Mary as a mother

Spending time with Our Lady during summer

Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St Luke  (1:26-45)

 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”

 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!”

The Word of the Lord
Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ

Mary has great faith in God.  She accepts God’s will for her life.

How do we respond to what God asks of us?

What were Mary’s thoughts after the Angel Gabriel departed?

She doesn’t seem to have thought much about herself, because she hurried to Elizabeth!

How do we respond, when someone asks us for our help?

Mary teaches us

  • although we do not always understand what God wants of us, we should obey, because God always wants all that is good for us;
  • When we do God’s Will, we sometimes have to make sacrifices as well as cancel plans that we might have made;
  • We should always be aware of the needs of others and help them according to their needs, even when they do not ask for our help.

Jesus, help us to say ‘yes’ to all that You ask of us.

Jesus, help us to imitate your Mother by loving others and by being generous with our time and talents.

Pray the First and Second Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.

  • Discuss with your parents where you can make a prayer corner with a statue of Our Lady.  The statue can be placed on a table in the dining room, or in your bedroom or else in your yard or garden.

You will need:

  • A statue or picture of Our Lady, if you do not have one you can draw a picture (link to Bekids pic)
  • A plastic water bottle
  • Scissors
  • Paint, any colour you like
  • Paint Brush
  • Decorations and glue
  • Flowers

With your parents help, cut the top part of the plastic bottle so that it can be used as a vase; then paint it according to your liking and stick your decorations on the bottle.  You can place fresh flowers in your vase or you can make them from tissue paper (see here). Our Lady will be happy with the flowers you make for her.

What else can you do to decorate Our Lady’s corner?

When you have completed Our Lady’s corner, take a photo and send it to us with your name and age.

  • Help somebody without being asked
  • You can do something as a family, maybe assist with a group in your Parish that helps the poor and elderly
Colouring page download

In Malta and Gozo there are many Churches and chapels dedicated to Our Lady.

Do you know who Our Lady’s Parents were?  (St Anne and St Joachim)

Churches and Chapels dedicated to St Anne:

  • Marsascala
  • Żebbiegħ
  • Dwejra (Gozo)

One of the most important feasts in our Church is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.  We celebrate this feast each year on the 8th of December.  On this feast day we commemorate when Our Lady was conceived without sin.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated:

  • Bormla
  • Ibraġġ
  • Ħamrun
  • And ‘il-Kunċizzjoni (limits of Rabat)

The Church also celebrates the Birth of Our Lady on the 8th of September.  This feast is celebrated in:

  • Isla
  • Naxxar
  • Mellieħa
  • Xaghra (Gozo)

The feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady by the Angel Gabriel is celebrated in:

  • Tarxien
  • Balzan

In the limits of Rabat, there is also a chapel dedicated to the Annunciation of Our Lady

The Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady to St Elizabeth is celebrated in the village of Gharb in Gozo

Don’t forget to send in your photos when you visit anyone of these Churches.