Many contemporary women want to see – to visualise Mary as a real woman who experienced life at its best and at its worst. I suggest that Mary lived such a life! She was born during the tyranny of Herod the Great; she experienced poverty all her life; she had to face her husband Joseph when he became aware of her impending motherhood and the realisation that he was not the father; she witnessed her son being treated like a criminal then crucified and finally dying on a cross. She held her dead son in her arms.

Admittedly Mary is not alone in her pain – somewhere in the world today there are women who are suffering unbearable pain – because of human trafficking and bondage; racial prejudice; verbal and physical abuse; rape; sexual degradation; poverty; alcohol and drug addictions; abuse because of their sexual orientation and much, much more.

These women are crying out for respect and dignity though fairness, justness and equality. Who will listen to so many voices calling out (in agony and despair) to be heard? Who, but Mary (Mother of God and Mother of the Church), can lead these women on a faith journey in which they might find some solace in their hour and time of need?