“Honour My Mother
as I, who am The Word and above all,
honour her;
would I then not desire you
who are dust and ashes
recognise Her as Queen of Heaven,
honouring Her?
My grief of today
is to see how little My creation knows of Her importance.”
(Message of December 22, 1987)
In honouring Our Lady we wish to show all the respect we have for her, to pay homage to the countless graces that have been granted to her, especially the sublime gift of the Divine Motherhood. We would also like to mark our attention to all the merit she has acquired as a true disciple of the Lord, filled with perfect faith and unfailing charity.
The Blessed Virgin Mary’s role in our times, in the Church, in Heaven, and in human history is often interpreted in different ways depending the tradition one was raised under. The True Life in God Messages have revealed to many, now, in our times, “what the eye has not seen” and the “ear has not heard”. It is no different with Mary, the “Mother of Our Lord”.
Our Lord describes much about her role and relationship to humanity, to the Church and to Himself. Mary, herself, has given many messages in True Life in God. Here is one such Message. An urgent message for our times.Mary in Scriptures
What does the Bible say about Mary of Nazareth, the Mother of Jesus Christ? And what is the teaching that these texts want to transmit to the believers?
During many years it was feared that the worship of Mary could compromise the faith in Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and mankind. But Mary has her place in the Creed of the Church, for dogmatic statements about Mary have a very solid biblical foundation.
First of all, Holy Scripture mentions Mary (in Hebrew Miryam), chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son.
Scripture says those words, “Mother of my Lord”; Elizabeth, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke these words; write: “Of all women You are the most Blessed, and Blessed is the Fruit of Your Womb; why should I be honoured with a visit from the Mother of My Lord?”1 (Message of February 10, 1988).
At the Annunciation, at the moment when God’s promise is fulfilled, Mary pronounces the yes of faith. The New Testament testimony about Mary is not, however, limited to the accounts of Jesus’ childhood in Matthew and Luke.We also encounter Mary during the earthly mission of Jesus2. She is also on the Way of the Cross. She remains faithful to the yes she said at the beginning, in faith, and she stands with “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, at the foot of the Cross3. She is the “Mother of sorrows”. Finally, we meet her again in the early community of Jerusalem in prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit4.
In this story, Mary occupies a unique place, at the moment when the divine promise is fully realized. She is situated in the “fullness of time”, when God sent His Son, “born of a woman”5. She is the one to whom the words of her cousin Elizabeth apply: “Blessed is she who believed”6. Therefore, at the announcement of Jesus’ birth, she is challenged with the same words with which the Old Testament addresses Israel, the “Daughter of Zion” : “Rejoice”7. This “Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!”8. Mary is therefore the Daughter of Zion, the representative of Israel at the hour when her hope is fulfilled.
Mary herself sings of the fulfilment of the promise of the Old Testament in the New Testament, in this hymn which we call the Magnificat9. This text is full of allusions to the Old Testament and at the same time indicates that Mary anticipates the Gospel of the New Testament, especially the Sermon on the Mount, which proclaims the poor, the little ones, the afflicted and the persecuted blessed. Mary is therefore the model and prototype of the Christian faith. She keeps and meditates in her heart what she has seen and heard from God10.
This is what Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants affirm in common about Mary. “Mary is part of the Gospel” states the Protestant Catechism for Adults. “Thus, Mary is the prototype of men who open themselves to God and allow themselves to be filled by God, the prototype of the community of believers, of the Church”.
Mary the New Eve who, “by her obedience, has become the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race”. “Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience”11. Thus, the knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience. These assertions in no way contradict the fact that only Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all humanity. Mary is but the humble handmaid of the Lord. She is, like all of us, redeemed by Jesus Christ. But, in the act of redemption, God wants to hear a yes freely pronounced by His creature. Mary’s fiat, Mary’s “yes”: “I am the handmaid of the Lord; May it be done to me according to your word”12, expresses in an exemplary way that God wants to make a covenant with men, to enter into dialogue with them and to give them the opportunity to live as his friends in communion with him.
Titles of Mary
The Lord Himself adorns His Mother with many titles of honor in the Messages. Here are many of them:
Holy Mother of God, (10.2.88 ; 10.5.88 ; 3.12.88 ; 5.10.92 ; 27.1.96 ; 25.3 ; 3.4.96 ; 9.4.96)
Blessed Virgin of virgins, (3.4.96)
Holy Coredemptrix, (11.11.93 ; 25.3.96)
Mother of the Lord, (10.1.90)
Mother of the Incarnate Word, (10.2.88 ; 22.4.90)
Mother of Christ, (6.9.86 ; 9.11.86 ; 29.4.87)
Mother of the Redeemer, (31.1.90)
Mother of divine grace, (25.3.96)
Beloved Mother of God, (10.2.88)
Mother honored by God, (8.10.97 ; 25.1.88 ; 19.3.88)
pray for us ; Mother worthy of honors, (22.12.87)
pray for us ; Mother worthy of veneration, (22.12.87)
Mother who precedes the coming of the Lord, (10.10.90)
Mother who conceived our Savior, (13.12.92)
Mother who conceived God, (14.8.89)
Mother of the True Vine, (4.4.97)
Mother of Divine Love, (4.4.97)
Mother who fed our God, (10.2.88)
Mother whose arms carried the Son through the desert, (27.1.96)
Mother inseparable from God, (26.1.88)
Mother of the incomparable Redemption, (25.3.96 ; 4.4.97)
Mother of our Savior (15.8.88 ; 26.9.88 ; 31.1.90 ; 10.10.90)
Mother of all humanity, (26.9.88 ; 21.11.88 ; 24.11.91 ; 9.9.92 ; 5.10.92)
Mother of Sorrows, (8.1.87 ; 6.8.88 ; 14.11.91)
Mother close to all those who call on You, (25.3.96)
Mother of Perpetual Help, (1.5.92 ; 15.4.96)
Mother of the Immaculate Heart, (25.1.88 ; 30.1.88)
Mother of the disciples, (25.3.96 ; 4.4.97)
Mother of the prophets, (4.4.97)
Mother of charisms, (25.3.96 ; 4.4.97)
Mother of Triumph, (25.3.96 ; 4.4.97)
Mother of unlimited graces, (25.3.96)
Our Mother (Notre Mère), (9.11.86 ; 15.12.86 ; 2.19.87 ; 7.9.87 ; 23.9.87 ; 24.9.87 ; 8.10.87 ; 4.12.87 ; 12.12.87 ; 26.12.87 ; 6.1.88 ; 25.1.88 ; 26.1.88 ; 31.1.88 ; 10.2.88 ; 3.6.88 ; 7.6.88 ; 9.8.88 ; 15.8.88 ; 19.8.88 ; 26.9.88 ; 5.10.88 ; 21.11.88 ; 7.12.88; 22.1.89 ; 3.3.89 ; 26.3.89 ; 13.8.89 ; 13.9.89 ; 10.3.90 ; 15.5.90 ; 31.1.91 ; 7.2.91 ; 8.4.91 ; 13.6.91 ; 18.6.91 ; 2.8.91 ; 4.8.91 ; 10.8.91 ; 12.8.91 ; 15.9.91 ; 5.10.91 ; 17.10.91 ; 13.11.91 ; 3.3.92 ; 4.3.92 ; 20.4.92 ; 1.5.92 ; 5.5.92 ; 15