TEEN TESTIMONY

As we celebrate the month of May, we commemorate one of the most beautiful gifts that our Lord has blessed us with. As He hung upon His cross, Jesus told John, “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:27). 

However, Jesus did not simply give His mother to John, He gave her to all of us. How wonderful it is that we have Mary as our Blessed Mother, for it is through her that we?are able to?reach her Son on a direct pathway. 

We are all called not only to be Christ-like, but to be Christ. However, we can too often be discouraged by the mystery that is the foundation of our faith, for the human mind favors what it can easily understand and relate to. The relationship between a mother and child is so needed and desired in a human life. Jesus gave Mary to us to be all our mothers, to give us this relationship.?

St. Padre Pio said, “Always stay close to this Heavenly Mother, because she is the sea to be crossed to reach the shores of Eternal Splendor.” By giving Mary to us as our Blessed Mother, Jesus has allowed us to partake in what is perhaps the strongest relationship that can ever be formed; the incomparable bond between a mother and her child. Jesus has incorporated us into this bond not only to show us the perfect and unending love that He has for us, but to help us on our journey to living as Christ in our everyday lives. 

Mary carries us and our prayers directly to her Son. How much easier it is to understand what our Lord desires from us in this life by having His mother to help guide us as she guided Him in His life on Earth.

Isabella Baaki is a 10th-grader at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School.