My dear parishioners,
Peace! On the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, 7 October, 2019, Pope Francis established the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, to be observed each year on the 10th of December. At the same time Pope Francis proclaimed a Lauretan Jubilee Holy Year to run from 8 December, 2019 through 10 December, 2020. There are fifty-one invocations in the Litany of Loreto. The following is a reflection on the fifteenth invocation: Mother of Mercy, pray for us.
What does it mean to call Saint Mary “Mother of Mercy”? Saint Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote about “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). If the Eternal Father is the Father of mercies, Our Lady the Blessed Virgin Saint Mary is the Mother of Mercy. Saint Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother of Mercy, proclaimed the mercy of God when visiting her cousin Saint Elizabeth: “His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear Him” (Luke 1:50). Saint James, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote that “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13). It is Christ the Lord who is triumphant over sin and death, the Cross and the grave. Saint Mary is His Mother, according to the flesh. She is the Mother of Mercy. If you asked the couple at the Wedding at Cana whether or not Saint Mary is the Mother of Mercy, who saw their need and interceded for them, they would resoundingly answer YES (cf. John 2:1-11)! With mercy she still intercedes for us with her Son.
The Salve Regina (Hail Holy Queen) prayer, which we pray liturgically at Compline and devotionally with the Rosary, includes the invocation Mater misericordiae (Mother of Mercy) in reference to Our Lady. Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska. (+1936) includes in her diary Divine Mercy in my soul an explicit private revelation of the Blessed Virgin Saint Mary as “Mother of Mercy” as well as many other references to Our Lady throughout (Diary, 330). Saint John Paul II (+2005) who canonized Faustina in the Jubilee 2000, published an encyclical letter on the richness of God’s mercy dedicates an entire article to Our Lady, Mother of Mercy, recognizing the “deep theological meaning” of this Marian title (Dives in Misericordia, 9; 30 November, 1980). There are seven “Spiritual Works of Mercy” and seven “Corporal Works of Mercy” through which we show our love of neighbor (cf. Mark 12:31). Saint Mary’s spiritual children surely are happy to undertake these tasks in obedience to her Son even as she told the waiters at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you” (cf. John 2:5). The works of mercy are: admonish the sinner, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs patiently, forgive all injuries, pray for the living and the dead; feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, shelter the homeless, bury the dead.
Father John Arthur Orr