When the little boat of our life is taking on water and the waves of the storm threaten, we utter a name that comes to the lips of those who suffer, even in their dying breath: Mother. This does not always refer to mothers on earth; indeed for a soul a bit familiar with eternal things, it means “Mary.”
And this is so true that in moments of trial “mother” is often the cry of those whose hearts belong to God: “Mother.”
And here is the second miracle of love after the redemption: a God incarnate and a Mother for all.
In her every hope for the Christian.
Frequently, it occurs to us to ask how Mary, during the long agonies that pierced her heart, managed to live on earth without being able to call upon a mother, the Mother. The direct grafting of her soul into God shows her unique splendor, her greatness, her uniqueness that is “high above all creatures.” Without doubt, God, as he is for us, and so much more for her, was her heart’s rest.
But could it be that she loved someone who, as Mary herself does for us, represented more specifically for her the personification of love? I think she did find something similar, and infinitely more than we find in her, during her earthly struggle in the Father’s service as she brought up her Son; she found rest and refreshment, strength and boldness, the ability to live when many deaths would have crushed her, in the One who sustained the Church in her times and in all times: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit: this unknown God whom at our final judgement we will realize with infinite regret that we perhaps have not sufficiently loved and honored and thanked.
He,
the soul of the Mystical Body of Christ,
the strength of the martyrs throughout history,
the flowing of living water in all the wise,
the light of those sent by God
the certainty of the Popes,
the teacher of bishops,
the friend of all ministers,
the fragrance of consecrated virgins; He lived with the Immaculate, Finding his delight in shaping,
in overshadowing the Flower of flowers,
and Mary
in Him and for Him
brought that yearning expressed by the human heart
through the sweet name of “Mother” to the very height of God.
Chiara Lubich
(Essential Writings, p. 143-144)
