Sometimes a person is assaulted by desolation and does not know what it is. The confessions of men or women who approach us and open up to us are simply, shocking. They say they do not know what it is. It is, they say, something confusing, and complex inside, absolutely inexplicable, which makes them feel a heavy, sadness that is impossible to get rid of. They add that at such moments, the only thing that gives them relief is to go to the “Mother” crying out: “life sweetness and our hope, turn thine eyes of mercy toward us!”
They say, they always say, that it is impossible to explain it: one day dawns and, for no apparent reason, they begin to feel a vague and deep impression of fear. They feel pessimistic, as if rejected by everyone. If they have a hundred memories, ninety-five of which are positive, the five negative memories are fixed in their minds, and they are overcome, without being able to get rid of it, by a strange feeling of sadness, fear and shock, without knowing why, they feel like dying. And they add that, at such moments, only the evocation of the “Mother” with the words of the Hail Mary gives them relief, regaining positivity and are able to breathe again.
Throughout our lives we have assisted many people on their deathbeds. Even today many of these memories are still alive in me. When a dying person, despite the vain words of the relatives, senses that he is going, swept away by the inexorable current of decay, how many times have we seen that dejected face light up as all the family members recited the Hail Mary in chorus: “To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To thee do we send up our sighs, Mother of Mercy and our Sweetness.”
In countries with a Catholic tradition, one is often impressed by the depth of Marian devotion on the coasts of sailors or fishermen. In many places, when fishing boats go out to sea, they do so always, singing the Hail Mary.
I have seen people imprisoned, stigmatized by public opinion and abandoned by all their relatives and friends; I have seen them discreetly visited by a lonely woman their own mother. A mother never abandons, except when she has been taken by death. We need another “Mother,” one who is never overtaken by death.
Each one lives his life in a unique way and only he “knows” what is in its history: he suffers difficulties, he enters into desolation, his mood rises and falls, hopes die, suddenly he is surrounded by impossible situations, the next day hope is reborn, although it is difficult everything seems to have a solution… The struggle of life!
Mary is for every moment consolation and peace. She transforms harshness into sweetness and combat into tenderness. She is kind and gentle. She suffers with those who suffer, she stays with those who stay and departs with those who depart. The Mother is patience and security. She is our joy, our happiness and our stillness. The Mother is an immense sweetness and an invincible strength.
Taken from the book: “The silence of Mary”. Chapter III, section: “Consolation”. By
Father Ignacio Larrañaga
