Washington, DC USA (Wednesday, 05/06/2015, Gaudium Press) As the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary has a unique position among the saints, indeed, among all creatures. She is exalted, yet still one of us.
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| Since the XIX century the Virgin Mary as the Immaculate Conception is the patronesses of the United States – Photo GaudiumPress |
Popular piety dedicates the month of May to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Devotion to Mary deserves special attention here in the United States where we are under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception.
In order to highlight the important place that the Mother of the Saviour has as co-redeemer with his Son, Jesus Christ, the Church in the United States has decided to dedicate the month of May to the Virgin Mary under her invocation of Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States.
Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united to Him by a close and indissoluble tie, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift of sublime grace she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth. At the same time, however, because she belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all those who are to be saved. (Lumen Gentium, no. 53)
Mary embraces God’s will and freely chooses to cooperate with God’s grace, thereby fulfilling a crucial role in God’s plan of salvation. Throughout the centuries, the Church has turned to the Blessed Virgin in order to come closer to Christ. Many forms of piety toward the Mother of God developed that help bring us closer to her Son. In these devotions to Mary, “while the Mother is honored, the Son, through whom all things have their being and in whom it has pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell, is rightly known, loved and glorified and . . . all His commands are observed.” The Church honors her as the Mother of God, looks to her as a model of perfect discipleship, and asks for her prayers to God on our behalf.
With information from the USCCB
