In latest newsletter, Cardinal Tobin reflects on getting to know Mary

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Last Friday, March 25, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Pope Francis invited all of us to join him in an Act of Consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Mary is the Queen of Peace and the Mother of Mercy. She prays constantly that each one of us will accept God’s gifts of love and mercy, and that we will recognize that we are all sisters and brothers regardless of our racial, national, economic and cultural diversity.

God’s closeness to us as individuals, nations and peoples is seen most perfectly in Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus Christ. The Blessed Virgin bore the Son of God in her womb. His humanity was formed from her flesh and from the heart of Mary’s faith-filled acceptance of God’s will. Through Mary, God became one of us. This is not an absent, remote or disconnected God. This God is Emmanuel, “God-with-us,” and draws us close to him through the intercession of a simple Hebrew woman chosen by God to be his Son’s mother.

Mary’s entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh. The mother of the Crucified and Risen One was able to enter the sanctuary of divine mercy because she participated intimately in the mystery of divine love. She remains close to us because, in his final hour on the Cross, Jesus, entrusted her to us, and as her children we are the beneficiaries of her motherly care.

I came to know Mary at an early age because I watched family members pause to pray the Angelus together and gather in the evening to pray the rosary together. We prayed to the Mother of God, and it felt quite natural, for we knew that she was our mother as well.

Continue reading Cardinal Joseph Tobin’s latest newsletter in English or Spanish.