Praying to Our Mother of Perpetual Help
When I was a novice, Fr. Ray Nowak arrived to the health care wing of the building to recover from a recent stroke. The superior asked our help with Fr. Ray’s cognitive and speech therapy. We showed him familiar everyday items so that he could identify and name them. It was frustrating for him. One day when it was my turn, I took a Redemptorist 15-decade rosary, a mission crucifix, a Bible and an image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Fr. Ray had trouble identifying the rosary, crucifix and Bible. When I showed him the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, his eyes lit up and he became animated. Exasperated he tearfully said “I don’t know her name, but she is my mother!” Wow. Those words came right from a son’s heart!
Our Mother of Perpetual Help holds a special place in the spirituality of the Redemptorists, who received a papal mandate in 1866 to spread this devotion throughout the world. Here is the story in a nutshell: in the 1860s Redemptorist Fr. Michael Marchi recalled how, as an altar boy, he was shown the long-lost original icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help at the monastery of the Augustinians. He learned that it hung in St. Matthew’s Church since 1499, and was rescued when Napolean’s troops ransacked the church in 1798. Our Mother of Perpetual Help was finally found! Pope Pius IX entrusted the icon to the Redemptorists, since their new church of St. Alphonsus stood near the spot of the former St. Matthew’s. This year we celebrate 160 years since the Redemptorists have been entrusted by Pope Pius IX to “make her known throughout the world!” Thus began the long love story between the Redemptorists and Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
Redemptorists embraced this mandate as a mission of evangelization to make the mercy and tenderness of God visible through Mary. All these years, the Redemptorists have preached, taught, and celebrated weekly novenas to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on every continent, with millions turning to her in prayer for consolation and strength.
The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is far more than religious art. It is a “window into the mystery of God’s mercy.” The icon portrays Mary presenting the Child Jesus to us. Her gaze, however, is not fixed on Him but on us, her children, inviting us into the divine mystery of love and redemption. She directs us to our Redeemer, and invites us to participate in His saving mission.
To contemplate the icon is to experience a “spirituality of tenderness.” Mary’s eyes meet ours with compassion; she sees the pain and injustice of the world and invites us to share in her mission of bringing Christ’s mercy to others. Mary is truly our mother!
Fr. Ed Vella, C.Ss.R.
Redemptorists of the Denver Province
In This Issue:
Celebrating Our Mother of Perpetual Help
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