Refuge of Sinners

Our Lady is the refuge of sinners, a place where even the worst sinners, even those trapped in the mire of their sins and those who feel absolutely rotten deep down inside, can enjoy perfect holiness and find their way.

Mary is our mother: this is not an honorific title intended to flatter her, but the simple truth. This truth is as concrete as the motherhood of all mothers in the world. The only difference being that our maternal love is limited, fragile, mixed with selfishness, laziness, cowardice… but Mary’s love is unlike ours precisely because she is immaculate.

May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing

Mary’s holiness does not make of her someone ethereal, sort of unreal, like an inaccessible, ideal mother. On the contrary! In her holiness she is very human, present, and free. Sin cannot hinder her love for us, nor can it alter or distort that love.

Sabine, a nurse and mother of three children, says:

“Whenever I am concerned or grieved, faced with a problem or tormented by doubt, I quickly hand it over to the Virgin Mary. I ask her to take care of it and she does!”

As a good teacher, Mary does not act in our place but rather she teaches us when and how to do what we have to do.  Hence, our life gets progressively organized and thoroughly pacified.

"By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the "Mother of Mercy," the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender wholly to her care at "the hour of our death." May she be there as she was at her Son's death on the Cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing to lead us to her Son, Jesus, in paradise." [1]

 

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 2677

Christine Ponsard (1956-2003)