We have no doubt. We shall overcome this hurdle too. COVID-19 is not the first epidemic in human history, nor will it be the last. Looking back, we recollect with surprise how the human race fought and survived the Black Death of the fourteenth century, the Spanish Flu of 1918 and the Asian Flu of 1957. How did we overcome these epidemics? It was with the aid of a small medicine, and its name is FAITH in Christ.
When we stare at the possibility of thousands of our men and women succumbing to the current epidemic, where is our faith? Christ has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. But we have changed. Over a period of time our faith has weakened. This is not the time to analyse its reasons. But this is the time to become more and more stronger in faith.
Yes, many among us cannot fully trust in Christ. Perhaps we didn’t get a proper christian formation in our life. Many others didn’t give Christ any place in their lives. Forget all these things. Come to Jesus with empty hands. Tell him that you have nothing to offer him except your pain, suffering, loneliness, fear and anxiety.
If you do not feel a personal relation with Jesus, do not worry. We have his mother to lean upon. She is also Christ’s mother. She will take care of us. Just recite a Hail Mary. What do we pray through her? ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, NOW and at the HOUR OF OUR DEATH’!
Karol Josef Wojtyla was a young man who called Mother Mary when he was alone in life. His mother died when he was 9 and his father died when he was 22. His only brother also died and he was alone and forlorn. One day whe he was returning from the quarry where he was working as a casual laborer, he fell in the sewage canal by the side of the road. Nobody was there to hear his cries. The only thing that he could see from that dirty canal was the steeple of a church at a distance. He called Moher Mary for help saying that he didn’t have a mother to look after him. He was confident that he too was a son of Mary. He was miraculously saved from the canal. We know that he later went on to become a priest, bishop, cardinal, pope and finally a saint.
I narrated the story of St Pope John Paul II to bring home the point that whoever asks the help of Mother Mary will definitely get it. In St Bernard’s prayer, we recite; ‘Remember, O Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help and sought thy intercession, was left unaided’. She is ready to help us always, especially NOW and at the HOUR OF OUR DEATH.
Many among us are feeling the loneliness of not having a family to comfort us. Many have nobody to beg help from. When we think that an uncertain future is ahead of us, call the name of Mary. She is very much with us to help us NOW and at the HOUR OF OUR DEATH. As Mary’s children it is our right and privilege to call her name in times of peril. Do not worry. As our mother, it is her pleasure to help us.
We encourage our readers to beg the intercession of Mary and to consecrate their lives to her Immaculate Heart at this hour of agony. The following prayer, which is attributed to St Louise de Montfort, can be used for it.
“I, (name), a faithless sinner– renew and ratify today in thy hands, O Immaculate Mother, the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before.
In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day, for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God, in time and in eternity. Amen.”
God willing, we will return with an article with more details about consecration soon. Go in peace with the firm belief that Mother Mary is there with us NOW, AT ALL TIMES and at the HOUR OF OUR DEATH.
Deep in your heart, do believe that you shall overcome not some day, but TODAY.
