupe in 1531 where the miraculous image of Mary appeared on his tilma; to Saint Catherine Laboure in 1830 from which we get the Miraculous Medal; to Saint Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes in 1858 which affirmed the Immaculate Conception, and to Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Sr. Lucia at Fatima in 1917, where secular news media reported 70,000 people saw the sun “dance”, and where she urged all to wear the Brown Scapular and pray the Rosary daily and be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart to prevent a second world war, and defeat communism which had only just begun in Russia. In each instance, Mary emphasized the daily praying of the Rosary and other devotions as a means of grace, growth in holiness, and a sure sign of salvation and heavenly predilection. While such manifestations fall in the category of what the Church calls, “private revelation” and, as such, is not necessary for belief, the wise person will give them serious consideration as they give us pause to consider the reality of Mary’s motherhood, special personal love for each of us, and immanence. Sadly, by failing to heed Mary’s requests at Fatima, the world did in fact suffer World War II and 70 years of Soviet communism, but thanks to the millions who have since heeded our Lady’s requests, the world has avoided a nuclear holocaust.