One who has discovered Mary through a genuine devotion is not exempt from crosses and sufferings. Far from it! One is tried even more than others, because Mary, as Mother of the living, gives to all her children splinters of the tree of life, which is the Cross of Jesus. But while meting out crosses to them she gives the grace to bear them with patience, and even with joy. In this way, the crosses she sends to those who trust themselves to her are rather like sweetmeats, i.e. "sweetened" crosses rather than "bitter" ones. If from time to time they do taste the bitterness of the chalice from which we must drink to become proven friends of God, the consolation and joy which their Mother sends in the wake of their sorrows creates in them a strong desire to carry even heavier and still more bitter crosses.

— July 18, 2026 A magnitude quake in Chongos Bajo, Chupaca province (Junín region), killed at least five and collapsed the roof and façade of St. James the Apostle parish church, along with a colonial-era cross dating to 1534. The statue of the Virgin Mary inside remained fully intact.

— June 24, 2026 Twin 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes — Venezuela's strongest in over a century — killed hundreds (early tolls near 920, later reports over 2,600) and leveled buildings across Caracas and La Guaira. A statue of Our Lady and the Child Jesus was found completely undamaged amid the rubble; a second statue at a Discalced Carmelite school (Santo Niño de Praga) also survived untouched.

— June 8, 2026 A 7.8 magnitude offshore quake near Sarangani killed dozens and triggered tsunami warnings. Coverage reported a Virgin Mary statue surviving the destruction, even as a separate outdoor statue of Jesus at the Divine Mercy Shrine in Lake Sebu was only partially damaged.

— February 6, 2023 After the devastating 7.8 magnitude Turkey-Syria earthquake (50,000+ dead), the Cathedral of the Annunciation collapsed, but a statue of Mary inside remained standing. Jesuit priest Fr. Antuan Ilgit publicized the photo, calling it a symbol of shared hope for Christians and Muslims.

— 1650 The Señor de los Temblores (Lord of the Earthquakes) statue is still invoked in current reporting as the origin of this tradition — carried through Cuzco's streets during a catastrophic quake, after which the shaking reportedly stopped. It remains central to Peruvian devotion today and is frequently referenced in the 2026 coverage above.

The purpose of Jesus’ words is to highlight the eternal reality of spiritual kinship in the Kingdom of Heaven that begins here on earth. In God’s Kingdom, our communion is not based on earthly bloodlines. While biological relationships—between parents, children, and siblings—may retain a unique bond in Heaven, the deepest and most enduring union is forged through shared obedience to the will of the Father.

This spiritual kinship does not begin in Heaven; it begins now. Through the grace of Baptism, we become sons and daughters of the Father and members of Christ’s Body. From that moment, we are united not by flesh, but by adoption—through faith and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Church, as God’s family on earth, is already a foretaste of the eternal communion we hope to enjoy in glory.

This truth is clearly expressed in the Lord’s Prayer. When Jesus taught us to address God as “Our Father,” the “our” does not refer to earthly relatives, but to all who live as God’s children, united by grace and fidelity to His will. On earth and in Heaven, it is filial obedience that binds us to the Eternal Son and forms the Mystical Body of Christ. In that union, we cry out together, “Father!”

Among those who have conformed themselves well to the will of God, none has equaled the perfection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From the moment of her Immaculate Conception, she listened attentively to the Father’s voice and responded with unwavering fidelity. Her cooperation with grace was complete, so that the Angel Gabriel rightly called her “full of grace.” To be full is to lack nothing—to be wholly receptive to God’s will.

Therefore, when Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother,” His words applied supremely to His own mother. Far from diminishing her, they reveal the depth of her sanctity. She was not only His mother according to the flesh, but also His most perfect spiritual kin. In her, the ideal of divine sonship and discipleship is fulfilled to the highest degree.

Alongside the Blessed Mother—who is uniquely and perfectly united to her Son in spiritual kinship—we, too, are invited to share in God’s family. In Christ, we become kin to Jesus, to His mother, to the angels and saints, and to one another as children of the Father. Though we remain pilgrims on earth, we share in these bonds to the extent that we conform ourselves to the Father’s will. In Heaven, those bonds will be perfected, and we will forever rejoice in the reward of belonging to God’s household. Nothing could be greater.