Pope John Paul II has emphasized the unique role Mary plays in God’s eternal plan of salvation. In his encyclical letter Rich in Mercy, he devotes an entire section to Mary, the Mother of Mercy. “She is the one who has the deepest understanding of God’s mercy, the one who, more than anyone else, deserved and received mercy. Called in a special way to share her Son’s mission to reveal His love, she continues to proclaim His mercy ‘from generation to generation.’ ” Our Lady taught St. Faustina how to trust in her maternal intercession: “I am not only the Queen of Heaven, but also the Mother of Mercy and your Mother”(330). Mary taught her “how to love God interiorly and also how to carry out His will in all things”(40). “O Mary, my Mother, I place everything in your hands”(79). “O Mary, you are joy, because through you God descended to earth and into my heart” (40). “The more I imitate the Mother of God, the more deeply I get to know God”(843). “Before every Holy Communion, I earnestly ask the Mother of God to help me prepare my soul for the coming of her Son” (1114). The Rosary of Our Lady It is significant that Jesus requested that The Divine Mercy Chaplet be prayed on Rosary beads. In some way, then, the Lord is expecting that we have a relationship with His Mother through her Rosary.* By praying the mysteries of the Rosary and asking Mary to “pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death” we entrust ourselves to the “Mother of Mercy” the “All-Holy-One. ... And our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender ‘the hour of our death’ wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son’s death on the cross” (CCC 2676-2677). 51
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