Which Our Lady? I Choose All!

With our Consecration Day rapidly approaching, I realized this morning that I am Not Ready. Then a friend stopped by and happened to mention she feels the same way. (No, not about me! About herself!) Are you possibly feeling the same? Just in case you are (feeling not ready too, that is), I'll tell you the solution we agreed upon. We can't wait for our consecration day. We are looking forward to it, yes, but more than that, we can't wait till then to let Mary take over everything. We need her to take over now, pre-consecration, so she can help us to even make it!

But being a complicated soul, or maybe just a simple soul that is easily confused, I had another worry. I didn't share this with my friend (not enough time in our visit), but I'm happy to share it here with you because Our Lady gave me the solution to this difficulty also. She seems determined not to let me worry, and she's doing a good job clearing the cobwebs out of my little brain.

This second problem I had - and it's related to the first - centers on the question of what this consecration requires of me. What did I feel was missing, such that I didn't feel ready? When I thought about it, waking from sleep and not remembering yet that I am a bear of very little brain, cobwebs or empty space notwithstanding, I had a flash of inspiration that showed me exactly what I lack. I don't know if this will be the same for you, but here it is:

I lack trust.
Filial confidence in Mary, our Mother.
That's what was missing, that's why I didn't feel ready.
So I asked myself what it would mean to feel trust, what might inspire trust, what could help.
And immediately I knew that in order to trust Our Lady, I need a definite idea of who it is I'm trusting.

It may sound to you like I haven't been reading my 33 Days. Fr. Gaitley has done a masterful job teaching us, with the insights of St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Mother Teresa, and our dear John Paul II, why we ought to trust Mary - with absolutely everything. 

Ah, but my question was not why I should trust my Mother, but more along the lines of my favorite Dr. Seuss book as a child - more of a "Who is my Mother?" or more particularly, "Are You My Mother?"

No, again, mustard seed. I don't mean are you, dear reader, my Mother!
But between the many apparitions of Our Lady, our recent humor (with Lucia of Fatima) over keeping straight and separate the multiple Our Ladies, and even considering Our Lady during her own lifetime in the mysteries of the Rosary and the many stages of life she experienced, from young and joyful, to older and more luminous (we might say), to yet older and sorrowful in the experience of the Passion of Our Lord, to finally glorious in the glories of her Son . . . between these many faces of Mary, I was wondering who exactly it is I'm going to be trusting. It occurred to me that a big part of my problem is that I'm not doing a good job of knowing Mary - or perhaps I know her superficially in her many facets, but in order to really trust her, wouldn't I need to identify who it is I'm trusting? 

Will the real Mary please stand up?

Even as I ask, I can't help smiling. She's so sweet and accommodating that I suddenly had an image of her standing up and, wouldn't you know, little Jesus, Therese, and Marcel just slid right off her lap!

When push comes to shove (and believe me, those three imps are pushing and shoving to get untangled and sit up and breathe again!), I have to admit I have a favorite Our Lady. I was planning to tell you that I'll imitate Therese and simply choose all - all of Our Ladies! How could anyone choose, for instance, between (as pictured above, left to right) Our Lady of Bejing, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Tenderness, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Our Lady of Good Counsel? And I didn't even have room for Our Lady of Confidence! And I don't even have a picture of Our Lady of Joyful Surprises!

So yes, I choose all, but . . . in the interests of total honesty (because this blog isn't ever merely about telling you things, but telling you TRUE things, and learning them myself), I have to admit that as I'm writing, I realize I have a favorite, no question.

I love Our Lady of Bejing - she's a special patroness of my older son, and the image he chose as his Christmas present one year.
I love Our Lady of Lourdes - she's the first Our Lady I knew, and she always showers me with some special grace on her feast day.
I love Our Lady of Tenderness - she symbolizes the Russian Blessed Mother that Joseph (aforesaid older son) brought us back from his world travels a few years ago.
And I sure love, love, love Our Lady of Good Counsel, without whom I don't like to think where I'd be (I have a hard enough time making reasonably good decisions with her help; don't make me imagine where I'd be without it).
As to Our Lady of Confidence, she is super special to me due to her relationship with my beloved Fr. Nicholas Maestrini, P.I.M.E. - not to mention the joy of confidence.
Which leads us to Our Lady of Joyful Surprises, and if you knew how much I adore gifts and happy surprises, you'd think she'd be my very favorite, hands down.

Did you notice I left one Our Lady out?
Well yes, actually, I left out dozens, given her practically codependent compulsion to love us with all of her maternal Immaculate Heart and thus make herself present to us, her children, in every corner of the world (and the world being round, it has many more than 4 corners!), and under every lovely image (Mystical Rose, Tower of Ivory, Ark of the Covenant, Morning Star, Seat of Wisdom, Cause of our Joy.....)

But I left out one Our Lady that is pictured above! Let me share with you another image of her, saving you the trouble of scrolling up and simultaneously brightening the center of this post with sheer beauty.

She's Our Lady of Guadalupe!

And why do I love her so? Because, to come full circle, she is my Mother and the one I find it easiest to trust. Why? Because of what she said to us through little Juan Diego, her little Juan Diegito, her little Juanito. And it's true, I love all of Our Ladies, and I need them all, but when I want to remember who she really is and why it makes sense to give her everything, I only have to remember her words:

Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Her feast is coming. She first appeared to St. Juan Diego on December 9th, the day after her great Feast of the Immaculate Conception (the day after we will make our consecration, of all we have and are, to Jesus through her). And she said these words three days later, on December 12th, the day she cured Juan's uncle of the illness that threatened to take his life and which had dear Juan so very worried. This was also the day she gave Juan the sign for the bishop - Castilian roses growing miraculously in winter on a rocky hill in Mexico, but more than that, her image on his tilma, which remains to this day "incorrupt" in her Basilica in Mexico City. December 12th is her feast now too, and if you want to read more, you can go HERE. But really, I think the words above are all you really need to know! 

If you want to have a little triduum of gratitude after your consecration, you can re-read these words each day from the 9th (St. Juan Diego's feast, and the 2nd Sunday of Advent this year) to the 12th (Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast). . . and her words are so very beautiful, I'm going to post them again right after our prayer. Kind of a post-prayer-prayer!

Whichever Lady you choose, or if you choose them all, I pray too that you will feel confidence and peace in the thought that she is your Mother and will never leave you in the cold. Her mantle is wrapped safely around you, and she's sitting down again, so climb on her lap with Therese, Marcel, and adorable little Jesus, and repeat with me:

Draw me, we will run!

And now, safe and warm, let's hear again those words that come from her Heart to ours:

​Hear and let it penetrate your heart, my dear little one:
Let nothing discourage you, nothing depress you.
Let nothing alter your heart or your countenance.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not your fountain of life?
Are you not in the folds of my mantle?
In the crossing of my arms?
Is there anything else that you need?
Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety or pain.

Amen!