Trusting my Children to Mary’s Protective Embrace

Upset about smutty content on the internet and elsewhere? Christine Hanus offers spiritual and practical means to protect kids from pornography. 

I love our Lady of Guadalupe, and I am glad to see her image on blankets, candles, and other items in secular stores, but there is one blanket I don’t care for. It was given to my son as a gift, and in my opinion, it makes Mary’s face appear far too large. My son, who loves Our Lady but who frequently engages in tomfoolery, made the blanket even more disconcerting when he put it over his head and walked around the house saying in a high feminine voice, "Do not be afraid ..."  

(Initially, I worried that his behavior was irreverent, but then I thought, the Blessed Mother is a mom. She would laugh for sure … I think.)  

FYI, my son is twenty-four. I know, right? 

The older my children get, the more I realize that, without the prayerful protection and advocacy of the Blessed Mother, they would be different people. I believe she protected their purity when they were growing up in a way that I could never do as their biological mother. 

When our 4 sons were young, ages 5 through 11, my husband and I decided to pray a novena concerning several serious issues we were facing. We were preparing to go to sleep and, hoping to start the novena that evening, I peered into my bedside drawer. Sure enough, there was a Novena to Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. This seemed providential since while traveling the previous day, we had “just so happened” to attend a Sunday Mass at Saint Catherine Labouré Parish, Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Harrisburg, PA. The next day, the very night we were started the novena, “just so happened” to be Saint Catherine’s feast day. I had a strong sense that Mama Mary was up to something. 

Pornography is evil 

A few days after the novena ended, my husband and I were talking about the evils of pornography. At this time, the internet was really taking off, and the probability that our children would be exposed to pornography at a young age was high. (I often think of a close friend of mine admitting that it was his exposure to porn at the age of 9 that changed his life. Not in a good way. No surprise, since porn releases chemicals in the brain that literally change your brain.) 

It was a truly terrifying thing, contemplating the gauntlet of temptation and opportunity that our sons would face in the upcoming years. I felt myself starting to sink under the weight of that reality. Then I thought about our 7-year-old who had asked for a Miraculous Medal necklace for Christmas that year. Four necklaces were now wrapped and ready to be put in each of our sons' stockings. My wavering heart grew strong again. Surely, their spiritual mother could handle this issue of pornography. 

This assurance was fortified that same evening as I listened to a chastity presentation given by Jason Evert. He shared how Jesuit priests who lived in Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, miraculously survived from the blast of the atomic bomb dropped there by U.S. forces. Though the priests were warned that they would eventually suffer from radiation exposure, they never did. They were examined by more than 200 doctors, who concluded that no trace of radiation could be found in their bodies.  

One of the Jesuit priests said, "We were living the message of Fatima [prayer, penance, and conversion], and we prayed the Rosary every day." They gave glory to God and our Blessed Mother for their miraculous survival. Jason Evert went on to say that Mother Mary could protect our children in a like manner from the atomic blast of pornography.  

Our Blessed Mother was showing me what to do with my fears about my children's purity. She reminded me that she is always ready to play her unique, God-given role as the Queen Mother, to intercede for us with her Son in the throne room of Heaven. 

Entrust your child’s purity to Our Lady 

One of our sons was exposed to pornography at a fairly young age, a fact he eventually revealed to us. The Lord and His Mother helped us to navigate that difficult time and, while none of us wanted this to happen, God used it to help our son to become intensely aware of how much he needed God’s love and power in his life. 

There are practical steps we can take to shield our kids from pornography and resources to help us when, in spite of our best efforts, they are exposed to it. But, in the end, we must leave our children in God’s hands. He has given us His own Mother as a powerful protectress. It is her joy to help my family and yours to live our lives boldly and beautifully, even in a world concussed by sin and riddled with pitfalls. She is our Mother — and, by the grace of God, she is mighty! 

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Copyright 2024 Christine Hanus
Images: Canva