“Mary is close beside you”

You are not alone. Suffer that tribulation joyfully. It's true, poor child, that you don't feel your Mother's hand in yours. But... have you never seen the mothers of this earth, with arms outstretched, following their little ones when, without anyone's help, they venture to take their first shaky steps? You are not alone: Mary is close beside you. (The Way, 900)

It makes me very happy to see that this devotion is always alive, awakening in Christians a supernatural desire to act as “members of God’s household.”

Seeing how so many Christians express their affection for the Virgin Mary, surely you also feel more a part of the Church, closer to those brothers and sisters of yours. It is like a family reunion. Grown‑up children, whom life has separated, come back to their mother for some family anniversary. And even if they have not always got on well together, today things are different; they feel united, sharing the same affection.

Mary continually builds the Church and keeps it together. It is difficult to have devotion to our Lady and not feel closer to the other members of the mystical body and more united to its visible head, the pope. That’s why I like to repeat: All with Peter to Jesus through Mary! (Christ is passing by, 139.)

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