We have not been left alone. We have our guides, companions, protectors and advocates with us, now and always. They come unto us to tell us The Truth, so that we may remain on The Way, so that we may have The Life,* and so that we may have it to the full.**
Jesus is gone from our bodily sight, yet He is with us always.*** Jesus further said He would not leave us orphans, but that He would send us another advocate, namely, the Holy Spirit, Who would lead us into all truth.****
And from the Cross, Jesus entrusted us to His mother, to Our Blessed Mother Mary. In the Gospel according to Saint John, we hear that when Jesus was on the Cross,
Seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near Her, Jesus said to His mother, 'Woman, this is your son.' Then to the disciple He said, 'This is your Mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.*****
From the Cross, Jesus told His Blessed Mother Mary that Saint John was her son. As He was on the Cross, Jesus told Saint John the Apostle that His Blessed Mother Mary was his Mother.
Yet Jesus looked beyond Saint John both as someone for whom His mother would care and as someone to care for His mother. Jesus was announcing to His Blessed Mother Mary that she was becoming the Mother of all the faithful. Jesus was telling every human being that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of all the faithful.
We are to pray the rosary and beseech Our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede with her Son Jesus on our behalf. We are to humbly seek the aid of Our Blessed Mother Mary, for through her intercession, by her tremendously effective prayers for us, we will be protected.
As Pope Francis declared today about Our Blessed Mother Mary, "We have a Mother!" We have a merciful, loving, sweet, kind, gracious advocate in Our Blessed Mother Mary.
What more can we say in describing Our Blessed Mother Mary? We can look to when she appeared to the three peasant children Servant of God Lucia, Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco in Fatima in Portugal exactly one hundred years ago, on May 13, 1917, and when she appeared to them later that year. These Fatima seers said she is beautiful. Saint Jacinta was so overjoyed that she later exclaimed to her mother, "Today I saw Our Lady!"
We can also recall when Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. Someone suggested to Saint Bernadette that she offer pen and paper to The Lady who had been appearing to her, who turned out to be Our Blessed Mother Mary. When Saint Bernadette suggested to Our Blessed Mother Mary that she write what she wanted, Our Blessed Mother laughed! Now I would like to see Our Blessed Mother Mary laugh! There would truly be a joyous sight.
A glorious reward among many in Heaven will it be when we will see Our Blessed Mother Mary! As Pope Francis said earlier today, we will have all eternity to gaze upon Our Blessed Mother Mary!
And how are we to get to Heaven? How are to conduct ourselves so that we welcome the guidance we need to get there, so that we invoke the protection we need?
On our way, as Pope Francis has advised, "We can take as our examples Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta, whom the Virgin Mary introduced into the immense ocean of God's light and whom she taught to adore Him." As Pope Francis further noted today during the Mass in which he canonized them, "That was the source of their strength in overcoming opposition and suffering. God's presence became constant in their lives, as is evident from their insistent prayers for sinners and their desire to remain ever near 'the hidden Jesus' in the tabernacle."
Who were Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta? He was eight and she was seven when Our Blessed Mother Mary first appeared to them. They were very young peasants, poor, uneducated and simple. Saint Francisco and Saint Jacinta were humbled by the circumstances of their lives. How can we humble ourselves? How can we become like little children?
Anyone who humbles himself will be raised up.****** Someone who makes himself as little as a little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.*******
We become like little children toward God when we totally rely on God, just like little children completely depending on their parents for all they need. We humble ourselves when we pray. When we pray, we admit we cannot get where we are going on our own. As we are praying, we are acknowledging that we need God's help.
There is no way we can get to Heaven solely on our own merits. We all are in need of God's mercy.
God is love.******** Love is mercy. Thus, the name of God is mercy, as Pope Francis has told us. Similarly, Saint Faustina has told us that Jesus told her that He is love and mercy itself.
If people ever wonder why I am looking forward so much to the next life, there is much I can say. I know that I will enter Heaven because I will throw myself at the mercy of God's great love. I know that God will forgive me, for God is infinitely merciful. And on the day I enter into Heaven, you can imagine me telling you, "Today I saw Our Lady!" I will have all eternity to bask in the unspeakably marvelous warm glow of the love and glory of God, largely thanks to the immense mercy of Our Blessed Mother Mary, for in her great kindness she has greatly aided me, for she has secured grace for me through her intercession on my behalf.
How can we get to Heaven? Be like little children, who greatly respected and honored Our Blessed Mother Mary, Who, in her great humility, did as she was told. And in turn, she tells us of her Son Jesus, "Do whatever He tells you."*********
When we have the humility to do as God directs us to do, through us God performs miracles. Even though we are but little children, God will work wonders through us. And in the end, God will raise us up, so that we may be with Him for all eternity, in His glory. Amen.
* John 14:6
** John 10:10
*** Matthew 28:20
**** John 14:16-18; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:13
***** John 19:26-27
****** Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14
******* Matthew 18:4
******** 1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16
********* John 2:5
