There are some great stories about Mary throughout the centuries and about how she has come running to help different groups of people or individuals. One of my favorite parts of my weekly column is learning about some of these incidents in great detail.
Many of Mary’s titles have come about as a result of the prayers of devoted — and often desperate — people.
This week’s column is inspired by the title Help of Christians, a feast that was celebrated on Sunday (May 24). It’s a title that speaks to me without me needing to do any research at all. Oh, there’s a great tradition behind the title (and you should read about it). But thinking of Mary as a help really goes beyond some of the names that give me more pause, some of the designations that are colored by my personal experiences and may not mean the same to me as to someone else.
But a helper? That’s a title that’s simple, that’s so accessible even my four-year-old relates with it. It’s a concept that touches me at the most mundane level of my experience, amidst the dirty dishes and the piles of laundry. It reaches me within the hurried morning routine and inside the frazzled dinnertime boogie. I find Mary, once more, in my everyday life.
And I think that’s just where she wants to be, in the trenches beside me, reminding me that there’s a holy calling even when there’s dirt under my fingernails and frizz in my ponytail.
My column is up at Today’s Catholic Woman. Enjoy!
