“From that hour the disciple took her to his home”

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Following my consecration, this verse from John 19:27-28 takes on special meaning for me.

Immediately, I took Mary ‘into my house’. I haven’t always been the best of sons but I always find myself coming back to her, especially when I am in need of a mother’s help. Remember, my consecration took place on the Feast of the Mother of Perpetual Help.

It is very providential that my consecration was on this day. I need so much help all the time to draw closer to God. Who better to help than the Blessed Mother?

On that night a decade ago, I knelt in the ICU beside me daughter with no prayers left within me. Hours earlier my faith collapsed. God asked me to trust Him with His daughter and I couldn’t surrender. In the middle of the night, I was broken, alone and really didn’t know how to pray. I think at that moment, I felt God had forsaken me. And, He probably had every right to do so after my failure to trust Him earlier that evening. Mary took on the role of Mother of Perpetual Help and drew me under her mantle. I can almost hear her whisper in my ear, “my son, just pray. Don’t worry about the words, just open your heart and I will give the words to my Son.”

“Mary [offers to God] all [our] activities, flawed and full of imperfections as they may be, not as if they were our own but as her personal property. For we, with all that is ours, belong to her. Consequently, each of our activities belong to her.” St Maximillian Kolbe

Our Blessed Lady interceded with her Divine Spouse and Son. The three of them turned to the Father on my behalf and He sent His saint and Son to my side. Jesus came with St. Faustina and helped me pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. While Mary wrapped her protecting arms around my daughter and I, she commissioned her angels to guard that room.

So many things in our road of faith become clear in hindsight. Looking back now, I know the Father was preparing my soul for the tough battles I would face. He hid within my soul various power verses from the Bible. He surrounded me with great friends and a wife who is an exemplar of faith and trust. Most of all, Jesus gave me His Mother to be with me, guide me and protect me.

Even though I made my consecration after this night, from the cross, Jesus had already asked His mother to be my mother. In a sense, she had already accepted my consecration on that day. And since God is timeless, the Holy Spirit shifted things to be applied on the order needed. That night my heart cried out because my mind was beyond its capacity. And, Mary heard that cry and took it to God’s throne.