I\’m in crunch time right now. I have a list of things that absolutely have to get done by Friday. It\’s 4am. I finished a group powerpoint and a paper today. Tomorrow I have a final to do plus transcribing a counseling role play and then the rest of the week will be devoted to writing an 8-10 page paper on the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education. It will be an experience. I did want to make a bit of headway on my prayer reflection, although I don\’t have much to say, considering I talked about light not too long ago. What I will leave you with is the greatest description of Mary\’s importance in our faith and lives that I think I\’d ever heard. Mary\’s symbol is the moon. She is the brightest entity in the nighttime sky. Nothing else compares. She is however, only a rock. Not capable of producing light on her own. She is merely a reflection of the sun. She is solely a reflection of her son. She is simply nothing without the son. Yet, she is important in our lives. Interceding for us, controlling our tides and keeping us in balance. She is our advocate, our role model. If we can do one thing in our lives, it should be to follow her example and say yes when God comes to us in our lives. We must be those moons. Reflecting Your light. My favorite depiction of Mary and her role in my faith is epitomized in a song called Wedding at Cana by Danielle Rose. It shows her as an advocate for us, her children. She cannot provide the medicine to save us, but she can rub our backs and implore on our behalf. I think it brings a lot of softness to the church and spirituality and makes it a lot more in tune with who I am in my own femininity. She is my example. My friend Anna said once she didn\’t mind the Marian devotion because Mary\’s heart is simply completely filled to capacity with nothing but the love of God and therefore when we go to her that is what we\’re seeing. God\’s love through the lens of a handmaid. Learning about Mary draws us into learning about God. That\’s an interesting thought: Mary as a lens. Asking her intercession for our needs as children, to a woman, to a most holy saint. Those prayers prayed through the lens of God\’s own mother. Maybe we\’re all just lenses and different perspectives to knowing God. By being completely who we are…being whole, we become a perspective and piece of God\’s love that others can see something in. And God is infinite. Mary\’s lens and what she taught the world through her actions is the everlasting yes to God. St. Therese\’s lens was small acts of holiness. Maybe my lens is making connections and meaning from this world to the next. May Your light be magnified within the lens of my soul that others may see it more brightly and follow it home.
\”I am their mother. I know their needs. I am the mother of the one whose blood redeems. I go to Jesus asking him to intercede. They have no wine. I\’ll turn the water into wine. They have no peace. I\’ll wash my disciples feet. They have no bread. I\’ll give my body till their fed. They have no love. I\’ll send the holy dove. Mother Mary, pray for me.\” – Danielle Rose Wedding at Cana