Hello to you all from London where Rayne and I continue our 33 day devotional to Our Lady.

As we were going through it the last few days I found myself having to teach Rayne a thing or two about theological terms such as the ‘immaculate conception’ and why Mary really is our mother.

To some of us this is obvious and yet to others it may not be so just to be on the safe side, let’s quickly recap!

By His death on the cross Jesus saved us and bought us the grace to be transformed or absorbed into the life of God through Him. We become parts of the mystical body of Jesus and so Mary is then our mother just as she is Jesus’ mother.

This grace of spiritual adoption happens at our baptism and so every time a child or person is baptized, Mary must smile in heaven as she literally gets a new child.

Like any good mother, Mary’s job is to rear her children to be good human beings. In Mary’s case this means being Holy, Jesus-loving, God-fearing men and women prepared to live the gospel and to follow Jesus at all costs.

Sadly this is the point where a lot of people reject Mary. They’d prefer a mother who was more interested in careers and money and the successful things of this world and so they let go of her hand.

How Our Lady must suffer to see her children be so easily fooled and seduced by the frivolous and passing things of this world and how terribly sad she must feel when she is ignored, despised, ridiculed and rejected.

This statue depicts Our Lady at ‘La Salette’ crying and indeed many seers and visionaries all of the world including those in Medjugorje have often mentioned Our Lady crying because of how lost her children are.

Now of course we still have human mothers too and we shouldn’t forget them either and say “you’re not my mother” and yet at times we must remind them gently and firmly that they are not our only mothers and that they too must be obedient children of Our Lady!

And yes, at times there can be a “mother fight” between Our Lady’s plans for us and our earthly mothers and we can feel torn apart between the two of them, a book I could quite easily write!!

What to we do on these occasions? Easy! Which one will bring us to heaven?! Problem solved!

However in the ideal world our earthly mothers should come around to Our Lady’s way of thinking and we can all live in peace. It may take a while but it is possible as both my own mum and I could tell you.

And so on this mother’s day during lent I pray for mothers and I pray for children.

I pray that firstly we all come to see ourselves as children of Our Lady and that we learn to love her and let her guide us humanly and spiritually as she so desires.

I pray also for all mothers who may be grieving at this time because their children have rejected them or are estranged from them for a variety of reasons and finally

I pray for all mother’s and children who are in conflict because of Our Lady. For those families that are split in two between those who love Jesus and Mary and those who reject them. I pray for conversions of heart and unity of spirit.

So today, let’s spare a special thought for all these intentions as we ask our heavenly mother to gather our prayers in love and to heal our hearts and families with her and Jesus at the centre.

Happy and holy mother’s day to all!

Michael