September 19, 2007

A Prayer to Jesus in Thanksgiving for Mary

Lord Jesus, I thank You for Mary. You gave her to me to be my mother after she had walked with You to Your death and witnessed You being betrayed, mocked, spit upon, and scourged by the very people You had come to save. After you had appeared “defeated,” she stood by Your side, while tears, like rain, poured down her face, and the memories of Your life together screamed out at her from her heart.

She is Your special gift to me, more precious than anything this world has to offer. She reminds me, like only a mother could, of the necessity of walking by faith, and that I am not alone on this journey to the Father. Yet she teaches in silence, without words and complicated answers, like a rose that buds forth in spring, leaving those gathered around it in awe.

She was Your “fool,” completely abandoned to Your will, not believing in the doubts and the gossiping of others, but like a mother nursing her sick child, she loved You with her entire being. Being poor and lowly, she trusted in You and revealed to us the love and the goodness of the Father in a way that melts our hearts and inspires us to continue to believe, despite the darkness that sometimes surrounds us.

When I look at her, I see beauty, obedience, silence, simplicity, love, purity, and selflessness – everything that I am supposed to be. She is Your masterpiece, more beautiful than the Mona Lisa and more inspiring than the most majestic sunset. How uplifting it is to my soul to ponder her beauty! Yet she keeps nothing for herself, and like a mirror, reflects everything back to You, finding her identity in the infinite horizons of Your love and mercy.

Help me, Lord, to love her correctly, to entrust myself to her motherly care, and to learn from her the many things she has to teach me. I pray Lord that I would be like her, content in my poverty and humble in my actions, not seeking to become something I am not, but desiring only to be Your instrument. I pray Lord that, like Mary, I would disappear underneath the brilliance of Your light, and like a tree in the middle of winter stripped of all its security, patiently await the salvation You have won for us.

Br. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR

St. Leopold Friary, Yonkers, NY

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