Our Lady of Consolation, Pray for us!

Monday and Tuesday of this week I had the pleasure of going to Cedar Point and to a shrine honoring Mary, Our Lady of Consolation. It was such a beautiful trip because on Monday we were crazy and had fun riding roller coasters and hanging out, but there was just constant noise between the number of people, music, and of course ROLLER COASTERS!!!! And then Tuesday was quiet. We celebrated the mass, had lunch, had an hour of quiet reflection to just wander about the shrine & it's accompanying park, and closed with an hour of Eucharistic adoration. Such a beautiful day. For our Holy hour, our youth minister, Dan DeMatte, gave a brief reflection on our Lady. He talked about how we tend to seek comfort and consolation in this world. A few examples in my life -

When I'm feeling down in the dumps I will eat chocolate, potato chips, candy, ice cream, etc. - thinking it will comfort me.
When I'm feeling exhausted I will sit in front of the television and watch a pointless, meaningless movie - think it will console me
When my body is really sore from 3 hours of sand volleyball, after being at camp for a week and going to Cedar Point - I just want to lounge and do nothing productive what so ever - which falls into aimlessly staring at the television or sleeping for a ridiculous amount of time.
I'm positive there are many other examples in every person's life, these are just a few to help get my point across.
Something Dan told us to do was rather than seeking our comfort and consolation in food or television or the internet/computer we should seek consolation and comfort from Mary.
Mary is our mother. She loves us as her own children. She desires for us to be peaceful, calm, and rested; capable to serve the Kingdom. If we seek her out when we're feeling neglected in our group of friends instead of stewing in our anger, we will be 1. more pleasing to God 2. feel 1000x better than if we stewed in our anger or sought consolation in food/television/computer.

Therefore, I encourage you to seek out our Lady. Mary desires to pour out graces on our souls. She desires to love us as the children we are. Next time you are in need of comfort and consolation turn Mary, our queen and our Mother. You can say a Hail Mary, or simply say Our Lady of Consolation, pray for us. Call on Mary, and you will receive grace!

Mary, Our Lady of Consolation, Pray for us!