Our Lady is the very incarnation of prayer. The Gospel presents her as “keeping the Word of God in her heart”, that is meditating on it and making it life of her life. THe few words recorded of her in Scripture form a prayer, from her reply to the angel Gabriel to her Magnificat and her plea for the newlyweds at Cana.
And when she presents herself to the world in the course of her miraculous apparitions she has always been in an attitude of prayer and invites to prayer; thus it was at Lourdes, La Salette and Fatima, to mention the most outstanding.
Mary is “the prayerful soul” par excellence because she is the truly poor in spirit of the Gospel.
-Mother Ersilia Canta
Even though we know historically little of Mary it truly fascinates me that the first miracle of Christ is for His mother at the feast of Cana where He turns water into wine (and the best wine) God chooses Mary from all eternity and she is the perfect woman to nurture, raise and love her Son, Christ. Throughout the years Marian devotions and feasts were established especially in the Church. Mary is also a focal point in the Eucharist and we pray that we may be made worthy to share eternal life with Mary. There are so many prayers to Mary and many in which she asked to pray during her visions during various periods of time. The Angelus is a simple prayer said three times a day and the rosary is a vocal and meditated prayer. We all reach to our God through Mary in our own wavelengths, and it is important to be comfortable in the prayers we say. In this way Mary will fit into our lives and our method of prayer. Mary is our Mother and I’d like to think I can just talk to her, and feel the warmth of a Mother who truly listens.
I just wanted to add one thing. Jesus did not just change water into wine. If you think about it, He changed something ordinary into something extraordinary!