How Mary Leads Us to Jesus

One of the most enjoyable parts of parenthood is learning about God through our daughter Lucy. Two weeks ago at Mass, we experienced one of those moments.

It was a typical Mass. We caught parts of the sermon and prayers while we shifting our daughter Lucy back and forth between us while trying to keep her calm and focused, at least for a few moments. Soon it was time for communion.

Normally, my wife or I will carry Lucy up to communion to receive a blessing, but this week was different. My wife held Lucy’s hands as she walked up the whole length of the church to the priest. I was walking up right behind them to witness this beautiful event. 

Lucy was very excited to walk up to the front and with each step her face beamed with joy. She’s still learning to walk, so there was a little wobbling and moving in either direction, but it was charming to see her take these steps up to the front for the first time.  As my wife was about to receive Jesus, the priest was grinning from ear to ear as he witnessed Lucy walking up with mommy to Jesus, present in the Eucharist.

That’s when it hit me: this is what the Blessed Virgin Mary does for us. She walks with us and brings us to Jesus, faster than we could on our own.

Lucy could have crawled up to the priest by herself, but with my wife’s help she arrived much faster. Similarly, if we humble ourselves and let Mary help us, we will be with Jesus in no time. When Jesus sees us taking steps toward Him, He greets us too with a great smile that expresses His deep love to us.

Yet it is hard to allow Mary help us walk to Jesus because we like setting our own agenda.  We have deadlines to meet, bills to pay, and errands to run. Our society tells us to do what we want, when we want, by ourselves, without asking for anyone’s help. We think, I don’t need help walking to Jesus; I can do it just fine on my own.

Fortunately, God places children in our lives to remind us that we need help. We don’t have all the answers to life’s questions nor do we always know what to do. To draw closer to Jesus, we must humble ourselves like a child and ask our mother for help. When we do this, Mary, as a good mother, helps guide and lead us along the right path.

So in this month of May, let us ask Mary to hold  our hand and lead us to Jesus. There are many ways to do this: the Angelus, the Rosary, a Marian Consecration prayer, or even just a simple heartfelt prayer to Our Lady imploring her help. Let Mary help you become holy; she will surely not disappoint.

Photo: Josh Applegate, Unsplash / PD-US