A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai on a day of recollection in Ernescliff College on May 11, 2025.

I saw photos of Pope Leo XIV visiting Santa Maria Maggiore, praying in front of the Icon of Our Lady, Mother of God. She is showing us the child. She is showing us her son during the month of May when we have recourse to her.

We can ask him to stir up the fire of our faith. Put little twigs and branches into the fire. The best twigs to get that faith raging is the devotion to our mother, as mother.

It may be small now, but little aspirations, glances at images of our Lady are there to awaken something within us. 

Josemaria would as to “Stir up that fire of faith. Christ is not a figure that has passed. He is not a memory that is lost in history.” Mary seems to stir up devotion in us. She awakens our faith and makes us strong.

Music: Michael Lee of Toronto.

Thumbnail: Icon of Mary in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.