Welcome to our 33 day Marian Consecration Retreat as we prayerfully anticipate the commencement of the Year of Mercy. Join us as we share the book 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration by Fr. Michael E. Gaitley, MIC.

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Today's Reflection:

I think it's happened to me a million times: a mother apologizing for her baby's crying. Hoping, anxiously, that I wasn’t disturbed and it didn’t bother me. My response is always the same: “Oh, I didn’t even notice!” And it’s true. For some reason, the cries didn’t even register.

I wish it was so easy to block out the cries of my own babies! How many times have I found myself driving to some destination with my baby screaming in her car seat behind me. The level of anxiety it would cause was astronomical. Every minute felt like an eternity until I could pull her from her car seat into my arms. I just couldn’t bare her cries of urgency.

And, as moms, don’t we have the same desire to help our children in the little things? I thought of this as I found myself lodged under the kitchen table looking desperately for my daughter’s red crayon. How could a lost crayon deter me from more pressing and important tasks? Because my daughter asked for it. And finding it meant something to her. (How else could she finish the petals on the flowers she was drawing?) I loved her so much that, even if I tried to ignore her initially, I knew that with her urging, I would most certainly table-dive.

Fr. Gaitley urges us to take “Mary into our home. Take her into our inner life, into all that concerns us. Our joys, sorrows, hopes, and fears, plans and activities. She interceded, consoles, gives us courage and strength. Mary leads us to Jesus at the cross.”

Just like we do for our children, Mary cares for our big and little needs. Truly, what a gift it is to have the Queen of Heaven so attentive to our daily concerns! We must acknowledge and use this gift to alleviate our anxieties so that we can best serve the children entrusted to us. St. Maximilian Kolbe says it best: “I see Mary everywhere, I see difficulties nowhere.”

The message today is such a simply one: Mary is our Mother. Jesus gave us to her, and her to us. That we can, no that we should, call on Mary for everything. That in doing so, she will lead us to Christ her son.

To Ponder:

Do I use this gift of entrust-acration to its fullest? Have I entrusted our Holy Mother with the little and big stresses of my life today?

Let Us Pray:

Dear Jesus, please help me this day to live the gift of entrustment and give myself fully to the care of your Mother, my Mother, Mary. Thank you, Jesus, for giving me the gift of your Holy Mother.

About the author: Maria Garabis Davis holds a Juris Doctor degree and a BA in theology. A former youth minister and now practicing attorney, she resides in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and four children.

Copyright 2015 Maria Garabis Davis