May
13
Seeing Our Lady
May 13, 2008 |
With today being the Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima, I’ve been reading in depth about the events of Fatima and the three children.
And, I’m thinking - what if my two kids came running in one day excitedly telling us that Mary appeared to them? And that they saw dark visions of the world’s future?
I believe that Mary appeared to the three Fatima childen, but I have to admit that I would really question what my kids were on if they told me that Mary appeared to them. Heck, I would question what was wrong with me if Mary would appear to me.
But, what if Mary or Jesus or the angels would appear to us? Would we believe? Would we accept? Would we tell others?
And then, it dawns on me - we see Mary and Jesus and the angels everyday of our lives.
We just celebrated Mother’s Day. On each Mother’s Day, I am especially reminded of how blessed I am in having seen Mary in my life.
I am adopted - placed for adoption at birth, not adopted until I was an older child. So on Mother’s Day, I not only say a special prayer for my Mom but also for my birth mother and all of the women who came into my life to care for me when I was growing up - the nuns and social workers at the orphanages, my foster mothers, my nurses during my many surgeries, my teachers and so on and so on. It took me a while but I finally realized that Mary appeared to me in the faces of all of these blessed women. Mary has been there for me every day of my life.
And that’s the thing about revelations like Fatima - they remind us of how Jesus and Mary are always present in our world. They are always present to us and through us. We just need to be their face to others and see their face in others.
We will most likely not see Mary face-to-face in our temporal lives - but we should live each day as if we have seen her. For chances are, we will see someone today who is the face of Mary, and that person may be in the mirror looking back at us.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us and let there be peace in the world.
