Welcome back to the Mother’s Day Novena from FaithND, an outreach of the Notre Dame Alumni Association.

Let us pray:

Mary, Our Mother, by accepting the invitation to bear God’s Son to the world, you brought forth new life for all of us. Your faithful acceptance of God’s word is our model and inspiration as we strive to make room in our hearts for your Son and bear him to others. Help us to follow him more closely, even to the foot of the cross, as you did.

During this month dedicated to you, we ask in a special way for you to care for each of our own mothers: (state your personal intention).

Reflection:

As we conclude our Mother’s Day novena, we reflect on the highest honor that God placed on any human being: the Blessed Virgin’s coronation as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. This German sculpture from the late 1400s depicts Mary’s coronation.

Catholics honor Mary as a human who was glorified through her profound faith and trust in God. Her title as the “Mother of God” dates back to the early centuries of Christianity and was rigorously defended at the Council of Ephesus in the year 431. Mary’s sorrows and joys, her hopes for her child and spouse, and her quiet endurance ring true to the experience of families today. She is easy to identify with, and through her faithfulness, God changed the world. We call her “Our Lady” and “Mother” because she is our mother in faith and our model of holiness. 

As the fifth Glorious mystery of the Rosary, Mary’s coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth calls each of us to lift our eyes upwards towards her Son. We ask for our Mother;s intercession, to carry our requests or offerings of thanksgiving to God—and we are confident that Mary will do so in her care for us as our Mother in faith. Her motherhood is the perfect example of sacrificing love, perfect trust, and a bold “yes” to all that God has in store for each of us. 

As we go about our own creative actions—writing or studying in school, earning a living for our families, cooking, baking, creating art, or, the most miraculous of creativity—bearing children, other immortal souls, and rearing them into saints—Mary serves as a model for how we can fully cooperate with God’s creativity. We, like Mary, are made in the image and likeness of God the Creator. It is our joyful duty to offer our work to God, so that the whole world may radiate God’s glory.

As we celebrate this Mother’s Day, we give thanks to God for the gift of our Blessed Mother, and seek to emulate her virtues. 

We come to her today, confident that she will intercede for us and our mothers to her son, through her tender care.

Mary our Mother, pray for us and for all mothers!

Let us pray:

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.

(Pause for a moment of silence. Then conclude:)

We pray, as in all things, through the name of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Closing Hymn – Alma Mater:

Notre Dame, Our Mother, tender, strong, and true,
Proudly in the heavens gleams thy gold and blue.
Glory’s mantle cloaks thee, golden is thy fame
And our hearts forever praise thee, Notre Dame.
And our hearts forever love thee, Notre Dame.

Image Credit: German, Coronation of the Virgin, ca. 1460, Wood with gilt and polychrome. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame. Gift of Mrs. F. H. Wickett, 1934.007.001.