The letter to the Hebrews begins with the words, “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

God never abandons his people. He is inventive in ways how to reach the human heart and draw it to himself, in order to save it from itself and to bring it to the fullness of the life he wants to give us.

Also in our days, Our Lady, following the example of the Old Testament prophets, does not give up on us, her children. She is tireless, patient and persistent in her motherly invitations. She does not give up even when we give up on God and ourselves.

She went through a life similar to ours. She grew and progressed along the path of faith. She went through all the experiences of human life, all the suffering, pain, joy, loss and, finally, the death of her Son, Jesus.

Today she speaks to us from heaven, from where it is easier to see our spiritual condition. We, who live busy with daily worries and on the level of the body and the world, do not perceive another reality, the spiritual one, which alone gives and brings life. It is surprising how a person can be blind and not see that in God we live, move and have our being.

She, as our mother, best diagnoses our spiritual condition and sees our lostness. That is why, not only in this message, she calls us to return to God, to prayer, to God’s commandments, to fasting, to renunciation. In her words we hear the echo of the words of the Old Testament prophets who called God’s chosen people, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:7).

Even through the prophet Joel, God calls us, “Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.“ (Joel 2: 12-13). And Jeremiah writes this: “Return, each of you, from his evil way; reform your ways and your deeds.” (Jeremiah 18: 11)

When a person begins to return to the right path, he feels as if at the same time God would be returning to him, because he begins to become more and more aware of him. Return, man, to the Lord, your God! (Cf. Hosea 14:2).

Our Lady as our Mother tells us how lost we are. The hardest thing is to realize this lostness. The younger son from Jesus ‘ Gospel parable of the merciful Father tells us how difficulties were an opportunity for him to awaken spiritually. Difficulties and sufferings can be given moments in which our eyes are opened to see our lostness and to come to know God who is tenderness and mercy.

The gaze of God, which is gentle and full of tenderness, rests on us through Our Lady’s presence and closeness during all these years. Our Lady’s gaze is the gaze of a mother who loves her children and longs for us to begin to see God, ourselves and the world through her eyes, to become those who do not wander but walk in God’s ways of peace, joy and fullness of life.

Let us pray:

Our Lady, to you we take refuge, to you who tirelessly call us to the paths that lead to God. You have been and are all focused on God, you are filled with God, and you desire that from day to day we should be like you. Embrace and touch every heart with your motherly Immaculate heart. In a special way, we hand over to you hearts that are wounded, hard, desperate and without hope. Our Lady, pray with us and for us, for all of us who are lost, without light and wander aimlessly. You, Mary, who are full of grace, the Bride of the Holy Spirit, hand us over, bring us to your Son so that we may be more and more like him. Above all, we offer to you all those who have gone astray, those who are lost, and all those who have moved away from God.

Grant us all, O Mary, strength and humility for sincere repentance, conversion and return to the Father who awaits us all like the merciful Father in the Gospel who rejoices over each of his children who return to him. Amen.