Our need of the Virgin Mary

Fr. Livio Tonello, director

When in difficulty we turn to our mother. Throughout history in mankind’s hardest moments Christians have always turned to the Virgin Mary for help. This brings to mind the marvellous hymn of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) “If the winds of temptation arise; if you are driven upon the rocks of tribulation look to the star, call on Mary”. The Church does nothing but renew among Christians the devotion to Mary the mother of God and our Mother. It is no coincidence that Pope Francis in his extraordinary moment of prayer to the Lord on Friday 27 march 2020 to free us from the coronavirus, through medicine, prudence and science, wanted the image of the Virgin “Salus populi romani” (the Salvation of the Roman people) and the crucifix of San Marcello to be present in Saint Peter’s square during the Urbi et Orbi blessing. These are not totems but signs, in this case reassuring, that man needs to implore grace from heaven: Lord, deliver us from Evil. The first public prayer addressed to her of which we have knowledge (we are in the third century after Christ, during the time of persecution) sounds like this “Beneath your compassion, We take…