Dear pilgrims of hope,
have you been on pilgrimage with Mary lately?
In my first couple of years after I returned to the Catholic Church, I could not make a connection with Mary. She just seemed so unreachable, so “perfect”. How was I supposed to relate to someone that is venerated as the Mother of God, was conceived without sin and apparently never did anything wrong in her entire life?
Then one day while in spiritual desolation, I prayed the rosary and when I got to the last of the joyful mysteries, I had a thought. As I meditated on the finding of the child Jesus in the temple, I suddenly realised that Mary had lost Jesus for three days. I remembered, how I wandered off in a supermarket once as a little girl and how my mom was looking for me. She was in a full panic when she found me. Anything could have happened to me.
As I meditated on the mystery my desolation lifted Maybe Mary was not so “unreachable” after all. She was conceived without sin but she was human. And suddenly my heart was overwhelmed with love for her. I giggled a little at the thought how I would try to explain having lost the son of God, if I was in her shoes. It was this little moment that enabled me to relate to her for the first time and our relationship has grown since then.
As I was praying the joyful mysteries of the rosary today, it struck me that praying theses mysteries is like walking side by side with Mary from the Annunciation to the finding of the child Jesus in the temple. When we pray the rosary, every Hail Mary is like a small pilgrimage from one mystery to the next. For 20 minutes, we are taken out of our busy mind as we try to meditate on the mysteries and are focusing on being in the present. It is hard work for me. Some days I would rather walk 30 kilometres on Camino instead.
If one rosary seems too short for you to count as a little pilgrimage, then I recommend that you try to pray four rosaries with all 20 mysteries. Your journey will lead you from the Annunciation all the way to the Resurrection.
Mary is waiting for us to walk with her, dear pilgrims of hope. She wants to extend her protective mantle around us and hold us in her arms like a little child, safe and sound. Grab your rosary and “call your mother”.
