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While hanging on the cross, Jesus said to his Mother, “Woman, behold your son.” And to John, his beloved disciple, he said, “Son, behold your Mother.” This was more than a son’s dying request to secure the care of his mother after he was gone. It was Jesus’ request for Mary to be Mother to all human beings for all time. Despite his extreme suffering, Jesus did not issue this request out of desperation, but rather he spoke it with great feeling and purpose.

Our Lord knows your suffering, and he spoke those words just for you.

With the Eucharist, we join with our fellow Catholics, our neighbors, and our friends to be fed by the Lord. We celebrate together, not alone. In this way, Mother Church keeps our faith from being a solitary experience. If there were no Church, there would be no real community of believers. We might have our personal “spirituality,” but we would lack the support, the fellowship, and the mutual encouragement that comes from belonging to a family of faith.

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.

“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.