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We are members of the Church. As such, through the Eucharist, our lives are united to Christ and his offering. The sacrifice of Christ made present on the altar enables all Christians to join themselves to his offering.

So, each one of us helps Mother Church to make her sacrifice. We jointly offer our praise, our sufferings, our prayers, and our work together as a community of faith. And through the sacramental mystery, these little offerings of ours are joined to the one supreme offering of Jesus: his death on the cross.

My dear friend and spiritual mother, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, encouraged me to turn to Mary often with this simple prayer: “Mary, Mother of Jesus, be Mother to me now.”  

Mother Teresa often prodded me to “bring others to Jesus through Mary.” In the almost two dozen letters she wrote to me, she frequently mentioned Mother Mary. In one she said, “Pray to Our Lady—pray the rosary very fervently, cling to Our Lady. She will surely lead you to Jesus to know His will for you.”

Was there a time in your life when you turned your back on God? If so, have you asked forgiveness? Can you let go of the past and move forward in God’s love? Can you trust God with your life?

The Blessed Mother tells us that we will receive all of the graces we need to follow God’s holy will in our lives. There is nothing to worry about when we trust God.

We must ask the Lord to grant us the Holy Spirit and to grant us the gift of wisdom, that wisdom of God that teaches us to see with God’s eyes, to feel with God’s heart, to speak with God’s words. And so, with this wisdom, let us go forward, let us build our family, let us build the Church, and we will all be sanctified.

— from The Blessing of Family: Inspiring Words from Pope Francis

“Be of good heart.” I love that saying because it is true. We should be of good heart no matter what happens because we know—or we should know—that we are Mary’s very own children and that she loves us beyond what words can adequately describe. We have, not only the right, but the obligation to call out to her when we are in trouble. Like all good mothers, her ears are tuned to the voices of her children. She knows each one individually and is constantly listening. 

Mother Church is eager to bear new children, to love them and nurture them throughout their lives, and to protect their God-given dignity. Because Christ died and rose to assure our salvation, his bride, the Church, wants nothing more than to take full advantage of what the Bridegroom won for us. She wants to lavish graces upon us, to welcome us into her embrace, and to see us flourish in every possible way.

God looked at the world he had created, teeming with life, stars flung across the heavens, every bird and bug and animal and flower in its most glorious state, the rivers and mountains and valleys and seas, and man—perfect in his reflection of the image of God—he looked at all of that, and saw that it was incomplete, that something was still missing. Before the Lord of the universe could sit back and rest, he longed for one more thing: to bring woman to life.