By: Mons. Alberto José González Chaves
Today, the feast of the Sweet Name of Mary, we can pause to reflect on a simple yet profound experience: how that blessed Name of Mary has been on our lips since childhood, how we received it from our parents and grandparents as the most precious inheritance, and how we desire to keep it until our last breath.
The book of Sirach says: «Like perfume poured out is Your Name» (Sir 24:20). If there is a name that perfumes and beautifies the soul, that sweetens the lips and strengthens the heart, it is the Name of Mary. It is not just any name: in it resonates the story of our salvation, the tenderness of God made into a feminine face, the closeness of a Mother who accompanies us.
Today we recall with emotion how we learned to pronounce this Name in our first catechism, hand in hand with our parents and grandparents. Perhaps our mother taught us to clasp our hands and say softly: «Hail Mary…». Maybe our grandfather blessed us before sleep with the sign of the cross, whispering: «May the Virgin Mary take care of you». Those simple gestures have marked our lives more than a thousand speeches.
Mary was united to our first prayers, to our childhood joys and to our childhood fears. When something scared us, we repeated almost instinctively: «Little Virgin, Mary, help me». The Name of Mary became our refuge, an invisible shield that gave us peace.
And so, with the passing of the years, we have experienced that this Name does not age. It accompanies all the stages of our existence. In youth, when passions stir and life opens up like an uncertain horizon, invoking Mary is finding purity, guidance, and consolation. In maturity, when responsibilities weigh heavy, repeating Her Name restores serenity and confidence. And in old age, when time seems to run out, pronouncing «Mary» is already tasting a foretaste of heaven.
The saints have understood this well. St. Alphonsus Liguori said: «Whoever loves Mary is assured of final perseverance». And St. Bernard, in a famous homily, left us those immortal words: «In dangers, in anguishes, in doubts, think of Mary, invoke Mary. Let Her never depart from your lips or your heart».
The name of Mary is a seal of eternity. Let us think of the last hour of our life: what word would we want to pronounce when delivering our soul to God? What joy if it were this one: «Mary». Yes, may Her Name be the final seal on our lips, the key that opens the door to eternity, the melody that leads us gently to the encounter with Her Son.
St. Bonaventure affirmed: «Whoever invokes Mary with love will never perish». And the experience of so many dying Christians confirms it: what peace and what confidence springs up in the heart when that name is whispered in the final hour!
But not only in personal life: also in the life of the Church, the Name of Mary has always been sweetness and strength. It has been sung in litanies, hymns, and prayers. It has been engraved in hermitages, chapels, and cathedrals. It has been repeated in processions and pilgrimages. It has become the melody of faith transmitted from generation to generation. Let us not allow this treasure to be lost. In a world that so often poisons the heart with harsh words, with names that divide or wound, let us return to this Name that heals, that unites, that sweetens. Let us teach our children to pronounce it. Let us remind our young people that it is a sure compass. And let us keep it in our elders as a pledge of hope. Today, the feast of the Sweet Name of Mary, let us renew a very simple and at the same time very great purpose: that the Name of Mary be always on our lips. Upon waking and going to bed, in joy and in sadness, in health and in illness, may Mary be our companion. And when the moment comes to cross the threshold to eternity, let us ask for the grace to deliver our soul saying, like a child calling his mother: «Mary», as Her Jesus called Her, Who, the eternal Word of God, learned in Nazareth to babble human words. And among the first that would spring from His child’s lips was, with all certainty, the name of His Mother: «Mary».
What unfathomable depth this mystery has: the eternal Son of God calling His own Mother by Her Name. Every time Jesus pronounced «Mary», that Name was caressed by the divine voice and elevated to an indescribable dignity.
Let us imagine the child Jesus, running through the house in Nazareth, calling out with joy: «Mary!». Let us imagine the young boy, tired from work in the workshop, resting by softly pronouncing the name of His Mother. For Jesus, saying «Mary» was pronouncing the tenderness of God made flesh, the fidelity of the Covenant, the purest human presence in His earthly life.
