“To Feel Her Care and Love”

By Marysia Kasprzak, Assistant Program Director, Don Bosco YLC, Montréal, QC

My devotion to Mary started early on in high school when my sister brought me back a little statue of Our Lady of Fatima. After receiving it, I remember reading about the 15 promises of the Rosary and being so amazed. From that day on, I decided to pray the Rosary every day in front of my little Mary. At the time, I thought of the Rosary and my devotion to Mary as my secret weapon to getting my prayers answered. However, over the years, Mary would become so much more to me—She would become my second Mother and someone whom I could always turn to for help and consolation.

When I was 17 years old, I decided to leave home (British Columbia) and move to Montréal to attend university. My flight was scheduled to leave BC on August 22—the feast of the Queenship of Mary—and I’ll never forget how my sister told me that this was a sure sign that Mother Mary would be looking after me on my new journey. And she was right. Being so far away from my family, Mother Mary and Jesus became my second set of parents and were the ones that I knew I could always turn to for help.

I remember one time when I was feeling overwhelmed with one of my classes, homesick, and just so alone. I recalled something Mother Teresa had once said: "If you ever feel distressed during your day, call upon our Lady, just say this simple prayer: 'Mary, Mother of Jesus, please be a mother to me now.' I must admit, this prayer has never failed me." Sure enough, soon after saying this prayer, my Dad called me, and I felt a lot better after speaking to him. This taught me that it didn’t matter how small my problem or worry might be—I could always turn to Mother Mary and She would be there to help me. Since then, I have used this prayer many times. Regardless of whether it was something simple like that the car was about to run out of gas or some more extreme suffering, I found that Mary never failed to sweeten my cross in some way by comforting me and allowing me to feel Her care and love.

Recently, She has shown me yet again how Her kindness and care never fail. In October 2019, I got engaged. Now when my fiancé and I were first picking a wedding date, I wanted, hands down, August 22, since this day was a reminder to me of how Mother Mary was watching over me from the very beginning. However, since this date was in peak wedding season and at the time was less than a year away, it became quickly clear that there was no way this day would work. So, when everything fell into place for it to be May 2, I contented myself with the fact that we would be getting married in Mother Mary’s Month, even if it wasn’t my first choice.

Well then, the pandemic hit, and we had to postpone our date. This hurt so much, and the worst was that it wasn’t like we could pick a new date because no one knew when things would get better. It was a time of so much uncertainty, and so, as always when I was faced with some difficulty, I turned to Mother Mary. I entrusted my entire wedding to Her and had no doubt that She would arrange for our wedding day to be more beautiful than we had initially hoped for and that She would show the same kindness to us as She did to the couple at the Wedding of Cana. Things eventually started to get better, and it looked like the wedding would be happening soon. And then the next test of trust came: my husband-to-be fractured his foot. Again, the uncertainty returned of what to do: do we postpone again if he can’t walk or do we just go through with it? I knew I needed to trust Her, and I kept reminding myself of the story of the Wedding of Cana and how Mother Mary looked out for that couple even though they didn’t even ask (and we were definitely asking). This whole journey felt very surreal, and it was one of those times where you knew that because of all the suffering you’ve been through, the resurrection would have to be OUT OF THIS WORLD!

And it was—Mother Mary looked after every detail, and the wedding was perfect! I felt that every minute of the day was brought to perfection. I could so see Mother Mary’s hand in it all, as I was overwhelmed by God’s peace and joy! It was the most beautiful sunny day, and not only was my husband able to walk, but he was even able to dance our first dance. And to remove any doubt that Mother Mary had helped arrange this day, we got married on August 22, 2020—the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. :)