Pray For Us Holy Mother of God

Holy Mary, an ordinary lady, received extraordinary favor from God our Father. Full of grace, Mary was conceived without sin to be the New Eve, the living tabernacle of the only begotten Son of God. At the Annunciation, Mary believed that she would have a child despite her profession of virginity. Blessed is she who believed that what was spoken to her by the Lord would be fulfilled (Lk 1:45). She agreed to submit herself fully to the will of God and gave a complete and total Yes to the Word of God. Not only did she conceive Him but she also carried Him and gave birth to the “Word made flesh” (Jn 1:14). Mary embraced with joy the challenge to accept God’s call without hesitation and without knowing what lay ahead.

Even though her Yes was decisive for the accomplishment of the divine plan of salvation, Mary was free to say NO to the call of God. Her Yes is underpinned by a radical NO. Indeed, Mary said NO to her own will for the sake of the will of God. It required perfect cooperation with the grace of God and perfect openness to the action of the Holy Spirit. A lady of faith, Mary consecrated and devoted herself completely to God as the handmaid of the Lord. Her faith is the beginning of the new and eternal covenant of God with mankind in Jesus Christ.

The role of Mary in the history of salvation is not limited by giving birth to the Son of God. She believed in the salvation mission of her Son and followed Him step-by-step in His ministry. She lived her obedience of faith at the side of the sufferings and redeeming death of her Son. She was present at the cross where Jesus gave her to us – through John, the beloved disciple – as the mother of all humanity. She was also present in the Upper Room at the birth of the Church on Pentecost. She is the model of the Church in faith, trust, and perfect union with Christ.  

The Mother Church venerates her, the Mother of our Lord. Through special devotions, including the Rosary, we join her prayers for all of humanity. We ask her to intercede for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Even though the Rosary is clearly Marian in character, it is at heart a Christocentric prayer. “With the Rosary, the Christian people sits at the school of Mary and is led to contemplate the beauty on the face of Christ and to experience the depths of his love. Through the Rosary the faithful receive abundant grace, as though from the very hands of the Mother of the Redeemer” (John Paul II, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, N.1). Her maternal intercession is for all of humanity, in a special way for those who believe in her Son, Jesus. I experienced myself her intercession in my own life.

I lost my mother by car accident when I was seven. I could not believe my father, teachers, even our parish priest whenever they spoke about God as our good Father who protect us from harm. I used to wonder, if He was really a protector, how come He did not protect my mother from the accident?  Thank God I grew up in a diocese founded by the Redemptorist priests. The Diocese is under the protective care of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Thanks to the catechism, I came to consider Mary, the Mother of God, as my own mother. After losing my mother, I could not pronounce the word mother anymore in my life, except for our Mother Mary. I remember ten years after my mother's death, my father remarried. In African culture, I must call my father's wife mother. However, my father noticed that I was not doing so. When he asked me about the reason for my behavior, I had no answer. I did not know how to explain it to him. Only people who had my experience of losing a mother so early could better understand. I do not understand myself the fact that while I could not believe in God being our protector, I came to believe in the protective care of our Lady of Perpetual Help. Hence, began my devotion to Mary since I was a child.

When I became an adult, I wanted to be a priest of my diocese in the Congo. Unfortunately, I was not accepted in the seminary as I was considered too old.  I asked Our Lady of Perpetual Help to intercede for me to be a priest. Then I moved to Belgium for my studies. I went to Canada for my post-doctoral research. And Cardinal Seán O'Malley accepted me as a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Boston. In 2018, the year of my ordination to the priesthood, the cathedral of the Holy Cross was closed for renovations. Cardinal O'Malley ordained me a priest of Jesus in the Mission Church, Boston's Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. I had asked the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help for me to be a priest. After more than twenty years, I was ordained a priest under a big image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on the ceiling of Boston's Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Now you can understand why I pray Hail Mary every time I celebrate the Holy Mass. Please continue to pray for us Holy Mother of God.

Fr. Lambert Nieme