Kisses for Our Lady

Last night I was scrolling down my Facebook news feed, which some might better describe as "wasting my time."  This is an activity that I enjoy so much when I find happy things on there, like loads of new pictures of my nieces' newborn daughters, or e-cards that are funny, relevant, and clean...but not so much when it's jam-packed with inappropriate humor, political rants, and instructions to "like" something, or else--you know, as in: if I don't hit the "like" button on every worthy sentiment I see on my news feed, it'll be obvious to the Facebook world that I have no heart.  I don't want to be instructed by FB that I need to prove how much I care about things by "liking" every post I see on there.

I'm stubborn about what I will and won't do on Facebook.  I actually try to use it mostly as an easy way to send a quick message to family or friends, or to look at the on-line photo albums of people I love and don't see often enough.  I don't post a whole lot on there, because as far as telling people details of my life, or how I feel about things...hey, I've got this blog for that!  (Guffaw!)

Sometimes, shared images and stories that come across my FB news feed are really touching, and I realize that without this powerful form of social media, I might never have had a chance to see them.  I rarely "like" the shared posts, but last night I joined more than 980,000 people and I hit that button--and hit it hard.  Last night, this is the image that made me realize I probably can't quit Facebook:

Isn't this the sweetest picture you've ever seen?  What made that little guy have the urge to kiss that statue of Our Blessed Mother?  Did his mom tell him to do it, or was he compelled to kiss Her by that purity of soul that only small children and saints ever really possess?

This FB image gave me a distinct feeling of deja vu.  A long time ago, when I was a newbie blogger, I did a post about a little boy on our street who felt compelled to kiss the statue of Mary that was in a garden area out in front of our house.  His family was Catholic in name only, and there was really no reason for him to know the significance of our humble little garden statue.  But just like the little boy in the Facebook-shared picture above, he felt he needed to "kiss the lady."  I'm going to share that post with you again here.

 

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Our Lady Speaks to Us

Here is a little story about an incident that occurred in front of our house. It still gives me goosebumps when I think about it.

We have a statue of Mary in a perennial garden in our front yard, not too far from the sidewalk. It's not a particularly large one (about 24 inches tall) or pretty one (just heavy plastic made to look like concrete or granite). But years ago, a neighbor of mine came to me and told me how it had affected her then 3-year-old son. She said they were out walking one day, when suddenly he looked at it and said, "I have to kiss the lady," and he went over and kissed our humble statue. "The lady"! What had drawn him to Her? My neighbor and her husband were Catholic and their boys had been baptized; but they were not practicing their Faith. The incident surprised her, and she made a point to tell me about it the next time she saw me. She thought I would be delighted, and I was.

 

It does not surprise me at all that a 3-year-old boy would be drawn to an image of the Blessed Mother, even though he had no idea who She was, because a little child's soul is so pure. This story, to me, is proof that Our Lady speaks to us, and we must open our hearts with childlike love so that we can hear Her.

 

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One thing I forgot to add when I originally recounted this story is that after the first time this little neighborhood boy told his mother he had to kiss the lady, he could never see that statue without stopping to kiss it.  He had to kiss Mary every single time he passed by Her.

 

It's no wonder that "Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world..."