St. Mary the Valiant

No, that isn’t one of her titles, as far as I know. But it should be. When you dig all the way to the bottom of sin, what you find is a lie. We tell lies to ourselves and that enables us to do things we shouldn’t. Mostly we do this – I know I do this – not because we don’t see the truth out of the corner of our eye, but because we are not brave enough to face the truth head-on. When we see that flicker in the corner of our eye we turn away. If we turn away often enough and strenuously enough we can even sometimes make that flicker go away. We are (I am) incapable, due to a fear of putting complete trust in God, of a simple unequivocal fiat.

But not Our Lady. By God’s grace through Christ she was conceived without sin: without the built in cowardice that leads to sin. She is the bravest of all of us: our light, our sweetness, our hope.

And we love you so, Mother.