MARY, OUR MOTHER

MARY'S HEART - MERCY

2. A Mother's Mercy.
The reason is that the mercy of Mary was the mercy of a mother, just as the Heart from which it sprung was a mother's Heart. This explains the abundance of mercy and bounty. A child might be a wretch, he might be plagued with physical or moral disease; he might be an outcast, an object of revulsion; he might inspire you with disgust and repugnance. But the more miseries and wretchedness She finds in it the more the heart of its mother will pant for it with renewed and greater love.

The heart of a mother never despairs, never grows tired, always hopes, always waits, tries to come to the rescue of her child. And it is not a mere blindness that drives her. It is that she has an inkling, an intuition of heart that sees beyond the eyes of others. For her there is no irreparable losses and miseries to be seen: the heart of a mother still finds indications and clues. She discovers sentiments that could raise and dignify the heart of her wretched child even now. A mother by the power of her tenderness, by the goodness of her heart, will still be able to re-enkindle long spent sentiments, to revive a heart long believed dead; to resuscitate a conscience long hardened by sin and passion. Ask St. Augustine. Let him tell you what is the power of a compassionate heart, of a pious, merciful heart of a mother.

And now go to the Heart of Our Lady who is more of a mother than any other mother, with a heart that is the sum total in bounty and mercy of all that God poured into all the hearts of all the mothers of the world.

On the other hand Her compassion is not just a barren feeling as often is that of many mothers who would, but cannot, come to the rescue of their child. Mary wields the omnipotence of God Himself, and She uses it generously to help Her children. Did She not do so at the wedding of Cana when compelling Jesus to anticipate His first miracle? Did She not do so with the apostles in those days of desolation and dismay? Forgetting Herself She was their only hope and strength and consolation; and the apostles, supported by the efficacious goodness of that Mother, gathered around Her.

And amongst all, was not Peter the one who most experienced the mercy of Her sweet Heart? It was doubtless She who ran to Peter when he, full of sorrow for his three-fold denial, left the house of the High Priest. It was at the feet of Mary that Peter shed his first tears for his sin. There he made the first confession of his cowardly apostasy. Great was his fortune on meeting the Heart of Our Heavenly Mother. He might perhaps become a Judas since he equally had motives for despair.

Yet at the feet of Mary, close to Her Heart, despair was impossible, discouragement was not possible either. Peter rose to his feet certain of having been pardoned and thus is was that he did not despair like Judas, nor did he flee like Adam after his sin but remained there waiting, expecting the resurrection of Jesus with a heart overflowing with confidence that had been instilled into him by Our Blessed Lady. A mother's mercy indeed.

[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]