We Fly To Your Patronage Oh Holy Mother Of God (Isaiah 11:1-10/Ps.71/Eph.2:13-18/Matt.2:13-15,19-23)


Today we celebrate the feast of our Lady Queen and Patroness of Nigeria. It is a feast that is very adrem to be celebrated today as Nigeria our beloved, one and only country marks her 56th independence day celebration. One can easily ask, are we truly independent? Is there really anything to celebrate? Considering the state of our nation at the moment and all the challenges we face, we will still continue to give glory to God that we are still alive and still moving ahead, for with God all things are possible and in His name we shall overcome.

It is no coincidence that the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria chose to consecrate our dear country into the hands of our Mother Mary and make the celebration to fall on the day we celebrate our independence and a day we mark the beginning of our october devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was a very good decision after taking into consideration the vital and important role our Mother Mary played in our salvation History and has continued to play in our world and lives as could be seen in the scriptures.

We fly to her patronage, because God flew to her Patronage by allowing His only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be born of her and to be taken care off by her throughout his earthly sojourn. In the gospel reading of today we see how Joseph took Mary and Jesus to go to Egypt so that Herod will not kill the baby. Jesus was under the care of Mary and was protected from the turbulence that was meant to destroy him. In the same way when we consecrate ourselves, family, work, studies, project and business into the Immaculate Heart of Mary and fly to her patronage we receive her maternal care and protection.

We fly to her patronage because she has helped nations and people before in history and she will still do the same for us in Nigeria even as we are passing through difficult times at the moment in all ramifications.

We fly to her patronage because as a mother takes care of her children so our Mother Mary takes care of us as her beloved children and she will not allow the force of evil to destroy us or crush us. She protects us from the poison of sin and gives us grace to overcome sin.

We fly to her patronage because God has blessed her and she is a blessing to humanity. To consecrate ourselves to her immaculate heart is to consecrate ourselves to the heart of Jesus  because her heart and that of our Lord Jesus Christ are deeply and undividedly connected.

We fly to her patronage because God has given her a special place in life. She is privileged to be the most blessed of all women on earth and because of the honour that God has bestowed on her all generation shall call her blessed. She was preserved from original sin and she was a virgin before and after giving birth. She is the mother of Christ and the mother of God. She is full of grace and highly favoured of all women on earth. She is the greatest intercessor there is in existence and a prayer she offers on our behalf to her Son Jesus can never go unanswered. She is the Queen of heaven and earth. She has a heart full of mercy and love and she cares about her children and takes good care of them. She is always alert to ward off forces of evil that would fight to destroy her children. She is humble, dedicated, prayerful, peaceful, generous, charitable, emphatic, graceful, honourable, passionate, pure and from the very beginning surrendered her own will and desire and allowed God's will to be done in her life. We can go on and in to enumerate her wonderful qualities and it can never be enough to express the glory and honour that she possesses as the mother of our saviour Jesus Christ.

The feast of today is another opportunity to give her her due honour and place in our lives by consecrating ourselves and our lives into her immaculate heart. We must let her take care of us as a mother, as she took care of Jesus. We must pray our Rosary daily in her honour and practice devotions to her. We must learn from her wonderful virtues, qualities and attributes and we must strive to use these virtues to glorify the name of the Lord. She is the door to heaven and the easiest way to access our Lord Jesus Christ. There are special blessings and merits attached to devotions we do in her honour, therefore we must be sincere in our honour to her and we must allow her to inspire us in our daily existence so that in the end we will receive the reward prepared for all those who have hidden themselves under her maternal canopy.

Once again we ask our Mother Mary to take care of us and to help us in prayers so that we will be able to serve God well. We ask her to intercede for our nation Nigeria so that God will intervene and save us from destruction, bad and corrupt leaders and from unpatriotic citizens. We ask her to obtain for us the grace of holiness and love, sincerity and honesty, humility and passion for doing good and helping those in need and for other intentions of our heart that she will help us to overcome and become victorious in the end. For every other intentions of our heart today we say:

We fly to your patronage
oh Holy Mother of God, despise not our prayers in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, oh! ever glorious and blessed Virgin Mary.
Happy Independence day to all Nigerians all over the world.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus, it pleased you to let your Mother be our Mother also, as we honour her as the Queen and Patroness of Nigeria, may she obtain for us as individuals and as a nation the good we desire from you. Amen.

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