Pope: Venerating Mary means learning from her how to pray

Last week the Holy Father Benedict XVI began a new catechetical series as the theme for his Wednesday General Audiences on the topic of prayer in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Letters of Saint Paul.

He began this series reflecting on the "praying presence of the Virgin in the midst of the disciples who would become the first nascent Church."  Mary, he said, "quietly followed her Son’s entire journey during His public life, even to the foot of the Cross; and now she continues in silent prayer to follow along the Church’s path."

His Holiness sees this praying presence throughout Mary's life:

The stages in Mary’s journey -- from the home of Nazareth to that in Jerusalem, through the Cross where her Son entrusts to her the Apostle John -- are marked by her ability to maintain a persevering atmosphere of recollection, so that she might ponder each event in the silence of her heart before God (cf. Luke 2:19-51) and in meditation before God, also see the will of God therein and be able to accept it interiorly. 

The presence of the Mother of God with the Eleven following the Ascension is not, then, a simple historical annotation regarding a thing of the past; rather, it assumes a meaning of great value, for she shares with them what is most precious: the living memory of Jesus, in prayer; and she shares this mission of Jesus: to preserve the memory of Jesus and thereby to preserve His presence.

Noting that often times "prayer is dictated by difficult situations, by personal problems that lead us to turn to the Lord for light, comfort and help," Pope Benedict said venerating Mary within the Church "means learning from her to become a community that prays."

Concluding his reflections, the Supreme Pontiff invited the faithful to entrust themsleves to the Blessed Virgin Mary:

As Mother of God and Mother of the Church, Mary exercises her maternity until the end of history. Let us entrust every phase of our personal and ecclesial lives to her, not the least of which is our final passing. Mary teaches us the necessity of prayer, and she shows us that it is only through a constant, intimate, loving bond with her Son that we may courageously leave “our home,” ourselves, in order to reach the ends of the earth and everywhere announce the Lord Jesus, the Savior of the world.