Anon, hope you had a good sleep.

Pia, if it’s banal, then we’ll be banal together, because it is exactly how I was thinking of it yesterday, as I sat outside in the garden for a few minutes thinking about JohnT trying to explain things to his Protestant friend. Yes, we’ve missed JT and we miss you too!

I often find myself in the position of being a mediatrix between my sons and my husband. The boys come to me with a request or an excuse for something they have done, and ask me to break it, very gently, to their father. In the same way, when their father is apparently too hard on them for something, I will speak to him, in gentle terms, so that he may take up the point with the boys again at another level.

That is as close as I can come to understanding Mary’s role, and banal as it is, it is an analogy that helps me to clearly see that she is truly our Mother.

So good to read your comments, JohnT. Missing you!!

I have a quick Mary story. My family left the church in my early teens. By the time I was 18, I was well on my way to losing my faith. I was away from all faith for nearly 20 years. Upon reverting, I said to my wife we have to get a cross, but not one with a corpus. I could not tolerate it. I got a little thin metal cross to hang on the wall. The Mary stuff was not even on the table becaue of the protestant influence. No Mary no corpus, I just had to start over from the beginning with the Catholics, and maybe in a few months I could find a nice protestant church to attend. It was very important to me to start over with God, because I was so anti-Christian. Within a few months of returning to the church, I knew at that point that we would remain Catholic, but still I big problems and all the Catholic stuff.

Now one day, I watched Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth with my wife. I had not seen that movie since I was a teen. The very first scene within the first 15/20 minutes where he does a close up on the actress who played Mary. I swear I burst into tears. I had to bite my lip. I recall trying to keep my wife from seeing me. I may have left the room. When I saw her portrayed as living, I wept. I knew early on that I would follow the contemplative path.

I just remembered that reading Gab’s post. When I go to Mass now being a parent, in my mind it is so difficult to not recall that scene from the Passion when Our Lady goes to kiss Jesus’s crucified feet. I can barely say AMEN because I am so overcome with emotion. Sometimes my teeth chatter when I break Christ’s body in my mouth. It is difficult to swallow. It is hard for me to keep my emotions under control. Often I look to my wife and she will be weeping silently as we kneel. It is one of the most powerful experiences a human being can have.

God bless You

Thank you and JM very much for schooling me on the Immaculate Conception. I was ignorant. I accept the teachings of the Church without question. I think these questions need to be asked. Like my protestant friend who asked me we owe them a good answer.

But another whole blog? When could you find time — the askimet buildup alone is a burden.

We’ll help pray about this.

Some things I’d like to post about, re JohnT’s comments, because he is definitely not alone:

- “I don’t really get the led to the mother by the son”
- “so that we can behave like her?”
- “deification (No) of Mary
- “When we start talking about Mary’s immaculate heart and that terminology, frankly I’m lost”
- “Why is she mediatrix? Again, I simply don’t understand”
- “For what purpose is Jesus leading us to His mother at this point in history?”

All very important questions, and I don’t think the exploration of them can be done in a combox. But JohnT, one thing – re the possibility of Anna of Jerusalem or any other woman having been a possible mother of our Lord and said no, that is most definitely not part of Catholic doctrine or dogma (edited to say, nor part of our teaching or tradition, since not everything is dogma, etc.) as JustMe has explained. The Blessed Virgin was the only choice from the beginning of time, and as JustMe has said, she was pre-selected, pre-sanctified, born without original sin, and in fact, was pre-redeemed.

JustMe, many of your comments struck a chord, and a few of the things I’d like to mention that will surely work their way into posts are:

- the example of Mary Magdalen being led to Mary through Jesus, and what actually happened at the foot of the Cross in terms of the Church

- the Church being our Mother until we get Home, but also, Mary as Mother of the Church

- the Rosary as a school of Jesus’ life, and how this relates to what JohnT said of the school of Mary

- not feeling anything; relying on trust

You know, JohnT, re your story of the woman on the bench praying the Rosary, she may have been calling out in spirit to you, and she too thought she had failed. There is so much mystery in the Mystical Body; we need the Holy Spirit so badly.

Ann: Very true, I think, what you said about God knowing us so well, both our natural inclinations/attractions and our “contrariness”, that He offers us different paths, all to one purpose. I also agree that anxiousness/guilt is not helpful, but an opening of our hearts, as you say, and I think we can also try to remember that we are asked to pray for increased love, and an increased desire to love, both God and the Blessed Virgin.

Terry: Same as you, I think my path was to Mary through Jesus, and yet when I reflect on it as I have been doing of recent, I see how much of what happened to me was no doubt through Mary’s intercession, I just wasn’t aware of it.

Marie, when we reflect on the perfection with which Mary lived out (and within) the Divine Will, and the depth of her humility, words do indeed fail, don’t they; no wonder Mary can lead us so deeply into contemplation.

JohnT and JustMe (including all pseudonyms), I will do a separate comment because I have to read everything through again, and I think the computer is going to give me a time-out. I’ll be back!