Christianity is not about having a smooth journey through life. If you are a Christian primarily because you like the consolation that prayer gives, the security that the Church’s deep intellectual tradition provides, or the earthly aid during hard times that Christ gives, you might be a Christian for the wrong reasons. Christ never promised any of these things. In fact, He often allows His greatest saints to suffer the deepest desolations, the greatest doubts, and intense derision.
What Christ has promised is twofold: to secure our route to Heaven, and aid us along the way. Of all these aids, the greatest is the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is for this reason that the Church honors Mary under the title of “Our Lady of the Way.”
The devotion to Our Lady of the Way is associated with the Jesuits because St. Ignatius founded the headquarters of his new order at the shrine of Our Lady of the Way in Rome (now the Church of the Gesú). This place seems fitting for Ignatius, who wrote about the Christian life as a pilgrimage. In the Spiritual Exercises he writes, “Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this means to save his soul…. Hence, man is to make use of [all things on the face of the earth] in as far as they help him in the attainment of his end, and he must rid himself of them in as far as they prove a hindrance to him.”
As a business student, I appreciate Ignatius’ frankness. Any good businessman knows to use their capital differently depending on his company’s goal. For example, if one wants to gain market share, one may forgo profitable margins in order to capture a new sector of the market. Similarly, Ignatius tells us here that if the only real end in life is to love God and, in doing so, to attain our salvation, let us spend our resources like it!
The catch, however, is that, no matter our talents as businessmen, we cannot make it to Heaven by our own efforts. Any honest look at ourselves or the world around us makes that clear. We are just about as capable of loving the way Christ has commanded us as we are capable of running a race with a broken leg.
The Good News, though, is that Christ has promised us His grace: “Behold, I will be with you always” (Mt 28:20). Although most of us imagine this promise entailing miracles or natural wonders, in fact, Christ rarely operates that way. Characteristically, Jesus prefers to give His aid in a subtler, yet more sublime, way. Often it is through his grace working quietly and slowly in our hearts, through “random” occurrences throughout the day or, most especially, in other people.
The greatest avenue through which Christ gives His grace is the person of Mary. The Church believes that just as Christ came physically into this world through Mary, so too does He continue to come spiritually through her.
For this reason, when it comes to giving us the grace necessary in our journey to Heaven, Mary is essential. When we are caught in the pain of sin, it is Mary who can give us the grace to break free. When our intellects are clouded and it is hard to see the truth, Mary can help us to see rightly again. When we are near despair and overwhelmed with sorrow, it is Mary who can help us unite this suffering with her Son.
Above all, it is Mary who can keep ever before our minds the true, objective goal of this life. When prayer seems dry, when nothing seems sure anymore, and when life’s heavy yoke is upon our shoulders, Mary gives us the grace to see, like Ignatius, these instances as avenues that God uses to bring us to heaven. These challenges may not be any less painful, but they will be used to pursue our true end.
Let us, then, always turn to Our Lady of the Way, asking for her intercession before God, especially through the rosary. As the collect prayer from the Mass of the Feast of Our Lady of the Way reads, “Grant that by faithfully following [Jesus’] example and teaching, and through the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may be led in safety to you, Lord.”
Featured image courtesy of Willgard via Pixabay
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