daughter of Mary

I've always heard that Mary is our Mother, she is Jesus' Mother and she is ours too.  It sounds awesome!  But it wasn't until yesterday in confession that I realized that I am a daughter of Mary!

Why I never made this connection before, I don't know but its awesome!  The priest gave me a penance to pray a Hail Mary that I would be strengthened to be a better daughter of Mary, that I would imitate my Mother's purity.  It sounded so simple but its still blowing my mind!

Scripture tells us that we are children of God, that we are adopted heirs to the kingdom through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Heb. 2:5-13, Rom. 8:16-17).  If we are His brothers and sisters, then it would also follow that not only is Mary our Mother, we are her children!  When I think of Mary as my Mother, I think of her love for me, of the ways that she wraps her mantle of protection around me, I think of how she guards my heart, how she interceeds for me with her Son and with our Heavenly Father.  She stands over me, she guards and guides my life in her maternal love, like she does for all her children.

But when I think of myself as her daughter, my role changes.  I get that she is motherly towards me, but as her daughter (much like with my own earthly mother) I am called and invited to imitate her best qualities: her unconditional yes to God, her purity of heart, mind, body and soul, her giving nature, her love for Christ, her hope, her surrender to God.  Suddenly, my love of Mary is deepened because as her daughter her love, her good qualities run in my veins.  Her love, her surrender to God is in me, and therefore I am beckoned to imitate her.

If Mary is my Mother and I am her daughter, then Christ is truly my brother!  The familial bonds deepen all the more: Christ is my brother, the apostles are my family upon whom I can depend to show me a path, a life full of purpose as we, as one family follow Christ, our head.  Furthermore, Joseph (literally and biblical Joseph) is my earthly father, showing me a beautiful, wonderful, true example of what it is to be a man, to follow Christ, to follow God and to listen to His words and follow His plan for life.

I am a sister of Christ, a daughter of Mary and Joseph, relatives of the apostles.  I find myself at the Nativity, I find myself holding my Mother as my Brother dies on the cross.  We are all members of the Holy Family.  Glorious.