Today is a special, grace-filled day—a celebration of Mary, Mother of the Church, and the deep, sacred roots she holds within the Body of Christ. You may be asking, “But how is this biblical?” Let’s walk through it together.

This feast is intentionally placed on the Monday after Pentecost. Just as the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and Mary in the Upper Room, marking the birth of the Church, the Church now pauses to honor Mary as her spiritual mother. Her presence at Pentecost is not incidental—it is formative. From the very beginning, she was there to pray, intercede, and unify. This liturgical feast day on the universal (worldwide) calendar reminds us that Mary’s role did not end at the Nativity or even at Calvary—she is the enduring Mother of the Church, guiding and nurturing her still.

We are in the midst of a revival, and Mary's return to the hearts of Christians is an important part of this revival. Many people think of revival as a word that brings them comfort and that this means Christians will be bringing non-Christians home to Jesus. But the messier part of this is the revival that must occur within the Body of Christ so that we join as a house undivided again. Mother Mary has a crucial role in this, and this is going to be very difficult for many, especially Americans, to understand and grasp.

Please know that I understand if this is where you are—because I was there too, not long ago. I was raised without any awareness of Mary’s role in my life—or in the lives of all Christians. I was 41 years old when I finally acknowledged her presence. The prodigal daughter came home—not to a stranger, but to a heavenly mother who had been praying for me all along. And I want to emphasize: I had always considered myself a strong Christian. Yet for four decades, I didn’t realize I had a mother in Heaven, entrusted to me by Jesus Himself. That realization changed everything.

Being tasked by the Holy Spirit as one of the leaders in this revival—specifically to help restore Mary to her rightful place in the lives of Christians—is a weighty assignment. In my weaker moments, I’ve asked the Lord for an easier one (just being honest). But I know why He gave this to me. My life’s work has always been about tracing things back to their root—whether it’s health or faith. This is how I help people sift through the noise to find peace.

The backlash I receive fulfilling God's assignment—the confusion, the criticism, the hate messages—is hard on my flesh even though my soul, where God dwells, is at peace. This is why I take such long breaks between essays.

I understand how unsettling this topic can be. But you must understand this as well: it is time to tear down the enemy’s altar. For the last 200 years—especially in America—the enemy has worked to sow confusion, suspicion, and division toward Mary. That stronghold must come down. The reality that millions of people are now meeting Mary for the first time is not just a cultural shift—it’s a prophetic fulfillment of God’s desire to reunite His family. Marian devotion is quietly resurging in Protestant and even secular spaces—often through conversion stories, learning about miraculous apparitions like Fatima, Lourdes and Guadalupe, or private moments of prayer where she tenderly says hello.

Revival isn’t necessarily loud. Often, it begins in silence—the kind that allows us to hear God—when someone kneels and quietly whispers, "Mother, help."

When Jesus said from the Cross, “Behold your mother” (John 19:27), He was not only speaking to John. He was giving all of us the gift of His mother. This was not a symbolic gesture, but a profound reality. In that moment, Mary became the mother of the Church—a truth the early Christians accepted without dispute.

The broadly accepted interpretation of John 19:27 (“Behold your mother”) as referring not just to John, but to all of us, remained the consensus among Christians for the first 1,500 years of the Church. Even Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli upheld many Marian teachings, affirming her as the Mother of God, the perpetual virgin, and an intercessor. It wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries, amid Enlightenment rationalism, anti-Catholic sentiment, and American Protestant movements, that devotion to Mary began to be widely questioned or dismissed.

Yes! You read that correctly. The rejection of Mary is a recent development in Christian history. And if we trace that timeline alongside the decline of human health, the breakdown of the family unit, and the rise of confusion in the Church, a striking pattern emerges. Around the same time the enemy succeeded in convincing much of the Western world that Marian devotion was idolatrous, the foundations of health, home, and holiness began to erode.

Why is this so hard for Americans to understand?

Much of this confusion in America stemmed from England’s history, where the monarchy under Queen Elizabeth I formally banned Catholicism in the 16th century, dissolving monasteries and outlawing Catholic Mass. Catholicism remained banned in England for more than 250 years, with full Catholic emancipation not arriving until 1829. The spiritual legacy of this rejection was brought across the Atlantic and shaped early American religious thought. As a result, Marian devotion was not only misunderstood—it was intentionally excluded from public and private worship.

