Mary, born of Saints Ann and Joachim, we pray today for all who turn to you in troubling times. Help us to accept the Holy Spirit in our lives, as you did, to be examples of faith to all, especially those entrusted to our care. Amen.

Mary of the Annunciation, we pray today for our mothers and for all women who wish to become mothers. Bless those couples struggling with infertility, those hoping for a child, and each one of us with the consoling joy of the Spirit you found in surrendering to the will of God.

Mary of the Visitation, we pray today for the support of all mothers raising children. May they receive the warm welcome and material assistance of family members and their communities in the sacred task that has been entrusted to them.

Mary of the Nativity of your child Jesus, we pray today for all pregnant women preparing for child birth and those who have welcomed a newborn child, particularly for those experiencing complications or difficulties. Inspire those who suffer and those who rejoice to trust in God’s loving plan for our lives.

Mary of the Flight into Egypt, we pray today for all those who are displaced from their homes especially mothers and children. By the example of the protection you and your spouse, Joseph, provided for our Lord, strengthen them and be their hope in their time of need.

Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, we pray today for our mothers and for all those who are grieving the loss of a family member, particularly mothers and fathers who grieve their children, just as you did when your son was crucified. Welcome all of our loved ones with open arms into the joy of your Son’s kingdom.

Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, we pray today for our mothers and for all families who are in the midst of trials: medical difficulties, brokenness, discord or pain. Bring into their lives the healing that has been offered to so many through your apparition at Lourdes. Bless all of us with your peace and your trust in God, even in the midst of infirmity and pain.

Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, we pray today for mothers across borders. Inspire us to look beyond our own communities to love and support mothers in all places, especially the poor and marginalized, as you cared for the vulnerable indigenous people at the time of your apparition in Tepeyac.

Mary, Mother of God, we pray today that your motherhood of Jesus, truly God and truly human, might inspire us to imitate God’s care for all of creation, just as you so perfectly modeled for us in you care for God’s only Son. We pray today in thanksgiving for our mothers, our grandmothers, for religious women, and for our female mentors who have cared for us with your tender love. Through your intercession, may God bless our mothers on earth with abundant life and those mothers who have departed from this life with the eternal joys of life in heaven.

Dr. Joseph Becherer, Executive Director of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, reflects on Giovanni Martinelli’s Memento Mori: Death Comes to the Table for Ash Wednesday.

Fr. Austin Collins, CSC, Vice President for Mission Engagement and Church Affairs and Professor of Art, reflects on Saint Paul the Hermit by Jusepe de Ribera.

Katy Stalter, second year Master of Divinity student, reflects on Saint Carlo Borromeo and the Plague Stricken by Giacinto Brandi.

John Cahill, Congregation of Holy Cross Seminarian, reflects on Christ Blessing by Alessandro Oliverio.

Kelton Castillo, Art Undergrauate Major, reflects on Forging of the Cross by Henry Mosler.

Mary Kate Kocovski, Economics and Theology Major, reflects on themes of hope and liberation in the Finding of Moses by Charles de la Fosse.

Margaret Schlueter, Master of Divinity student, reflects on the life of Christ and the genesis of the church seen through a Chalice sculpted by Charles-Eugene Triollier.

Lucy Schultz, Masters of Fine Arts Industrial Design major, reflects on the Rejection of Cain’s Offering and the Sacrifice of Manoah by Gaetano Gandolfi.

Hilary Ott, Academy Advancement Director for Arts & Architecture, reflects on Lot with his Wife and Daughters Cast Out of Sodom by William Hamilton.

Emily Normand, the Lilly Endowment Museum Fellow for Religion and Spirituality in the Visual Arts at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, reflects on the Annunciation, attributed to Peruvian artists.

Kolton Koubsky, senior Theology and Marketing major, reflects on the scrutiny brought to the faith (and art) post-Enlightenment from the perspective of the Adoration of the Magi by Jacopo Amigoni.

Anders Ove, Art Handler at the Raclin Museum of Art, reflects on the Holy Trinity from the perspective of the Byzantine Tradition.

Emmanuel Ufio, Master of Science in Finance candidate, reflects on how we might encounter the intimate gaze of Christ through Madonna and Child by Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli.

As we draw ever closer to Holy Week, Catalina Scheider Galiñanes, junior Economics and Political Science major, reflects on Christ Carrying His Cross by Gian Francesco de Maineri.

Joshua Johnson, first-year Civil Engineering Major, reflects on what appears like foolishness to the world through the Martydom of Saint Andrew by Francesco Trevisani.