Many students have already begun, or will soon begin, a new school year. This time of year usually brings a mixture of excitement and anxiety: excitement about new friends, new experiences and new things to learn but anxiety about performance, expectations and “fitting in.” My recent experience of watching my two youngest sons make their Marian consecration sheds a beautiful light upon the road ahead.
A Path We All Walk
Much of life unfolds in repeating patterns of joy and stress: joy over what is new and exciting, and stress over what is uncertain and unplanned. One reassuring thing for today’s students to remember is that countless generations have reached this same moment in their lives and made it through, from one room schoolhouses to enormous university lecture halls. They not only survived but eventually thrived.
I encourage young people to ask their parents and grandparents what the first day of school was like when they were the same age. You may be surprised by how many feelings and experiences you share with them. At the same time, you will discover parts of their lives that differ remarkably from your own. When I asked my father about attending school in the early 1940s, for example, he told me that he walked there barefoot and put on his shoes only after he arrived so that he would not “ruin” his good shoes on the rocks along the way. What a strange idea that was to me! I would have thought the shoes were supposed to protect his feet from the rocks. But in his generation, money for shoes, and for many other basic necessities, was difficult to come by.
Young people, listen to the older generations. Their stories can be like good books, filled with adventure, unfamiliar worlds and strange and memorable characters. Their lives also remind us that the road before us is not entirely new. Others have traveled it before us, and we do not walk it alone.
Mary Walks with Us
My youngest sons are twins, and they recently made a consecration to Mary called the Covenant of Love through the Schoenstatt Boys’ Group. In many ways, they have been preparing for this consecration for six years. They have been learning what it means to become men of virtue, prayer and service. They have studied the life of Schoenstatt’s founder, Fr. Joseph Kentenich, as well as the lives of Schoenstatt heroes who lived their Covenant of Love with Mary faithfully, some even at the cost of their lives.
During this past school year, they focused more specifically on what they were promising Mary and what Mary was promising them. As I watched them prepare, I found myself wishing that I had received this kind of formation when I was a young man. The boys learned, among many beautiful lessons, the Schoenstatt expression “Mother takes perfect care.” This describes Mary’s maternal care within the Covenant of Love, but it also speaks to her place in the life of every baptized Christian. The Covenant of Love is a personal renewal of our baptismal covenant in which we entrust ourselves to Mary and ask her to form us as faithful disciples of her Son.
In this covenant partnership, we discover that Mary is not a distant or passive mother. She knows us. She knows human life, with its joys, uncertainties and sorrows. Most importantly, she knows what it means to follow Christ completely. In our doubts she reassures us; in our discernment she guides us; in our loneliness she accompanies us; and in every circumstance she leads us toward Jesus.
“Mother takes perfect care” does not mean that Mary prevents every disappointment or removes every rock from our path. Her own life included uncertainty, exile, suffering and the cross. Rather, she remains with us through everything and helps us recognize and trust the loving providence of God.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux said during her “Last Conversations”: “We know very well that the Blessed Virgin is Queen of heaven and earth, but she is more Mother than Queen.”
My twins are beginning to discover that they now live their lives in the heart of a mother. From the best mothers and grandmothers we have known, we understand that a good mother’s heart is tender, resilient, loving, creative, sacrificial and long suffering. How much more is this true of Mary’s heart?
Trusting the Road Ahead
A new school year approaches with all its promises, possibilities and apprehensions. Yet we can take comfort knowing that others have traveled similar roads before us and that the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Queen and Mother, travels with us. She does not shield us from every difficulty but accompanies us through them and continually leads us to her Son.
Whenever we encounter something that calls for help, we can turn confidently to Mary. Her mother’s care is never separate from God’s providence because her heart is completely united to his will. She helps us recognize the way God opens before us and trust the time he chooses. Therefore, if we ever bump up against something that seems like we could use a little motherly help, we can pray to God with Mary this beautiful prayer:
You know the way for me,
You know the time.
Into your hands
I trustingly place mine.
Your plan is perfect,
Born of perfect love.
You know the way for me,
That is enough. Amen.
