“Mary is our Mother and she never ignores the prayers of her children.” 

From the time she was very small, Mo. Candida already had a love for Mary. Her love was not in the form of celebrating Mary's feast days and offering flowers alone. Her love, which we call a devotion to Mary, was in the form of a relationship. Mary was her mother and her best model of loving & following the Lord. She was Mother Foundress’ guiding star. For her, “ Mary is our Mother and she never ignores the prayers of her children.” In almost all of her letters, she would close with these words, “ May the Most pure Virgin shelter us beneath her mantle.”

In the Philippines, we love to celebrate the feast days of Mary by having processions, giving her flowers, and singing Marian hymns. But have we ever stopped to wonder at what our Heavenly Mother teaches us through her life? She was a simple and humble person with a great love for God; she was one who reflected before she acted. She followed her Son & stood by Him, in His joys, and when He was hanging on the cross. What are some of the things that you are called to imitate in her life? Why?

Sr. Cathy Cheong, F.I.