Our Blessed Mother constantly looks out for us, even when we aren’t thinking about her. I was reminded of this fact recently when I chanced upon Mary under the title of Our Lady of Charity. I had never heard of this specific title, so I searched the Internet and found a beautiful story of our heavenly mother’s protection and love.
As the story goes, around 1600, on the waters surrounding Santiago, Cuba, three boys were returning from gathering salt so that the townspeople could use it to preserve their meat. As they sailed home, they encountered a fierce storm that threatened to capsize their boat. They prayed to our Blessed Mother for her protection. The storm soon ended, and in the distance, they saw something floating on a piece of wood. As they approached it, they found that it was a statue of Mary holding the Christ Child in one hand and a cross in the other. Inscribed on it were the words “I am the Virgin of Charity.”
The boys took the statue back to their town and told the townspeople about its miraculous appearance. In thanksgiving, they built a church dedicated to Mary, and soon people began making pilgrimages there. Years later, a feast day was established, and in January 1998, Pope John Paul II crowned Our Lady of Charity as queen and patron saint of Cuba.
This beautiful story stuck with me, but what I found truly amazing was that, just two days after I learned of Our Lady of Charity, I was watching a TV show from 2002, where someone was wearing this medal, and one of the main characters then retold the story of the boys on the boat. Had I not just heard of Mary under this title, the story may not have resonated with me, but because our heavenly mother came to me twice in two days under this title, I knew instantly that this was a sign that she wanted me to pay attention. Yet I understood much more than that. When reminders like this happen, we can be assured that Mary wants to make her presence known so that we will grow in understanding of her love and realize that she is always looking out for us.
Think about that for a minute. How special must we be that our heavenly mother sends us regular reminders of her love? She is truly the perfect mom.
Ever since then, I have pondered Mary under this title, especially the relationship of charity with motherhood, and it became so clear that the two go hand in hand.
Charity is a necessary virtue in motherhood
While the dictionary defines charity as “generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering” or as “benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers a more theological definition. It explains, “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.” It continues,
Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love. . . . The practice of the moral life animated by charity gives to the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. He no longer stands before God as a slave, in servile fear, or as a mercenary looking for wages, but as a son responding to the love of him who “first loved us.”
Charity teaches us to love like Christ, and this is the kind of love that motherhood requires, for without it, children hurt and families weaken.
God has given women a tremendous gift in motherhood, and it’s a gift no one should ever take lightly. Nurturing children, whether biological, foster, or godchildren, requires reflecting the love of Christ so that every child can feel his value.
That is why Mary under this title is so integral to those of us who work to build a culture of life. If we are to create a society where all people are respected and the sanctity of life is cherished, we must start with a reverence for motherhood, as a world devoid of charity when it comes to motherhood will inevitably fail.
Creating a more charitable society requires us to first recognize the areas in our own lives where we lack charity and where we fail to love others well. Then we must prayerfully go to God and ask how we can make changes to become more like His mother and more like the children He wants us to be. This requires us to live selflessly, just as Mary did, putting others first because we love our Lord. It requires us to give our own yes to God, to our families, and to a society that sometimes outright opposes motherhood and even denigrates it. And it requires us to courageously stand up for motherhood and proclaim its blessings, even amidst the disdain for it that we see when women celebrate abortion, when organizations profit off dead babies, and when politicians care so little about human life that they go out of their way to promote abortion. Their actions are the complete opposite of charity, and I believe that Mary understands all too well the tragedy that unfolds when a society teaches women that fertility is something to loathe, mock, and even hate.
So let us thank God not only for His mother but for her loving presence in our lives. Mary continually offers herself as the mother we can strive to emulate, and every time she appears to us, she makes known her immense love. Our Lady of Charity holds her Son, but in reality, she holds all of us, showing us that she is there through the literal and figurative storms of life, just as all mothers should be for their children, and just as society should be for motherhood.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report at catholicworldreport.com/2026/05/29/reverence-for-motherhood-begins-with-charity.
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