Mary Help of Christians, Mother of the Youth
The title of ‘Help of Christians’ cannot be today interpreted restrictively as if Mary only cared about the believers in Christ, from Christians
At the foot of the Son's Cross, and for Son's own initiative, the heart of Mary acquired an universal dimension: It was made MOTHER OF ALL PEOPLE.
The Church of today is facing a great challenge:
A WORLD WITHOUT FAITH IN GOD!
A Church without GOD or with any god‌ becomes
immediately a NGO
“Some people expressly deny the existence of God . Others maintain that people cannot make any assertion whatsoever about God. Still others admit only such methods of investigation as would make it seem quite meaningless to ask questions about God. Many, trespassing beyond the boundaries of the positive sciences, either contend that everything can be explained by the reasoning process used in such sciences, or, on the contrary, hold that there is no such thing as absolute truth. With others it is their exaggerated idea of humanity that causes their faith to languish; they are more prone, it would seem, to affirm humanity than to deny God. Yet others have such a faulty notion of God that when they disown this product of their imagination their denial has no reference to the God of the Gospels. There are also those who never enquire about God; religion never seems to trouble or interest them at all, nor do they see why they should bother about it. “
Gaudium et Spes, 19-21
Virgin Mary is a sign of FAITH.
In ancient texts she is called DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM, who is the Father of the Faith.
Like our Father Abraham, also Mary believed what the Angel told her and she obeyed.
FAITH is not a system of
believes‌ It is an attitude marked by OBEDIENCE to the Plan of God.
Why Don Bosco changed from Mary Immaculate to Mary Help of Christians?
The IMMACULATE VIRGIN invites us to live our Faith in our heart. The Interior of our Being. She is the Devotion of the Interior Life.
Prayers to the Immaculate Heart of Mary Immaculate Heart of Mary, full of love for God and mankind, and of compassion for sinners, I consecrate myself to you. I entrust to you the salvation of my soul. May my heart be ever united with yours, so that I may hate sin, love God and my neighbor, and reach eternal life with those whom I love. May I experience the kindness of your motherly heart and the power of your intercession with Jesus during my life and at the hour of my death. Amen.
Until now we have celebrated THE IMMACULATE, and in that day our festive Oratories have begun. But the Virgin, She wants us to venerate her under the title of AUXILIATRICE (Helper): Times are so sad that we need May the Blessed Virgin help us TO CONSERVE AND DEFEND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH �. (Don Bosco. MB VII, p. 288)
Why is Mary Help so POWERFUL against evil?
To understand why Virgin Mary is so powerful against evil‌ let us see one character first‌
Saint Michael the Archangel – Guardian of the Church He is represented like a great warrior that holds the Evil down with his celestial sword.
But in ancient traditions like the Book of Enoc, Michael is described in other way:
Michael, the merciful and long-suffering Book of Enoc 40, 9
Father Gabriel Amorth, the Italian exorcist (died in 2016), said that the image and mention of Virgin Mary is very powerful against demons‌
In one of his books he writes something that has to see with a sort of interview to one demon:
P. Amorth: "What are the virtues of Our Lady that most anger you?“ Satan: “She infuriates me because she is the humblest of all creatures and because I am the proudest. Because she is the purest of all creatures and I am not. Because she is the most obedient to God and I am the most rebellious. “ P. Amorth: "Why do you fear more when I say the name of Mary than when I say the name of Jesus Christ?“ Satan: "Because I am more humiliated to be defeated by a mere creature than by Him."
HUMILITY, PURITY & OBEDIENCE DEVOTION TO MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS leads the baptized to live HIS CHRISTIANITY OUTSIDE, in the key of Christian militancy: attentive to the world in which lives with "their joys and their hopes, with their sadness and anguishes �(GS 1), to face their multiple needs, making solidarity with the human race and of its history.
For the MEDITATION: 1.What is FAITH in my live? 2.How can the Virgin Mary help me in that FAITH? Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God. ... John 8:24 unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins. Isaiah 45:7: I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.