Page 89 - Nurturing the Nurturer 2018 Flip Page Program

Mother Mary, Help Us

Mary Shows Us How to Live in the Spirit.

Excerpted from Pope Francis Speaks to Our Hearts.

The Virgin Mary teaches us what it means to
live in the Holy Spirit and what it means to

accept the news of God in our lives. She
conceived Jesus by the work of the Holy
Spirit, and every Christian, each one of us, is

called to accept the Word of God, to accept
Jesus inside of us, and then to bring him to
everyone.

Mary invoked the Holy Spirit with the apostles

in the upper room; we, too, every time that we
come together in prayer, are sustained by the spiritual presence of the Mother
of Jesus in order to receive the gift of the Spirit and to have the strength to witness to

Jesus risen. May Mary help you to be attentive to what the Lord asks of you and to
live and walk forever with the Holy Spirit!

She Always Hurries to Us: Our Lady, as soon as she had heard the news that she

was to be the Mother of Jesus and the announcement that her cousin Elizabeth was
expecting a child—the Gospel says—she went to her in haste; she did not wait. She
did not say, “But now I am with child; I must take care of my health; my cousin is

bound to have friends who can care for her.” Something stirred her and she “went
with haste” to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39). It is beautiful to think this of Our Lady, of our

Mother, that she hastens, because she intends to help. She goes to help; she doesn’t
go to boast and tell her cousin, “Listen, I’m in charge now, because I am the Mother
of God!” No, she did not do that. She went to help! And Our Lady is always like

this. She is our Mother who always hurries to us whenever we are in need. It would
be beautiful to add to the Litany of Our Lady something like this: “O Lady who goes
in haste, pray for us!” It is lovely, isn’t it? For she always goes in haste; she does not

forget her children. And when her children are in difficulty, when they need
something and call on her, she hurries to them. This gives us a security, the security
of always having our Mother next to us, beside us. We move forward, we journey

more easily in life, when our mother is near. Let us think of this grace of Our Lady,
this grace that she gives us: of being close to us, but without making us wait for her

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