Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom | Updated Edition

Find confidence in your vocation as a Catholic mother through Mary’s example.

Motherhood is a beautiful vocation, but many women struggle with fears, doubts, and the persistent feeling that they are falling short. Some worry that their failures will harm their children, while others faithfully pour themselves out each day without ever hearing the words they most need: “You are doing a great job.” No matter their circumstances, mothers can find hope, encouragement, and comfort in Mary.

In Imitating Mary: Ten Marian Virtues for the Modern Mom, Marge Fenelon offers a compassionate and practical guide to motherhood through the example of the Blessed Mother. Reflecting on ten pivotal moments in Mary’s life, she reveals the virtues that shaped Mary’s vocation and shows how biological, adoptive, and spiritual mothers can cultivate those same virtues in their own lives.

Each chapter includes a reflection on an event from Mary’s life, a prayer, wisdom from the saints and the Church, questions for personal reflection, and practical ways to imitate Mary’s virtues. Through Mary’s example, mothers will learn to embrace

• a spirit of surrender in their own fiat,
• patience in times of uncertainty,
• trust in God’s plan,
• obedience to God’s will,
• endurance amid life’s challenges,
• courage in difficult moments, and
• strength through trials.

Fenelon writes, “Most of us don’t realize that, with God’s grace and Mary’s example, we can overcome any obstacles to becoming the loving, wonderful mothers we’re meant to be. In Mary, we have a mother worthy of emulation, but who is fully human with the same experiences and emotions we have. In her life, we find example, and in her virtue, we find inspiration. Mary can show us how to be the mothers we want to be—the mothers we can be.”

Through Mary’s example and God’s grace, mothers will find renewed confidence in their vocation and discover how to become the loving and faithful women—and mothers—they are called to be.

At the foot of the Cross, Christ entrusted humanity to the loving care of his mother. Mary loves us with a mother’s heart and desires to lead us closer to her son while helping us grow into the virtuous, joyful, and self-giving mothers we are meant to be.