Joseph too, the just man, savored that Name with unique sweetness. For him, «Mary» was the name of the virginal spouse entrusted to his care. How many times, in the sweltering hours of work, he would comfort himself by remembering that Name! What joy he would feel calling Her every morning, working together, dialoguing in the simple intimacy of the Nazareth home!
Joseph discovered in that Name the fidelity of God to the promises of Israel. And he learned, in the prayerful silence of his heart, that pronouncing «Mary» was invoking the creature in Whom God Himself had placed His delights.
And John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple, upon receiving the Lady as Mother at Calvary, pronounced that Name from then on with indescribable veneration and tenderness. First in Jerusalem, and then in Ephesus, every time he said «Mary» it was like opening a door to the mystery of God.
Who could guess what John felt when calling the Mother of the Lord by Her Name? He who had reclined his head on the breast of his Master could now rest his entire life in the Mother of Christ. And every time he called Her «Mary», a shudder of heaven ran through his veins.
From Jesus, Joseph, and John we can learn to pronounce this Name with endearing sweetness. The Name of Mary should not be on our lips as something routine, but as an act of filial love. Every time we say «Mary», we imitate the child Jesus calling His Mother; every time we say «Mary», we imitate Joseph the husband pronouncing the most beautiful name on earth; every time we say «Mary», we imitate John the disciple who already savored heaven on earth.
May the Lord grant us the grace to always pronounce this Name with love, with respect, and with unlimited confidence. May when we say «Mary», the voice of Jesus, of Joseph, of John resound in us. And may one day, in eternity, we be able to join our voice to the choir of angels, who never tire of repeating: «Mary!»
Because the Name of Mary is strength and victory against the demon. From the beginning of Sacred Scripture, a promise sustains our hope: «I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers: she will crush your head» (Gn 3:15). That woman is Mary. And the Name of Mary, united to that of Jesus, has always been terror for demons and a banner of victory for Christians.
The demon trembles before this Name, because he knows that in Mary his defeat is enclosed. Every Christian experiences that when temptation presses, it is enough to invoke the Virgin to find strength. St. Alphonsus Liguori assures: «He who perseveres in invoking Mary will be saved». And St. Bernard affirms, in the beautiful prayer _Memorare_: «Never was it heard that anyone who fled to you was left forsaken».
The Name of Mary is the key that opens the heart of God and closes the doors to the enemy. It is a powerful shield in the spiritual struggle: the history of Christian peoples confirms it.
On September 12, 1683, in the battle of Vienna, the armies of Christendom, threatened by the Ottoman invasion, obtained victory not only with human arms, but by invoking the Name of Mary. The blessed Capuchin Marco d’Aviano encouraged the troops to shout «Mary!», and the blessed Pope Innocent XI attributed the victory to the protection of the Virgin. From then on, the Church wished to institute the feast of the Sweet Name of Mary as a living memory of this victory. And it did so that Christians of all times might know that in the battles of history, as in those of the soul, the Name of Mary is always a banner of triumph.
Every man also fights an interior battle. The world, the demon, and the flesh ally against us. But we have an invincible weapon: invoking Mary. When we repeat Her Name in trial, when we say it in the midst of temptation, when we whisper it in pain, a mysterious peace envelops us and makes us strong.
Let us not forget that Mary is not only sweetness: she is also strength. Her Name is not only consolation: it is a shield. Her Name is not only melody: it is a sword. And that is why the Church, in celebrating this feast, wants us to renew our confidence in Her protection.
Let us engrave in our hearts a certainty: whoever invokes this Sweet Name of Mary with faith will never be defeated. Let us learn to repeat it with tenderness in peace and with strength in struggle, with gratitude in joy and with confidence in tribulation.
And when our last battle arrives, that of the passage to eternity, may we be able to bid farewell to this world with the Name of Mary on our lips. It will be the best defense, the softest music, and the key to our heaven.