The riches of the saving love of Jesus are inexhaustible. From his pierced side flowed a stream of eternal life, the source of sacramental life for the Church. He came to bring universal salvation, and he was lifted up to draw all men to himself. He extended his arms on the Cross to gather the whole human family into his embrace. “Far as east is from west, high as heaven above earth, is his mercy on those who fear him” (Ps 103, 11.12).

Jesus has made visible and tangible to us the eternal love of his Father so that, looking on whom we have pierced, we come close to the glorious vision of the Father, who so loved the world that he sent his only Son to save us. That saving intervention of our loving Father through his Son has a history, and in that history Mary, Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the redeemed, has a vital role. She enters closely into the universal mission of her Son. As the arms of her Son were extended on the Cross, so also were the arms of his Mother extended to gather the whole human family into her maternal embrace. In the phrase of Gerard Manley Hopkins, she ‘mantles the guilty globe.’

Two Hearts
The sword that pierced the side of the Saviour reveals his heart full of mercy.

In that very moment there was revealed the double martyrdom of hearts. St.

Bernard says, “no sword could penetrate your Son’s flesh without piercing your

soul,” In that terrible moment when man had no mercy on God, a loving God

showed his supreme and tender mercy on man. Likewise, in that same moment,

man had no mercy on the Mother of the Redeemer, as she was uniting herself

with his offering, and was experiencing the mystery of the Cross, Pope John

Paul II described the moment: “Mary made possible with the sacrifice of her

heart her share in revealing God’s mercy, She is the one who had the deepest

knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy."
So we start our journey to the heart of Mary, to the heart of the universal mother, where there is a place and welcome for all of us. She opens up to us a vision of God’s mercy that goes back along the centuries of waiting, and forward to all future ages. In the first moment of her motherhood, as she stood in wonderment before the great things God had done to her, she poured forth a song of praise of his mercy, “His mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him” (Lk 1,50). Her motherhood reaches back and forward. As Pope John Paul II put it, “we have every right to believe that our generation was included in the words of the Mother of God when she glorified that mercy shared in ‘from generation to generation’. Her words have a prophetic content that concerns not only the past of Israel but also the whole future of the People of God on earth.”
Our reflection on Mary has as its purpose the unveiling for us of the glorious vision of the merciful love of her Son. That vision filled her soul, with delight. It was the centre of the mysteries which she pondered, treasuring them in her heart. Just as she walks the road with the pilgrim Church on its onward journey she also leads us back along the road of the pilgrim people waiting and longing for the Redeemer.

Towards the Father
Mary was the great believer. She made her own, the faith of the poor ones of Israel who remained faithful, and so she was totally ready to receive the Word into her heart. She, more than any other creature, was able to read the designs of his heart to deliver them from death, and feed them in time of famine.
She now stands at the meeting-place of two worlds, the world of waiting and the world of fulfilment, which can take us back to the dawn where Paradise was lost.
We shall try to live the great saving event of our salvation in her presence. It will be an experience full of joy. A child is always at home in the presence of his mother, and, as well, he is constantly learning from her. A mother is always opening out new horizons to her children. Her children are many. Even so, she gives her personal care to each of us. The universal mother, like her Son, lavishes on each of us the love given to an only child.
And as it is His mission is to lead us to his Father, so also is hers. The Second Vatican Council has described it as her role. Mary figured profoundly in the history of salvation and in a certain way unites and mirrors within herself the central truths of the faith. Hence when she is being preached about and venerated, she summons the faithful to her Son and his sacrifice, and to love for the Father,” when she summons us to follow.