Mother of Christ pray for us!

In eighteen invocations of the Litany of Loreto we venerate Mary's Divine Motherhood in her Virginal purity. Six of the invocations glorify Mother of God with the title of Virgin whereas remaining twelve invocations glorify her with the title of Mother. Only the Holy Catholic Church could produce Litany so perfect through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as Birnbach rightly remarked. With the title of 'Mother' - we venerate her motherhood to long expected Messiah, the dawn after night of sin and separation from God. How remarkable and full of honour is this title we can see foretold and pre-figured in the Old Testament. Sara, the wife of Abraham gave him son, Isaac, the sign of covenant with God, at the age of ninety (Gen 17:19). How remarkable were these circumstances and the child born! It does resemble us of Mary and Jesus! Rachel, the wife of Jacob, gave birth to Joseph who later on came to Egypt's rescue in their biggest misery and was announced "The saviour of the world"(Gen 45:46). Isn't it reminiscent of Jesus and Mary? In the year 1250 before Christ, Israel greatly suffered under the tyrannical rules of Jabin, king of Chanaan. The woman named Debbora became Israel' deliverer and mother by sending army against Jabin and overcoming him (Judges 4-5). Again it reminds us of Jesus and Mary who stand up against satan, the worst enemy of mankind. In the year 630 Assyrians invaded the land of Israel. But Judith killed Holofrenes, the general of invader's army, by cutting his head off, and again Israel was saved (Judith 13, 6-10). It reminds us of Mary's defeat of satan through Christ. In the year 470, Israel was oppressed by Persians. But again, the woman, Esther, succeeded remarkably in rendering harmless Aman, the worst enemy of Israel, and in making the king Assuerus a friend of Israel (see Book of Esther). Once again we can see parallel to Mary who befriended God and defeated satan through Christ. In comparison with all these pre-figures, however, we can recognize how different Mary was. Giving us Christ she gave us all at once - redemption, grace, salvation and life everlasting. How much we should thank her and love her for this! Let us pray with joy:" Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou art the honour of our people" (Jud 15:10)