With Mary, I have the strength to forgive

When I turn the matter over to Mary, I’m implicitly asking her to shelter my enemy as well as me, even if I’m too weak to ask for protection for my enemy explicitly. I can trust that Mary will make the prayer I was too worried or spiteful to offer, and thus I’ve found a way to minimally consent to that prayer. By putting myself under her protection, I’ve asked her to strengthen my heart, so that I can eventually echo her prayer with an undivided heart.

But sometimes, even that circuitous route to grace is too difficult to walk… Maybe I can’t even honestly ask Mary to shelter me because I’m reluctant to accept her loving help, or am too mired in self-pity to feel worthy of her attentions, or because I’m so furious with my antagonist that I’d rather refuse help than receive healing alongside him. In those times, I have to find an even easier way to make a tottering approach to God.

When I can’t honestly ask Mary to guide us both, I may be able to step back and say that I would like to be able to honestly ask Mary to guide us both, even if it’s impossible for me to say at present. Well, if God grants that prayer, I will be able to return honestly and without reservations to implore Mary to guide us both, and then, when he grants that one, I can rely on Mary to undo the original knot.

by Leah Libresco

Taken from Arriving at Amen: Seven Catholic prayers that even I can offer, Ave Maria Press AVE Notre Dame, Indiana, 2015