For centuries, the Church has proposed the Virgin Mary as a safe haven for Christians. The Church has not changed its criteria in recent times, but lately devotion to Mary has declined in some countries that used to have a strong Marian devotion, with consequences that are noticeable in these societies.
Mary's maternal heart
It is not an unknown truth that the Virgin Mary is the mother of all Christians, as Jesus Christ left her to us at the foot of the Cross. This is a truth that many still know today, at least theoretically, with the caveat that perhaps, more and more, it is just that, only a theoretical truth.
That Our Lady is our mother means that we can understand our relationship with her as mothers do. We have the example of so many good mothers who go out of their way for their children and who allow us to understand what motherhood is: giving space to a new life and protecting that life above their own. This is what we can learn from so many women, it is Mary's own motherhood, to which we can add that there are no defects because of her life without sin.
The Cross in the life of a Christian
No less certain than Mary's motherhood is the centrality of the Cross in Christianity. We know that Jesus Christ died on the Cross to save man and it has also been widely accepted that this design of the Cross is also willed for all Christians. God does not want Christians, with some exceptions, to pass through the scaffold of the cross, but he does want us to pass through the expiation of pain, pain that was present to the maximum degree in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Since this pain is within the divine plans, we can think that Mary, our mother, also accepts that we suffer all this pain, which, in the end, is redemptive. Now and from here, it is difficult for us to know how Mary combines this tenderness she has for us with the suffering we have to go through in order to have access to God. It is certain that Mary accepts our suffering both because it has its origin in God and because it is the cause of greater happiness for us.
God does not rejoice in anyone's suffering and never wants it for its own sake, but only as a means of atonement towards something better. This is reflected in the fact that divine justice is usually softened when he discovers in man the rectification of his conduct, as King David had the opportunity to experience. Our Lady also seeks this lessening of suffering in her children, even if she does not eliminate all our pains, which, not in vain, purify our hearts.
The discomfort of sin
However, not all pain is purifying. Pain, in fact, was not in God's original plan for man, and it was the sin of Adam and Eve that opened this box.
The gateway to pain in our life is sin, and the devil tries to take advantage of this painful consequence by injecting pessimism and discomfort into our life.
Actually, it is the devil who wants us to suffer, not God. God wants suffering as a means, once sin has opened the door to death. The devil, however, directly wants our evil, our unhappiness. Therefore, when we open our hearts to sin, we allow sadness, displeasure and all that grieves us to enter. It is a pity that we happily introduce into our lives those who have no peaceful intentions for us.
The protective barrier of Mary's heart
In the face of this tragic situation of man, who chooses as a friend someone who does not love him, Mary's heart is moved by the fact that we are still her little children, even if we freely choose our painful situation. She knows well the ignorance and weakness of our heart that does not know or does not want to remain in the good.
The distancing of our society from God is quite evident and the abundance of sin is followed by so much suffering that we cannot eliminate in spite of so much technology, science and the fact that we can do whatever we want with total freedom. That is why so much war, so many murders and so much tension that turns into insults and violence.
Mary sees our despondent heart and does not remain indifferent. She does not want us to suffer at the hands of our enemy, but to have the abundant life that God has given us with his death on the Cross.
Mary comes to us with the intention of comforting us, of putting peace where there is tension and joy where there is sadness. Mary comes solicitously for her children whom we mourn, but she can do nothing if we despise her treatment. Mary's maternal power is helpless in the face of the indifference of our free egoism.
Many countries have enjoyed the special maternal protection of Mary, as is the case of Spain. At that time, the Virgin acted by greatly limiting the actions of the devil. He acted, but his influence and capacity to provoke discomfort was contained within limits that saved us from the despair of eternity and our own life.
Today, however, there are so many who no longer believe, not only in God, but not even in happiness in this life. Death is celebrated as a conquest, as a right; as if dying were a victory. Victory over what? This question is difficult to answer when it is believed that after death only nothingness comes to us.
Unfortunately we have reached a very unfortunate point where we consider it more positive to disappear, to go to nothingness, after our death than to live eternally happy. The (future) nothingness frees us from our guilt. The dog is dead and the rabies is over. I believe that this attitude, which is quite widespread in our society, is a good example of the (scarce) happiness we enjoy.
Mary, however, does not leave us alone, no matter where we have wanted to put ourselves, no matter how far we are from God. She wants our happiness that leads us to an eternal good fortune. Her heart suffers with our distress, and if we let her, she comes to heal our wounds like a mother who cannot see her children suffer.
Mary's heart, this is the environment that God has foreseen for man in this situation of sin where pain is inevitable. She makes it more bearable, and makes it easier for us to see and accept the salvation that her Son brings us.
The right orientation towards Jesus
Mary, with her maternal heart, makes life easier for us, smoothes away difficulties and brings God's joy and peace into our lives.
But even more than providing us with comfort in our vicissitudes, Mary always shows us clearly what God wants from his children.
What did Jesus expect from his mother? Love. The tender love that a mother can give her child. Certainly Mary provided food and clothing for Jesus, and a pleasant home, even in the most unfavorable circumstances such as those in Bethlehem. Mary fulfilled her motherly duties and attended diligently to her Son. But what Jesus asked of her above all else was her love, which made up for the love that we creatures have not wanted to give him.
In fact, the food and so many attentions were the materialization of her love (her love made flesh). When this maternal care was no longer possible, or was only done more sporadically, Jesus, however, never missed his mother's love, because this love grew in the daily details, but also in the remoteness of their separation.
Our Mother provides us with comfort in our lives and, above all, reorients us so that we may truly know what Jesus wants of us.
