From the Cross, Jesus said to Mary as she stood with the Apostle John, “Woman, behold, your son” and to John, “Behold you mother” (John 19:26-27).

At that moment, Jesus gave us His mother as our spiritual mother. Just as it was once her task some 2,000 years ago to give birth to Christ, to feed and nurture him, and to help him grow and develop into a man, so also, Mary’s task is to give spiritual birth to Christians, to feed and nurture them with grace, and to help them grow to full stature in Christ. In short, Mary’s role is to help bring about our transformation into Christ, with her spouse, the Holy Spirit. When we’re consecrated to her, when we give her permission to be the spiritual mother she wants to be for us, she is free to do the much better in our lives.

It is the Holy Spirit who actually brings our transformation into being a greater Christian, starting at Baptism and then continues our transformation process.

But because Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35), when the Holy Spirit finds a soul consecrated to Mary, as St. Louis De Montfort says, “He flies there. He enters there in his fullness; he communicates himself to that soul abundantly, and to the extent to which it makes room for his spouse.”

One of the greatest tools that God uses to transform us into the likeness of his Son is the very instrument of our salvation: the Cross. But the Cross is not easy! Well, Mary helps make the crosses in our lives into something sweet. After all, mothers have a way of doing that. And this is why St. Louis de Montfort said that consecrating oneself to Jesus through Mary is the “easiest” way to holiness. It’s because Mary makes sure we don’t run away from the crosses that transform us – of course, with such a Mother as Mary, they’re not so scary!

St. Louis de Montfort said that Mary is not only the “easiest,” but also the “quickest” way to holiness, the quickest way to our transformation in Christ. It is simply a fact that Mary makes our transformation in Christ go more quickly. It’s simply a “secret in the order of grace,” and a gift in this time of mercy that by living the consecration, we are very quickly transformed in Christ. Endless testimonies bear witness to the truth of this. 

When we live our Consecration by doing our actions with and in Mary, she purifies them of self-love. And because good and selfless actions help transform us in Christ, this helps speed up process.

Pride slows, stops, and even reverses our transformation in Christ. But the opposite of pride is humility, and humility can accelerate our transformation in Christ. Well, when we consecrate ourselves to Mary, we give her the reward of all our good actions, and this helps make us humble.

Why? Because then we can no longer take credit for any good deed we do! Steeped in such humility, Mary and her Spouse can then use us for even greater things without those things puffing us up, which further transforms us. 

Mary’s whole role, as St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, is to bring us “face to face…with the love of the Heart of Jesus crucified.”

There at the Fountain of Mercy,  Mary teaches us to believe in, trust in, and drink deeply of the Lord’s love and mercy which profoundly transforms us in Christ.  Also, there at the Cross, Mary helps us to hear the thirst of Jesus for souls, which is the doorway to contemplative prayer, for such prayer deeply transforms us in Christ and gives us a heart like his.