"Mama, we do everything better when we know you're here!"

When Mary lived on this earth, she could probably not have been simultaneously in Nazareth and in Cana. Now that she has, body and soul, entered forever into the glory of Heaven, she is completely free from the limitations of space and time and can be intimately present to all members of the Mystical Body of Jesus.

True Marian devotion does not only consist in saying a series of Hail Marys, but in getting into the habit of living under Mary’s benevolent gaze. Since her Assumption, her face has been transfigured. "Her eyes full of mercy " are constantly upon us, as we sing in the Salve Regina, and those eyes are most radiant with her wonderful smile.

"Mama, we do everything better when we know you're here!" These childish words illustrate in a way what happens when Christian life is illuminated by Mary’s maternal smile. It was this smile that Saint Bernadette Soubirous saw in 1858 in Lourdes, and Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus in 1883 in Lisieux. And yet, neither of them contemplated the fullness of Mary's maternal tenderness. If they had seen it, they would have died of happiness.

Only in Heaven will we be able to measure how much God, the Virgin Mary, and the saints love us. Nevertheless, these two girls from France saw something of Mary's smile and their lives were changed forever.

Father Pierre Descouvemont

In Marie au cœur de nos vies, (Mary in the Center of Our Lives) Paris, Cerf, 1999

Fr. Descouvemont (b. 1927) is a former philosophy professor, youth chaplain, and national counselor of the Notre Dame teams. He currently leads spiritual retreats and hosts Catholic radio programs in France.