Here's the truth many people do not know:

Before the Protestant Reformation, before even the first Church councils were held, the early Christians held Mary in great reverence. They called her Theotokos—God-bearer—at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, affirming that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and therefore, Mary is rightly called the Mother of God. Church Fathers like St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was a disciple of the Apostle John, referred to Mary in language that modern Christians might find surprisingly bold. St. Irenaeus, writing in the second century, called her the New Eve, whose obedience untied the knot of Eve's disobedience.

These were not fringe views. This was the Church for the first 1,500+ years of Christianity, East and West. 

And yet, Mary has not remained silent or distant. Throughout history, she has continued to appear—not to claim glory for herself, but to draw people back to her Son. In 1531, just 14 years after the Protestant Reformation began, she appeared to an indigenous peasant named Juan Diego in Guadalupe. Mexico did not even know what the Reformation was. And yet, through her apparition and the miraculous tilma that bore her image, nearly nine million people converted to Christianity in less than a decade. In a time when Europe was tearing itself apart over religion, Mary brought unity and faith to a new world.

Since Guadalupe, she has appeared countless times. She came again in Lourdes in 1858, offering healing and hope to a poor young girl, Bernadette. She came again in Fatima in 1917, calling the world to prayer, repentance, and a return to God. Over 70,000 people witnessed the miracle of the sun at Fatima, including atheists and journalists. These were not private mystical experiences—they were public & documented.

Many argue that devotion to Mary is unbiblical, but Scripture tells a different story. From Gabriel's greeting in Luke 1:28, where she is called "full of grace," to Elizabeth’s declaration in Luke 1:42, "Blessed are you among women," to Mary’s own prophecy in Luke 1:48, "All generations will call me blessed," the Bible is saturated with Marian truths. At Cana, it was Mary who led the servants to Jesus, saying, 'Do whatever He tells you' (John 2:5). It was there, through her intercession, that Jesus performed His first public miracle, turning water into wine and beginning His earthly ministry.  At the Cross, Jesus gives her to us. In Revelation 12, she appears as the woman clothed with the sun, crowned with twelve stars, who gives birth to the Savior and wars against the dragon.

This is not idolatry. This is biblical Christianity. Mary never points to herself. She always points to Him.

Today, during his homily, Pope Leo XIV reflected on Mary as the new Eve—a source of eternal life because she was united with her Son in His redemptive death. He reminded us that the fruitfulness of the Church mirrors the fruitfulness of Mary: it comes through conformity to Christ, born at the foot of the Cross, and made visible through the work of the Holy Spirit.

He also spoke of the Marian-Petrine harmony at the heart of the Church—that while the Church stands firm on the rock of Peter, it is Mary’s maternal presence that keeps her tender, holy, and fruitful.

Mary is not a relic of the past. She is the heart of the Church’s mission today.

As someone who has spent the last two decades helping people return to their roots of physical healing—through regenerative farming, ancestral nutrition, and holistic health practices—I could not ignore the need to also go to the spiritual root. And when I did, I found the Blessed Mother. Not as a doctrine or dogma to dissect, but as a living mother who steadies my step toward Jesus.

Remember y'all, I attended Mass weekly for six years before I converted to Catholicism. I went with skepticism, but also with hunger. I prayed, studied, and fasted. During this past Lent, I ate only one meal a day for 40 days. I became comfortable with silence for the first time ever, and this is where we hear the voice of God. And it was in this wilderness season that the Lord whispered: "Behold your mother."

The Holy Spirit has commanded me to share this peace with others and to minister gently, truthfully, and without fear.

This may feel foreign, even threatening, to some of you, my beloved Protestant friends. But I ask you, as someone you know and trust: consider the roots. Consider the Church that gave us the Bible, formally canonized in 397 AD at the Council of Carthage, where Catholic bishops, guided by the Holy Spirit, affirmed the books of Scripture we still read today.

Consider the love of a Son who, knowing the journey would be long and hard, gave us His mother so we would never be alone. Consider all the anger and ache we see in the hearts of both men and women today—the many generations raised without the tenderness of Mary in their lives. 

She doesn’t replace Jesus. She magnifies Him.

You don’t have to be Catholic to meet the Blessed Mother. You just have to be willing to let her take your hand and lead you closer to Him. That’s all she’s ever done.

And maybe—just maybe—this is the revival we’ve all been praying for.

I love you. I am beside you even when it's messy. I just ask that you return that love to me. We are a family united in Jesus Christ and always will be, no matter what. I welcome your loving curiosity and questions.