AS my parish in Glendale, California celebrates my installation this weekend as its pastor, I think of Mary, our Blessed Mother. She is the model of what it is to be a leader and member of a Catholic Christian community: faithful, willing, humble, heroic, and generous in service to God and His people.
Mary’s “yes” to God resulted in Incarnation (from which we derive the name of our parish church)! Through her fiat, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, descended from heaven to earth to be one like us to save the whole humanity and the world.
As Fr. Ed Bloom states in his book, Total Consecration Through the Mysteries of the Rosary, “Mary’s yes to God changed the world for all times; in fact, her yes redounds to eternity!”
In today’s critical period of the Catholic Church in different parts of the world, I contend that we also assert Mary’s role in our present lives as the great intercessor.
We need her prayers to bring back faith in Jesus Christ to many people, particularly the youth who are influenced by the strong forces of secularism and liberalism. We need her to pray for our pope, bishops, and priests that they may be faithful to their vows, be holy and become true shepherds of their flock.
It is Mary’s powerful intercession that will purify our church and defend her from all harms and attacks. For throughout the of her apparitions, she came to rescue a people who suffered persecution, plagues, and poverty.
So I suggest that we bring back the fervor of Marian devotions in our parishes and reintroduce Mary to our youth as a mother who cares for our needs and accompanies us in our aspiration for holiness. I suggest that we evangelize people through meaningful and inspiring Marian piety by traditional practices such as praying the Holy Rosary and novenas and candlelight processions.
One of my priest-friends argues that we don’t have to come up with another magic formula to bring life to our church. We merely have to uncover the richness, beauty, and glory of age-old traditions of liturgy, prayers, and ascetic practices.
I now agree with him. I think that even in this digital world, our young people are clamoring for substance, profundity, and mysticism in prayer. Mary’s life and Marian devotions provide us with these needs.
Now that I’m back to parish ministry, I am convincing my parishioners about the power of Mary’s prayers, her role as a great intercessor. I am telling them that to grow in holiness, love, and generosity, and most of all, love for Jesus, they need to be close to Mary and seek her help.
After all, history tells us this was true for the past generations of Catholic Christians and other people who fought against the evil forces of the material world and found peace and healing.
Mary, Immaculate, pray for us!
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California.
