Safe in Mary’s Arms

Jesus entrusted Himself to Mary for the fulfillment of prophecies: He was to be born in Bethlehem, to be recalled from Egypt; Mary would see to it.  He entrusted Himself to Mary for the accomplishment of His mission. Scarcely incarnated, He wants to sanctify His precursor, to show Himself to the Jews and the Magi, to Simeon and to Anna: He relies on Mary for all these events. He wills to associate His Mother in His redemptive mission in view of her cooperation in unceasing prayer and unspeakable sufferings: Mary understands perfectly and generously consents.  

He entrusted Mary with the preservation of His work. Mary accepts the souls He redeems as her own children; she envelops with her special solicitude the apostles He exhorts to continue His apostolate; and after her glorious Assumption, she will never cease to help distribute His graces and protect the Church, the Spouse of Christ.  

Was there ever a child who entrusted himself, with such good reason, to the care of his mother?Our imitation of Jesus’ trust in His Mother brings a particularly notable joy to Our Lord and to Mary: to Our Lord, because He rejoices at seeing us full of faith in the power and goodness of His Mother, and in His love for her. And He rejoices to be able, because of her, to spread more abundantly the graces He purchased at the price of His Blood. He so loves to give! From that attitude comes His insistence in pressing us to ask, to seek, to knock. Our trust in Mary allows Him to fully satisfy this need of His Heart. And He also knows that our trust in Mary, through the wonders she obtains for us, will increase our filial piety towards her all the more.

Our trust brings a great consolation to Mary, who is as happy as any mother to see that her children trust in her love; happy as Mother of Sorrows to be able to distribute those graces which she earned with her crucified Son, from whom she received the mission to distribute; happy, above all, to be able to help us in this way to better love Jesus and souls.  

For our part, trusting in Mary brings us all the good things we could hope for: temporal favors, even miracles if necessary; above all, supernatural graces of all kinds; assured victory over any temptation; success in the struggle against our faults, in the acquisition of virtues, in apostolic undertakings, in the very conquest of sanctity! All these hopes are permitted to him who puts his trust in Mary and, consequently, all blessings are assured to him.   

Motives for Trusting in Mary 

To be authentic, trust presupposes the presence of three conditions: 1) that the person upon whom we wish to rely knows our needs and hears our pleas for help; 2) that he can actually help us; 3) that he wishes to help us. To what degree are these three conditions present in our relationship with Mary?  

In considering her function as Mediatrix we have shown elsewhere how, even in her contemplation of God, the Blessed Virgin clearly sees all our needs and hears all our prayers. We just need now to consider her power and her will to come to our help.  

Can Mary help us? 

She can indeed help us: first of all, by the same right as the other saints who, through their intercession with God, obtain innumerable favors for their clients. Just think of the unceasing “showers of roses” which the young Saint of Lisieux causes to fall upon her devotees. But just as Mary is holier than all God’s other servants, the intercessory power of the Mother of God exceeds that of the saints in the same proportion. In this general sense, Mary can already do more by herself than all the other saints combined. Fr. Emile Neubert SM  (Devotion to Mary)