Hail Mary, Full of Grace, Help Me Find A Heaven Space

Miracles happen every day. My daughter was driving us to a shopping center and the parking lot was full. I told her to just go far away from the storefronts where there would be lots of vacant spaces, but she ignored me and said, “Hail Mary, full of grace, help me find a parking space.” Before I could say “amen,” I saw some white backup lights turn on a few spaces from us. Mary for the win!

God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers (Rudyard Kipling).

A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path (Agatha Christie).

If you ever feel distressed during your day, call upon our Lady, just say this simple prayer: ‘Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.’ I must admit, this prayer has never failed me (Mother Teresa).

We know Mary has asked Jesus for a miracle, not for herself, but for a new bride and groom (Wedding at Cana). Men in war have sought her help in enlisting the power of God against pagans (Battle of Lepanto).  Many have prayed to her so she would intercede with God for a personal miracle of healing (e,g, miracles at Marian shrines like Lourdes). In the New Testament’s Book of Acts, Mary prays with the apostles for the Holy Spirit to come after Jesus has ascended into heaven (Acts 1: 13-14).

What could we pray to Mary for? Does Her Son put limits on her intercessions for us?  “OK, Mom, can fit you in from 9 to 11 this morning, but that’s all that’s available today for all those sinners who ask you to talk to me.”?   Is asking for a parking spot OK? Should we bother her with such trivial things? Does she get to ask her Son about the intentions of those saying hundreds of thousands of rosaries a day and bazillions of Hail Marys? Is there anything too big or too small for her intercession? [I am not here going to address those people who say why not go directly to God – You do your thing, I’ll do mine].

Let us run to Mary, and, as her little children, cast ourselves into her arms with a perfect confidence (Saint Francis de Sales).

In answering questions about Mary’s intercession, it is comforting to realize that Mary is both the mother of Jesus’s church and all its members, including each of us:

The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer. . . . She is ‘clearly the mother of the members of Christ’. . .This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . [Catechism of the Catholic Church, Art. 9, Para. 6, 963, 969].

When you are a child, you don’t take only the big things to your Mom. In addition to solving world peace and dealing with the coming global cooling crisis,  a child brings everything to Mom, no matter how small or insignificant, every bloody knee, every snub on the playground, every bee sting. And Mom does her Mom thing in taking care of all of them – bandaids, cookies in the lunch box, and making sure the socks match before getting on the school bus. This is what Moms do. After God made Adam and thought ‘I can do better,’ He made a Mom.

So your strength is failing you? Why don’t you tell your mother about it?…Mother! Call her with a loud voice. She is listening to you; she sees you in danger, perhaps, and she–your holy mother Mary–offers you, along with the grace of her son, the refuge of her arms, the tenderness of her embrace…and you will find yourself with added strength for the new battle (Saint Josemaria Escriva).

There is nothing too small for Mary our Mother. Nor, thank God, is there anything too big.In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary, whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear (Saint Thérèse of Lisieux).

O sinner, be not discouraged, but have recourse to Mary in all you necessities. Call her to your assistance, for such is the divine Will that she should help in every kind of necessity (Saint Basil).

So What Could We Do For Mary?

Instead of thinking about what Mary can do for us, what we can pray for, every once in a while say “Hail Mary, Holy Mary, Thank You, Mary;” and then go and simply visit with her.

Once I had grown up [physically] and had my own family, what my mother most enjoyed was when we would visit. She never wanted us to leave and hugged us so tight when we had to go.  She was joyful and happy simply being with us.

In the 1935 movie version of Fyodor Dostoyesvsky’s masterpiece, Crime and Punishment, near the end of the story, the criminal Raskolnikov, goes to visit his mother. He is despairing, knowing he will be going to prison for some time. He kneels before his mother and bows his head in her lap. She puts an arm around him and reminds him when he was a little boy and he told her that he had hurt a kitten, letting one of his books fall on it, and he asked her to tell God it was not intentional.

Mother: Remember how you asked me to tell God you didn’t mean to do it and when I told God you were so comforted you fell into a peaceful sleep?

Raskolnikov: You believe that I am good, don’t you?

Mother: I know you are.

Raskolnikov is unaware that his mother knows far more about his crimes than he has told her. She knows what is going to happen to him, but she is so happy and pleased that he has come to her. She says to him:

The greatest happiness a mother knows is when her children come to her for comfort.

Ask a mother what she wants for a birthday present or Christmas gift and she will say that she doesn‘t need or want anything, but just be with her. Mary is the same – she wants us and all her children to be with her, now while we are here with all our trials, joys and tribulations, and then with her happy for all eternity.

And if we are with her, we are with her Son.