Our Lady of the Smile: A Reflection

Special thanks to my sister-in-Christ, Liesl Grace Dowd, for helping me with this reflection! Her words are towards the end.

Our Lady has many titles, of which only some are official. That doesn’t mean the unofficial titles are invalid—and I found this particular title brought warmth to my heart. It’s so unknown that the first mention of it was strange but beautiful. Our Lady of the Smile is a title given to the Blessed Mother by St. Therese of Lisieux, in loving honor of the miracle that healed her from illness.

O Thou who cam’st to smile on me at dawn of life’s beginning! / Come once again to smile on me. / Mother! the night is nigh.
From St. Therese’s poem, 
Why I Love Thee Mary

Just hearing the title Our Lady of the Smile made me feel safe. It sank in how directly she is involved in our happiness. She intercedes for us to be full of joy! This is a comfort when we struggle to see the positive side of things. Even when life gets hard, with Our Lady there is always hope. We should find comfort in the unending promise of happiness!

She wants to share with us the joy that’s given in our Savior. We’re told in the Bible so many times to rejoice in Him! Even when times are hard, it’s possible to rejoice, and there’s no reason not to. Everything will work out for those who love and serve Him. So the Blessed Mother wants to share the joy she kept in her heart throughout His life. She intercedes for it, and her intercession is strong–take comfort in that joy is always within reach.

The Blessed Mother not only intercedes for the sake of my joy; she IS my joy. Jesus loves His mother dearly and wants us to do the same; to not only love and honor her, but to venerate her. She is so holy and pure, and deserves great recognition. Mother Mary helps me in every situation, and every time that I receive reconciliation, I can feel the Blessed Mother praying for me, as well as my sins being lifted from my soul, and washed away with the precious blood of Christ.

The Blessed Mother, I believe, is the reason why happiness exists, because she prays for all of her children, that they would all be filled with the joy and the love of her Son. Every time I laugh, I thank Mary for her prayers and for interceding, for through her faithfulness in God, we are given the gift of happiness. She is the Queen of heaven, and the Queen of happiness.

I believe we should spread devotion to Our Lady of the Smile. If anyone can intercede to make the world joyful again, it’s Mary. If we’d just turn to her and ask for happiness–or in other words, ask for Jesus–everything else will come to us in pleasant unexpected ways. There’s nothing to be lost at all! Here is a prayer to Our Lady of the Smile, and may St. Therese intercede for your spiritual happiness today.

Mariella Hunt

Mariella Hunt

Mariella Hunt is a writer of historical fiction and a blogger. She has a profound love for the Roman Catholic Church and prays that God will use her writing to bring His children home. She is an avid reader and publishes thoughts about novels weekly at her official website.

Leave a Replay

2 thoughts on “Our Lady of the Smile: A Reflection”

  1. Every 4th of July, we have a fireworks display that shoots over Dewey Hill, which is a small sand dune covered with beach grass. When it is a dry summer, the sparks ignite the grass and the hill catches on fire. We anxiously await this occurrence every year and frequently find ourselves praying to “Our Lady of the Burning Hill” for the fire crew’s safety 🙂

  2. Pingback: Our Lady of the Smile: A Reflection | Mariella Hunt

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sign up for our Newsletter

Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit