Mary the Mother of God

by Fred Schaeffer, OFS

Devotion to Our Lady, the mother of Jesus, and our mother, among Franciscans is legendary. As this page is being prepared, it is Monday, May 1, 2023, and May is Mary's month. It is too bad that the old "May Crowning" tradition has fallen largely by the wayside. I spent some time being educated in Latin and Classical Greek (of which I remember absolutely nothing), some 40 years ago, at "the High School," a Capuchin-Franciscan preparatory seminary, at Garrison, New York. This property is no longer there but they do have a presence in that little town by way of a new center a mile south along route 9D. Anyway, it was at the High School where, in the month of May, we met outside on a sunny day, with a light Hudson River wind keeping the temperature pleasant, to celebrate "May Crowning."

All sixty students plus various friars began the ceremony by singing Marian hymns, as we stood at the base of a life-sized statue of Our Lady with the Child Jesus, as a student placed a flower arrangement of wild roses on her head. Then we all knelt and prayed a "May crowning prayer." This was followed by another hymn or two and we returned to our classes convinced that Our Lady would take care of us as long as we kept remembering her in our prayers. And she did.

More recently, in Indiana where I spent about six months, I used to drive by a very large and imposing statue of Our Lady and Child. The statue, full-sized on a tall base, at least a dozen feet high, stood in a large but otherwise bare piece of meadow right along a well-traveled road. Whomever owned the land must have had a wonderful devotion to Our Lady to use his acres for her. We are blest by the faith of others.

From our earliest recollection, children in old-time Catholic families, and maybe even now, recall our mothers speaking about Our Lady and Jesus. Children, as they go through their first couple of years are fascinated with blocks and colors, and when the cognitive stage sets in, with Jesus and Mary. As I recall to my own pre-teen years, I recall not so much any particular story as I do a great intimacy with Jesus and Our Lady. She is part of us, and Her Son saved us on the Cross. This belief is a mystery of our Faith, for none of us have ever met Mary and her Son, but we know each intimately. We go to great length to please them with our love.

Mary and the Child Jesus, enjoy a very special bond. We know that when we get to Heaven, if we do, we shall also share in this immense love. On April 2, 2005, we buried our long-time friend, Pope St. John Paul II, whose devotion to Mary was always strong and he told the world about it through a symbol. A shield consisting of a blue background, with the letter "M" - the sign of his "Totus Tuus" or total dedication (All Yours) to Our Lady.

Of all the prayers available to us, the Lord's Prayer (Our Father) and the Hail Mary, as in the Rosary, are the most powerful prayers we can use. Let's not forget that great gift of Mary in our daily prayers - because they were first spoken by Mary and her son Jesus. And, as our Faith teaches us, Mary is in Heaven. She is conceived without sin.

Our Blessed Mother, Mary, is the Immaculate Conception. We ask her to intercede for us, to lay our needs at the feet of Jesus, at the throne of the Father, so that our prayers are answered. In various apparitions, Mary promised she would intercede for us.

Our Lady, pray for us!

Fred Schaeffer, OFS  2005, 2023

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