Looking for security? Look to Mary. Never was it known that she ever left her children unaided.
And just in case you have forgotten about this reassuring line of the Memorare, I would like to take the chance today to bolster our trust in Mary’s aid by sharing with you the following stories from the lives of the saints. One of them you probably know very well, but I am almost sure that the others will be well worth the read.
Never left unaided against temptations
When St. Anthony Claret was a young man, he had a terrible temptation against impurity but in the midst of it he heard Our Blessed Mother say to him, “Trust that through me you will win”.. Then, at his side he saw a whole army of demons attacking him but after making a prayer of trust to Our Lady he succeeded in driving away the temptation of impurity. From then on he enjoyed great peace with regard to chastity.
His prayer to Mary was this:
”O Holy Mother: Mary, behold your son.
In you, most sweet Mother, I have placed all my trust.
I give myself to you as your son and I ask you for the grace not to commit any sin.”
Never left unaided against Satan’s traps
In a vision St. John Bosco saw the devil playing at the door of a school: “Why don’t you enter the school,” asked the saint.
“Because in the school I already have people who replace me by making others offend God.”
“And who are these people?”
“Those who have bad conversations! Just one is enough for me to fill a boy’s or girl’s head with bad thoughts!”
“And who are those who defeat you?” continued the Saint, threatening him with a Crucifix.
“Those who defeat me are those who are sorry for their sins and make a good confession and who also frequently and fervently go to Holy Communion.”
“And who else?”
“I will not tell you!”
“You will tell me or I will pour holy water on you.”
And the devil, giving a howl, exclaimed: “I am defeated by those who are devoted to the Virgin Mary,” and disappeared (MB 10:42).
Never left unaided against our enemies
Finally we come to life of St. John Paul the Great. It was May 13, 1981, the Feast day of Our Lady of Fatima. The Holy Father was carrying on with his typically Wednesday schedule. After having lunch with some visitors (on this occasion it was geneticist Jerome Lejeune and politician and journalist Albert Michelini,) and taking care of a few more things on his agenda the Holy Father began preparations for the afternoon Audience. At 5:00pm he loaded into the Pope mobile to begin his ride around St. Peter’s Square. Roughly 15 minutes later shots rang through the air. The Holy Father was hit twice. One shot to the abdomen and another to his finger. Upon impact he fell into the arms of his secretary Fr. Stanisław Dziwisz. And within seconds of the impact the jeep was racing through the Square to the nearest ambulance.
Dziwisz later revealed that among the few things the Holy Father said during this time was, “Mary, my mother; Mary, my mother.”
Once in the ambulance—a brand new ambulance which the Holy Father had personally blessed only the day before—John Paul II was taken to Gemelli Hospital.
After arriving to the hospital, the Holy Father was administered the last rites by Fr. Dziwisz. This he did on recommendation from Dr. Renato Buzzonetti who saw that the Holy Father was losing a lot of blood. In the midst of rite, Dziwisz realized that the Holy Father was growing weaker and weaker, and again was whispering the name of Mary. “Jesus. Mother Mary. Jesus. Mother Mary.”
“I did it immediately,” recalled Cardinal Dziwisz later, “but I was completely torn up inside. … The Pope was fading.” Quietly groaning, his voice getting weaker, praying, Father Dziwisz could hear his fellow Pole saying, “Jesus; Mother Mary.” After the rite was finished, the Holy Father was rushed into surgery.
The surgery lasted five and a half hours. The surgeons had to clean the abdominal cavity remove 55 centimeters of ruptured intestines, sew up the Holy Father’s colon in several places, and even administer a blood transfusion of roughly six pints. Despite all the damage and blood loss, the surgeons were amazed at how the bullet fired at point-blank range barely missed all major organs and the main abdominal artery. If the bullet had hit the artery, the Holy Father would have never left St. Peter’s alive.
Was it bad aim that kept the Holy Father from suffering death on that historic 13th of May 1981? Or was there another hand at work? After recovering from this wounds the Holy Father later credited his survival to Our Lady of Fatima.
“One hand pulled the trigger,” he said, “but another guided the bullet.”
As a sign of his gratitude to Our Lady of Fatima, the Holy Father placed the very bullet that nearly killed him in Our Lady’s crown at Fatima, Portugal. In fact, neither the crown, nor the bullet needed to be resized. The bullet fit perfectly into the center of the crown.
The instrument intended to destroy became a sign of Mary’s motherly protection and triumph.
With Mary as Our Mother we are never left unaided!
Seize the day and make it all Hers!
