Our Lady, Help of Christians

Shortly after finding out about our little miracle I had the desire to consecrate this pregnancy to Mary and ask for her help in a very specific way.  This blog is, after all, supposed to be chronicling my journey to be more like her. And although it's always been hard for me to identify with Mary, not being a mother myself, I now have no excuse (as if I ever did).

The Church upholds the Mother of God as someone to honor and look to in times of need. If Jesus is truly our brother, then Mary is truly our mother. And a perfect, loving, grace-filled mother at that. Who better to entrust our precious little one to than Mary? If she was good enough to be the mother of my Lord, she's sure good enough to watch over my baby! The Church has many different titles for Mary, but this is not to be confused as separating her in any way.  The same way that we have different titles for Jesus (Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, Good Shepard, etc) we have different titles for Mary. At different points in one's life he may relate better to a particular title (or aspect) of Jesus. I've clung to Jesus as a child and part of the Holy Family during my struggles, for example. Other times, I've clung to the suffering Jesus, the Jesus of the Cross, to get me through the pain and sorrow that was consuming me at that moment. The same can be said for Mary. She has different titles depending on what aspects are being described. When we refer to Mary who appeared to Juan Diego, we call her Our Lady of Guadalupe. When we refer Mary who appeared to St. Bernadette, we call her Our Lady of Lourdes. When we refer to Mary as a the suffering mother of Jesus, who endured more pain than any mother should have to bare, we refer to her as Our Lady of Sorrows. All are beautiful titles and ways to honor Mary and can be used by people in different stages of their spiritual journey.

I wanted "a Mary" for my baby. We have asked prayers of Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary almost daily throughout the past two years. But none of these seemed to be the one that I needed to turn to for my son or daughter. I had very good intentions of researching different titles for Mary in hopes that one would stand out as "the one".

In the beautiful way that God works, however, I didn't have to! That very day I got a comment from JBTC on my post about finding out that we were pregnant:

Oh, I forgot to mention, but May 24th is the Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians! What a great feast day to find out on!

Sometimes God really does make things that easy! I told her of my desire to find the "right Mary" and she sent me back this link that describes the history of this particular title. I also found a beautiful prayer, written by St. John Bosco, that just felt perfect! Ted and I have been praying this nightly, asking our Lady to watch over our precious gift of God and imploring her to ask our heavenly Father to relieve those still suffering from the tremendous pain of infertility.

Here is the prayer, followed by my commentary on how I'm interpreting it for this particular situation:

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Help of Christians,
how sweet it is to come to your feet
imploring your perpetual help.
If earthly mothers cease not to remember their children,
how can you, the most loving of all mothers forget me?
Grant then to me, I implore you,
your perpetual help in all my necessities,
in every sorrow, and especially in all my temptations.
I ask for your unceasing help for all who are now suffering.
Help the weak, cure the sick, convert sinners.
Grant through your intercessions many vocations to the religious life.
Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians,
that having invoked you on earth we may love and eternally thank you in heaven.

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, (we are, in fact, Christians and she did, in fact, help us!)
how sweet it is to come to your feet
imploring your perpetual help. (we had been asking Our Lady of Perpetual Help for prayers!)
If earthly mothers cease not to remember their children,
how can you, the most loving of all mothers forget me? (how perfect!)
Grant then to me, I implore you,
your perpetual help in all my necessities,
in every sorrow, and especially in all my temptations. (especially the temptation to fear, worry, or doubt)
I ask for your unceasing help for all who are now suffering. (this is when we pray for our IF friends)
Help the weak, cure the sick, convert sinners.
Grant through your intercessions many vocations to the religious life. (this baby was conceived during the Year of the Priest....I'm just sayin')
Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians,
that having invoked you on earth we may love and eternally thank you in heaven. (this is the entire purpose of my blog! to foster a love for Mary!)


Our Lady, Help of Christians-Pray for us.