“What a marvelous woman to be the mother of her own creator …for by the very fact of being made mother of the creator, she became the queen of all creation.” St Thomas of Villanova

My Devotion to Mary

There was a time in my life where I didn’t understand devotion to Mary. I wasn’t accustomed to praying the rosary (nor did I like it- it was too long and repetitive). I didn't celebrate any of her feast days either. I loved Jesus very much. It was the classic “I didn’t *need* her to love him.”

But, I still needed her.

I needed her femininity. I needed her mothering. I needed her humility. I needed her strength. I needed her hiddenness. I needed her yes to God's will.

During a particularly difficult season in my life, Jesus led me to her. I was praying, asking the Lord to show me his will. I closed my eyes and saw a scene play out in my mind. Jesus was walking towards me. I was asking him what is your will? why is this happening? He was silent. So I kept asking. He picked me up and silently walked me over to his mother and laid me in her arms.

I took this as a clear calling to draw close to Mary and I began doing a consecration to Mary through the 33 Days to Morning Glory along with a daily rosary.

I can see what my life was like prior to that consecration and what has been like after. I changed after that consecration and my relationship with Jesus changed as well.

As I grew to know her, I grew to love him in a new way. And as I grew to love Him in this way, I grew to love her.

Why Honor Mary

While I can always “go” directly to Him, by his incarnation, he chose to go through her when he could have found some other way. And if that was the way he chose, why not do the same?

All that she is, she draws from Him.

He created her.

And humbled himself to also be created by her.

He saved her from any mark of sin and thus made her capable of loving him perfectly.

In being God, he was not just able to love her perfectly but in essence He is Perfect Love itself.

In the agony and suffering which He bore in public rejection, she looks at him as if to say “I see you.”

And in her agony and suffering which was hidden in her heart, he looks at her as if to say “I see you.”

We could not begin to comprehend the closeness of their relationship and the depths of their love.

They are not rivals.

They knew each other and loved each other far more than we could ever know or love either of them.

They go together.

Mary in My Home

As a mother I see so clearly how my presence welcomes my children into the room.

We go together.

And so, if you come into my home, you will find many images and statues of Mary. I like to think of it in that same way that a child feels at home around their mother. Jesus knows he is at home here because His mother is here as well.

Here are a few examples of how we honor Mary in our home: