Mother Mary in me

I just recently read the book "The Secret Life of Bees" and I love the way the author wrote about Mother Mary. Since today is Mother Mary's feast, here are some excerpts:

Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She's not the statue in the parlor. She's something inside of you...

You don't have to put your hand on Mary's heart to get strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life... You can place it right here on your own heart. Your own heart...

All those times your father treated you mean, Our Lady was the voice in you that said, 'No, I will not bow down to this. I am Lily Melissa Owens, I will not bow down.' Whether you could hear this voice or not, she was in there saying it...

When you're unsure of yourself, when you start pulling back into doubt and small living, she's the one inside saying, 'Get up from there and live like the glorious girl you are.' She's the power inside you...

And whatever it is that keeps widening your heart, that's Mary, too, not only the power inside you but the love. And when you get down to it, Lily, that's the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love - but to persist in love...

(From 'The Secret Life of Bees', by Sue Monk Kidd)

Yes, not just to love but to persist in love, like Mary at the foot of the cross.