Today, kids, I want to talk to you about Jesus’ mom. Raise your hand if you know who she is? Her name is Mary, but she is called the Blessed Mother because she was so blessed to have Jesus as her Son. Her whole life was special, and she was loved by God. Let’s take a look at her life and how she can help us!

Before Mary was known as the Blessed Mother, she lived a quiet life and was a very holy person. One day she was visited by an Angel! Have you ever been visited by an angel? I’ve never been visited by an angel either, but I bet that was really special! The angel Gabriel came to her and told her she was going to have a baby, his name would be Jesus and he would be our Savior. Well, Mary was so surprised, but she said yes to the angel and yes to God.

Once Jesus was born at Christmas, Mary watched out for him his whole life, and raised him with great love. She also traveled with Jesus when he was preaching across the land. She knew Jesus better than anyone because she was his mom. After he died and went to heaven, she was not only his mother, she was his disciple teaching everyone about him, and bringing people to know and love her Son. When Mary was old, Jesus brought her to heaven to live with him.

Over the centuries since then, an amazing thing has happened. Mary has appeared to people here on earth! And do you know who she appears to the most? Children! She loves children and she loves all of us too. When she appears, she always has an important message for us. She tells us that we need to love her Son Jesus, we need to follow what he taught us, and we are to pray… a lot. She really wants us to become close to Jesus and to love him like she does. 

The work of the Blessed Mother is still happening every day for us. Can she help us? You bet she can! She can help us when we pray. Imagine if your mom or dad was sick or sad, you would pray to God that they get better, but you can also then pray to the Blessed Mother to ask her to talk to her Son Jesus! Your prayer can be, “Please help my mom”, or “please help my dad.” Mary will take your prayer and bring it to Jesus. She will say, “I just got this very nice prayer from Emily or from Jake” and she will ask her Son to help you. How easy is that! And since Jesus loves his mother, he will listen to her and hear your prayer! That is powerful.

There are two other ways to pray to Mary. First is praying the Hail Mary. That simple, short prayer is one you can say with your parents or by yourself at bedtime or really anytime during the day. The Hail Mary tells her that you love her, and it asks her to pray to Jesus for you.

The other way is to pray the Rosary. This is an even more powerful prayer to Mary. Pope Francis prays the Rosary all the time and you can too!

So, kids, remember this. 

Mary loves children.

Mary loves her Son Jesus and wants us to love her Son too.

And Mary will bring our prayers to Jesus for us!

Parents, the same goes for all of us. Mary longs for us to love her Son and is our advocate when we pray and when we are struggling. Just even saying the Hail Mary has a calming effect on us, and the petitions we ask for when praying a Rosary, especially in Eucharistic Adoration, are heard loud and clear in Heaven. One of the most renowned writers of the Virgin Mary is Saint Louis de Montfort. In his book True Devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he penned the classic and simple truth, “To Jesus through Mary.” Said another way, our relationship with Jesus and our prayer to him is strengthened with the help of Mary. She is our advocate and our intercessor to her Son. If we are not calling on this Advocate for our petitions, we are missing out!