The depth and breadth of that mysterious truth has inspired saints and sinners to celebrate the Father’s faithful, merciful love for his adopted sons and daughters. But the stubborn pattern of sin that ambushes our hopes for change often leaves us at a familiar crossroads, with the same old question: Do we have the strength to begin again and turn back to our Father?

In his message for Lent 2016, Pope Francis, who first discerned his priestly vocation while in the confessional, offers a path to conversion under the mantle of Mary, Mother of the Church and of Mercy. The “virginal womb,” which once carried the Son of God, still gives protection and inspiration to the downhearted and downtrodden, the Pope assures us.

We know, however, the way of Mary is not for the complacent. At the Annunciation, she agrees to take part in a divine mission that will likely bring scandal and danger. Yet her passionate fiat — “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” — reveals a great eagerness to share the Good News of the Father’s mercy with his people.

Her words and example, says the Holy Father, remind us that each believer is called to proclaim the Gospel. In our journeys to the Lord, we must emulate her generosity of spirit that desires to leave no one behind.

Mary’s story begins in the Old Testament, in the Book of Genesis. There, the sin of Adam is met with exile, but also with the promise of a Messiah who will free his people. Throughout Scripture, this pledge endures, even as Jerusalem repudiates her God and betrays his law.

“Here is a true love story, in which God plays the role of the betrayed father and husband, while Israel plays the unfaithful child and bride. These domestic images — as in the case of Hosea (Hosea 1-2) — show to what extent God wishes to bind himself to his people,” said Pope Francis.

In the New Testament, the pattern of infidelity is disrupted. Mary, conceived without sin, receives her divine Son in her womb: “Be it done unto me according to thy word.”

Her response to the Archangel Gabriel marks a new beginning, as the Incarnation is received into her womb and into the world, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

From the Annunciation to the Nativity, from the Marriage Feast at Cana to the Crucifixion, Mary remains faithfully at the side of her son, her Lord, never foreswearing him.

The outlines of a new way of life are revealed. Though the Gospels offer few details, the Church has directed us to emulate the hidden existence of Jesus, Mary and Joseph — the Holy Family.

“The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus — the school of the Gospel. First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us,” said Pope Paul VI in 1964, on the feast of the Holy Family, also echoed in the Catechism (533). “May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love.”

Poverty and obedience, silence and communion prepared the Son of the Most High to fulfill the pledge made at the Fall of Man.

This life of deep spiritual recollection also fortified the Mother of God as she waited for the Father’s purpose to be revealed. The Gospels do not confirm the extent of her knowledge of future events, though she is present at key moments.

Her path of faithful accompaniment is affirmed and elevated at Calvary. There, Jesus binds her to “the disciple whom he loved.”

“‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the Scriptures), ‘I am thirsty’” (John 18).

With his passion, Jesus wipes away the sin of Adam. Mary, in turn, repairs the disobedience of Eve. It was the Father’s will that his beating heart of mercy be revealed in this way and no other. It remains the Father’s will that Mary be our spiritual mother and that her path of accompaniment inspire our own journeys of conversion.

What does this mean for each of us?

During this liturgical season, daily spiritual reading will help answer that question, and the Register will do its part to offer strong spiritual nourishment. Meanwhile, we ask Mary to help us trust in God’s mercy. We share our joy in the Lord. We learn to hear his voice in the silence.

Disciples learn “with their gaze fixed on the teacher,” explained Sister of Life Bethany Madonna during an address at the 2016 Fellowship of Catholic University Students’ Student Leadership Summit in January that offered a winning catechesis on discipleship.

All of us have been shaken by the limits of human love and patience, but the Father is different. He “knows everything about you, all of the intricacies and the sensitivities. … He knows that he deliberately bestowed upon you and within you unique attributes that reflect something of his glory, beauty and goodness. These attributes were entrusted to you personally and intentionally,” said Sister Bethany.

No one is too small or too broken to perform the mission entrusted to them. And during Lent, we can begin with the corporal or spiritual works of mercy — feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and prisoners and comforting those who have no one. If we cannot do these things, at least we can forgive those who have hurt us, and we can pray.

“Sometimes, the one who seems to be the weakest in ordinary circumstances is the very one who’s most prepared in extraordinary moments,” observed Sister Bethany.

The Father willed that Mary’s free choice would bring the Messiah into the world. And he wills that each of his sons and daughters use this same freedom to receive the gift of his merciful love and turn back to him with every fiber of their being.

“God created us without us: But he did not will to save us without us.”