Our Lady of Providence … Pray for Us
Just who is she … this Lady of Providence?
Yes … we know her name is Mary. Her name is Queen of the Home. Her name is Our Lady of Victory. Her name is the Immaculate Conception … her name is Our Lady of Guadalupe. Her name is Our Ancestral Great Mother. Her name is Protector of the Vulnerable. Her name is Mater Dolorosa. Her name is the Black Madonna. Her name is They Tried to Stop Her at the Border. Her name is Mother of the Americas.
I could go on with hundreds of names for this woman … a woman who has been touched by people’s fears and by their great love … but a woman who was always for those who were lost.
She is, after all, not a fence to keep souls out, rather, she is an open gate, to let souls into her heart. She once fled to another country to save her son from harm. She trusted in Providence … her God and Healer.
We share our bloodline with her. We have learned to study and tell her life stories … so we can plan our own life stories.
Our Lady of Providence is a woman of strength and courage, the kind that is not docile or weak. Our Lady of Providence is filled with mystery … and to know her at all can be overwhelming.
Touching Divinity can seem like all one’s atoms composing mind and body have suddenly been rearranged.
Here is my favorite quote about her: “Think of her not in the ways you’ve been told/sold. Rather, seek her with your own eyes without blinders and your own heart without shutters. Look low instead of high. Look right under your nose. She comes in many guises and disguises. Hidden, right out in the open. And you’ll know her immediately by her immaculate and undivided heart for all of humanity.” — Clarissa Estes
The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, and Providence Associates invite persons of all faith traditions to join them in person or virtually for the Eucharistic Liturgy (Mass) at 11:30 a.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 19, to celebrate the Feast Day of Our Lady of Providence.
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Plan for your future!
Leave the things you value to the people and purposes you value most.
Our Lady of Providence
The Sisters of Providence are here to pray for the real needs of your family.
Jan, you have ‘knocked it out of the park’ with this description of Our Lady. She is all you describe her to be, and more. Thank you for this, this morning. It should hearten us all.
Jan, thank you for this beautiful description of our Lady—the quote is something I will adopt for my own. It certainly speaks to the personal invitation our Mother gives us for a special relationship with her and, in turn, to her Son.
“Touching Divinity can seem like all one’s atoms composing mind and body have suddenly been rearranged.“. Wow. A terrific article. This quote shook my atoms. Our Lady of Providence helps me daily deal with God’s rearrangement of my atoms. Thanks for your reflection! Happy Feast day to all!
Jan, I love the truth that Mary is interconnected with all women and men. Thank you for reminding us and reanimating me.
Sister Jan , Thankyou , for sharing your connection to divinity . Our Lady of Providence specks mixed with Everyday God specks equals justice, kindness, and humility . We are all just a bunch of specks in Gods creation .
Sister Jan,
Wow this entry in the blog hit home with me, Monday, November 25. We are living temporarily in my father and mother in law’s home (they are now deceased, but the house is yet to be sold). In Pennsylvania, It is helpful to have someone residing in the home until the home is sold and the estate is settled. It’s complicated for sure! We are called upon to serve the family by residing here while Bob closes out his father’s life long craft business.
This last 18 months have been a rough go, in many ways, mostly not feeling at home, for me. I recently returned to our small, simple apartment in Indiana for a week of solitude. And guess what I brought back? My framed Lady of Providence, which my husband promptly hung in the small room which has been arranged for my need for solitude, prayer, meditation and writing. We could easily be here for another year before all is said and done. I have wondered how I can possibly do this. Now, it doesn’t seem or feel so impossible. I not only have a ‘room’ in this house that is not my ‘home’, but I have the image of Our Lady of Providence!
I feel so strengthened by this tangible connection to The Woods, The Sisters, my husbands’ and my home, who we are. You have no idea how your post has touched me.
Maybe this will help, my husband walked by the room that is now my ‘office’ and exclaimed WOW. Mother Theodore is with us!
Providence always shows up!