a) Who is the Blessed Virgin Mary?
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God and our Mother. She intercedes for us always and obtains graces from God for all our needs. We do not worship her, but rather ask her to pray to God for our intentions, just as we ask our friends or our priest to pray for us. Her prayers are most effective because she is closest to God in heaven.
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The Blessed Virgin Mary is our model. When God asked her to be Jesus’ Mother, she immediately answered, “Be it done unto me according to your Word.” She was full of joy because hers was a life of prayer, sacrifice, hard work and service to God and others.
b) How do we live our devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary?
The Altar Server can pray the Angelus, the Holy Rosary, and the Memorare during the day, as well as three Hail Marys at night before going to sleep. He may also say the Hail, Holy Queen on Saturdays (see Appendix for these Marian prayers). Mary accompanies us always, so we can talk to her anytime—when we pray, study, work, play, rest, go out with friends, etc. Whenever we see her image, we can greet her and renew our love for her. We always have our Rosary in our pocket and wear a scapular of Our Lady to increase our devotion to her.
Mary is, in a special way, the Mother of all priests. An Altar Server should always ask her to protect our Holy Father, our bishops and our priests. He can ask her frequently to obtain from God the gift of vocation to the priesthood for all Altar Servers, especially for himself. And when he hears God’s call, he should answer him, like Mary, “Be it done unto me according to your Word.”