Our Most Holy Mother has so many beautiful titles, created in their majority by the simple and spontaneous piety of the Christian people, inspired by the theology of love called "sensus fidei" (the sense of faith). These titles are warm, with the affection and aroma of genuine goodness. They are poetic, luminous and warm. They express a truth and they express it effectively. A whole Marian theology is contained in them. By repeating them, amorous ideas and feelings are intensified. Our title places us directly at the center of the true theology.

Mother: here is the synthesis of the greatness of Mary. She is Our Lady because she was a mother. Mother of Jesus Christ! This says it all. It is the very root of the "human" grandiosity of Our Lady. A woman achieves her natural fulfillment in becoming a mother. Mother is the most august title of and for a woman. Even a queen is not happy if she is not a mother; and a mother has in her maternity the secret of a joy and a pride which a queen does not know. A mother is blessed among women, as Mary is blessed among mothers.

That name of mother expresses the divine grandeur of Our Lady. She is the most high of all other creatures, because she is mother of Jesus, Son of Man, and Son of God. The divine greatness of the Son is reflected in His mother. Among mothers she is the blessed one; she is the blessed one because the fruit of her womb is called Jesus, and it is Jesus Christ.

Mary, mother of us all; in Jesus, universal mother, because she is a unique mother. Jesus love, action and sacrifice flood the world and the centuries, reaching to the ends of the earth, losing themselves in eternity. And where we find the ample effects of the love of Jesus, there we also find the widening effects of Marys love as well.

Yet this title, this condensed lyrical poem goes on: of Divine Providence, Mary, here, is placed in direct relationship with the Dogma of Gods Providence and we, through this relationship, are led to a most basic Dogma which Christianity shares with the most rudimentary forms of religion. Indeed, whoever comes close, whoever simply desires to come close to God, to take the smallest step toward God, must believe not only that He exists, but also that He gives equal reward for human works, that He is the "provider" in the most basic and highest meaning of the word (cf. Hebrews 11:6). If there are no bridges between heaven and earth, does it matter if heaven exists or not? Does it matter to us? This is why St. Paul proclaims that for our religious life the bare cold idea of a God does not suffice. God exists! So? What we need is the warmer, more luminous and more beneficial notion of a God who is provident, who thinks of us, who is concerned about us. Christianity is a religion that is warm and alive; Christianity, the full revelation of God, starts here and somehow is all contained here. Because once Providence, Gods Providence, is accepted, the rest follows, with an easy and marvelous logic of its own.

Everything in Christianity is absurd; everything would be absurd, if we were to deny or forget this great dogma of Gods Providence. Everything is easy if that dogma is joyfully accepted. Our entire concrete existence depends on it. Surely, Christian life is prayer; but one cannot pray to a God who is deaf by nature and impervious to our petitions. Christian faith calls for ordering our whole life toward a divinely established goal, or, to put it more simply, it calls for obedience to God. Now, we can really obey only a God who summons us in love. Also, Christian life is mainly resignation to suffering, but we cannot be resigned to suffering unless it comes from the Hands of a provident and loving Father.

Mary, Mother of Divine Providence, by her beautiful name and sweet title, leads us back to this authentic and wholesome Sacred Kernel of Christianity. Sweetly and relentlessly she introduces us into this atmosphere which we need to breathe in order to enjoy Christian vigor and strength.

The Mother leads us to the Father.