The Many Faces of Mary

In the little town of Lykens, Pennsylvania there is a parish church dedicated to Our Lady, Help of Christians. This church has a long, rich history. The church was blessed in 1852 by St. John Neumann. I know the church quite well because I used to offer Mass there often on weekends.  One of the beautiful and interesting aspects of the church is the stained glass in the windows.  Each window is devoted to an image of the Blessed Mother from her various titles and apparitions. There is Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, Our Lady of La Salette, and so on. These windows are a reminder that while Our Lady is one person, in God’s plan she comes to us at different times, in different places and in different circumstances to draw us closer to her Son. When we, her children, need her most, she comes to us in a way that tells us how close she is to us.
           
I had the great joy just this past Sunday of gathering at the Church of St. Catherine of Siena in Beechview to celebrate Holy Mass with our Brazilian brothers and sisters in honor of Our Lady of Aparecida. Our Lady under this title is the patroness of Brazil.  In 1717 her beautiful carved statue was found by some fishermen as they cast their nets in the Paraiba River in Brazil.  The wooden statue is an image of the Immaculate Conception, less than three feet tall and dark in color.
           
The three fishermen prayed to Our Lady for a great catch of fish before they found the statue. Little did they know that she would answer their prayers by catching not fish, but a great number of souls through the centuries.   This catch continues today as people come to ask for her powerful intercession and to venerate her image. Her full title is Nossa Senhora da Concepção Aparecida—Our Lady of the Conception Who Appeared. She appeared when her children needed her. She appears to us in our daily lives that are often so filled with crosses, sorrows and challenges.
           
Many times I return in my imagination to the Church of Our Lady of Christians and I see each of those beautiful windows dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I am reminded how she has come to me and to all of us just when we needed her.
           
She comes to us as Our Lady of Lourdes when we are faced with illness and the need for healing.  Sometimes this healing needed is for our own body or soul or for someone we love. As she did by directing St. Bernadette to the spring of water at Lourdes, Our Lady directs us to the water of Baptism, whereby we become members of Christ’s Body the Church. United to His Body all of our sufferings then finds meaning in Jesus’ Passion and Death.
           
She comes to us as Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima to teach us that the Rosary is a powerful weapon for peace, repentance and the end of war. She reveals to us her Immaculate Heart and assures us that she will always be our refuge and our way to God. She begs us to do penance for our sins and the sins of the whole world, assuring us that, “In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph!”
           
At times of great sadness in our lives, she comes to us as Our Lady of LaSalette with her head buried in her hands weeping. She manifests to us her deep love and concern for us especially when we may stray from the path indicated to us for our salvation.
           
When we need to be wrapped in her maternal love as we fear what may happen, she comes to us as Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  Our good Mother places at those crucial times her mantle of love, her scapular, over us to tell us that she envelops us in her prayer and protection.
           
I have come to believe more and more deeply in my life that if I want to be intimately united with Jesus, I must come to know and love His Immaculate Mother. She always brings me to her Son.
I know why our good Brazilian brothers and sisters, who bless us by their presence in our diocese, love Our Lady of Aparecida. She always appears in their life when they need her so much. They teach us that the Blessed Mother is always with us. Whatever our favorite image or title of Our Blessed Mother may be, we can say she is “Aparecida” because she always shows us her face beaming her motherly love for us.

O Holy Mother, you never fail to appear when we need you.
 Pray for us and bring us to the Heart of Jesus!

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh