The Virgin Mary’s Role in Our Spiritual Life

On this day the Blessed Virgin began a new vocation and, as Queen of Heaven and Earth, leads us to our sanctification in a special way. As Co-Redemptrix and our Heavenly Mother, Our Lady dispenses the graces won for us on the Cross. She sees us and loves us as her children, with a burning desire for our happiness. Truly it is said of Our Lady that she is “our life, our sweetness, and our hope.” The Virgin Mary is the visible assurance of the promises of God, because all the privileges given to her will be given to us in proportion. She has given us innumerable sacramentals to aid us in saving our souls. Certain privileged souls are even blessed by a mystical union in which they experience the loving and direct guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in their daily lives. After the Ascension of Our Lord, the Apostles could not help but feel sorrow at His departure. During this first novena, they underwent the passive purification of soul. Our Lady’s guidance through this dark time was a type of the role she would have in Heaven for all the faithful in the ages to come.