Mommy
“In the evening when you go to sleep, hold your beads, doze off reciting them, do like those babies who go to sleep mumbling, ‘Mamma! Mamma!'” ~ St. Bernadette
Whenever I stumble upon today’s quote, I always think of a powerful reference in the Gospels. If you remember, when Jesus’ followers asked Him to teach them to pray, He told them to begin their prayer by calling out to God as “Abba”.
That name literally means “Daddy”. Jesus tells us that we, God’s children, should be confident in approaching God, our Father — our Daddy — and asking Him to care for us.
Bernadette tells us that we should approach the Blessed Virgin Mary in the same manner. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He spoke to Mary and John. He told Mary to “Behold your son” and John to “Behold your mother.”
In that moment, He entrusted Mary to us as our mother and us to Mary as her children. Hence, we always should be confident in calling Mary, “Mother”, or as Bernadette would say, “Mamma!”
There are many of us who go to bed at night wondering if we are going to get any kind of restful sleep. Some of us would be happy to accept restless sleep as long as we can get a moment or two of unconsciousness. That is often because we go to bed shouldering a lot of worries and concerns.
When we feel as if we have the weight of the world on our shoulders, we become very stressed and that leads to listless days and sleepless nights. Some turn to a nightcap in hopes of finding sleep. Some turn to over-the-counter pills for help in sleeping. Some turn to prescription meds for the same purpose.
A more simple solution would be to turn to the Lord as we go to bed. Bedtime prayer was introduced to us when we were young for a very important reason. It helps us take our minds off of all the things that weigh down upon us and put our focus on something more sublime.
Some turn to the Lord. Some turn to other saints. And still others turn to Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We have a special relationship to her because of her Son and we should not be afraid to embrace that relationship and to embrace her.
This is the month of May, the month of Mary. Think about her fondly today and make it a point to decide how you can approach her more often. She is waiting for us to come to her because, when we do, she takes us directly to her Son.
FAITH ACTION: In true innocence of spirit, go to Mary and ask her to bring you and your intentions to Jesus. She will not fail you.