How I Met Your Mother

I am going to tell you the tale of how I met your mother. Not your earthly mother. The heavenly mother who we share. She is Mary, the Mother of God.

I was seventeen and a recent high school graduate when I left my home in Michigan to become a Poor Clare nun in Ohio. Now, the Poor Clares are cloistered, which means they have minimal contact with the outside world. They only leave the monastery for the occasional doctor’s appointment.

When meeting with people in the world, like my family, there was what was called a grate or a grille that separated us. It was sort of like looking through a wooden lattice. These were few and short visits. Writing letters was the main form of communication.

Though I had been away from my biological mother for weeks before, I had never left her for the rest of my life! I quickly found while in the convent, that I needed a mother. My earthly mother was far away and I felt the need to turn to another mother. The Mother of God.

Now, I met your mother several times before the cloister. Yet, there was always something superficial about my relationship with her. She was just a part of rituals and intercession. Furthermore, I thought that I had to focus just on Jesus and not on Mary.

I was wrong.

Discovering Devotion to Mary

At the cloister, there were several spiritual books to read from. Many were about Mary. I chose one small book that was a guide to the book, True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort. St. Louis taught that wherever Jesus is present, Mary is there. Furthermore, he taught that whenever we say “Mary,” she says “God.”

I was gripped by the teachings of St. Louis de Montfort, and I realized that as I had lost my earthly mother, who was in the world, I had a spiritual mother who was with me in the convent.

Furthermore, I learned what Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary was. It was the giving of my entire self to Jesus through Mary. It was a 33-day process and as the days progressed, I uncovered more and more about your mother and how she played a role in my life.

I remembered how my sister was once constantly sick with headaches and how my grandma and I visited a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. We left a picture of my sister by Our Lady and prayed for my sister’s healing, which occurred in the next few months. I also realized that I entered the convent on a Saturday, and that Saturdays were devoted to your mother. I remember the homily at Mass for my entrance day was about Mary. I also came to realize that I had a couple of bad dreams in my lifetime—they were nightmares about your mother who had an absolutely evil expression on her face. Looking back on those nightmares, I tend to wonder if they were Satan’s means of keeping me away from your mother. Furthermore, I remembered that one year in high school, I was chosen to crown your mother for the May crowning. I did not realize the significance or the honor of it at the time. It was just a ritual as the rosary that I prayed often was also just a ritual.

By the time my 33 days for consecration were done, I was obsessed with your mother. I loved her like my own earthly mother and found it perfect that my consecration was on January 1^st of 2015, the solemnity of Mary Mother of God, as it was so focused on motherhood. Since then, I have renewed my consecration every year on January 1^st.

Where I Meet Your Mother

So, dear readers, that is how I met your mother. Yet, fantastically, I continue to meet her. When I find myself drawing closer to Jesus, I easily meet your mother once again. It was like getting to know my fiancé’s parents and becoming comfortable with my in-laws.

Whenever my earthly mother was out of sight, I turned to meet your mother. And I am blessed that my earthly mother loves Mary, Mother of God!

Now that I am consecrated to your Mother Mary, I meet her all the time. I meet her in adoration. When receiving Holy Communion, your mother is with me, sweeping out dirt and washing and polishing the walls and floors of my heart. She also makes a comfortable place for Jesus to sit within me—like a nice comfy sofa. Also at Holy Communion, I often pray a version of St. Louis’ prayer, “I am all Thine, my Mother, and all that I have is entirely Thine.”

I have met your mother in my loneliness. At times when I feel stupid, embarrassed, worried, unsure, or even abandoned. I may think I already know Jesus, but she proves there is still more to Him that I do not know. Like the sacredness of The Most Holy Name, Jesus. Or the reality of Jesus’ presence during adoration. Or when I see other people, she reminds me it is Jesus I am seeing.

Your mother has always been there, ready to meet me and all peoples, be it at religious education, family prayers, the sacraments, liturgical celebrations, cloistered life, and even in the day-to-day of life in the world.

Your Mother

Now that I have met your mother and I continue to meet her on several occasions, I will tell you that she is absolutely lovely and I would be thrilled and honored to be a member of the Holy Family.

I do plan on meeting your mother one final time. A time in which I will remain with her and no longer need to “meet” her. That would be when I die. I hope to meet her, the Queen of Heaven and Earth, and that she may present me before Christ the King of the Universe. I have already asked her to help me get to the Kingdom and I know she responds quickly and easily to my requests as she loves me as her own child.

Remember, she is not just my mother. She is your mother. I pray that you will meet her too!