Praying for everyone helps

By Vivian Marino

There is a saying that holds true in my life as of late: “Little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems.”

Quite often, my children come to me asking for prayers for their friends. I have four children ages 19, 17, 15 and 9, so you can imagine the gamut of prayer requests. My 9-year-old has asked me to pray for a friend who hasn’t been very kind to others during recess, whereas my 19-year-old has requests that hit a whole other level.  Sometimes, they share with me the reason for the prayers, but other times I am bold enough to ask when they are hesitant to share.

Recently, I had one of my older children ask me to pray for a friend who was struggling, and they shared the reason. It literally stopped me in my tracks, and I had to catch my breath to fight back the tears. It was something so heavy for a teenager to experience, let alone an adult. My mission that night and days forward was to pray for this “big kid,” because pray for this “big kid,” to help carry this cross.

And, then it struck me. If I, being a merely human mom, feel such love and profound empathy for this sweet child of God, imagine how our heavenly mother feels? At Jesus’s crucifixion, Jesus gives Mary to John as his mother as stated in John 19:27, “Behold, they mother!” His intention was to share Mary, not only with John, but with all of humanity. Mary is the mother to all.

In times like this, I ask our Blessed Mother to wrap these children under her blue mantle of love, and I recite a quick “Memorare.”

I am also reminded of the beautiful quote by Mother Theresa, “Mary, mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.”

We all need our heavenly Mother. Life can be immensely challenging and certainly not fair; it does not discriminate. Jesus gave us the greatest gift, his own mother. How comforting it is to know that all we must do is call out to her, and she will immediately be at our side now and at the hour of our death.

“O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.”