Behold Thy Mother

By Don Michael Shannon

Born to a mother who didn't want me, I was handled by nuns, relatives I never knew about at the time, and strangers in far off California, when I was sent back to New Orleans. I was no more than three or four years old by that time. I rather thought this was all perfectly normal, and the way all children grew up. I was baptized at age four and finally placed into a Catholic orphanage for boys when I was either late at age four, or early in age five. I would remain there, never really knowing what a family was; but the name that most escaped my understanding was that of "Mother." The name, or title, was strange to me, for it seemed I never had one. It was in that orphanage that I first heard of a Blessed Mother. I saw her beautiful statue, and heard stories of her, and most puzzling of all, that she was everyone's Mother. This continued after I was taken to a trial home with a family, the Shannon's, where I stayed till I was legally adopted by them at age nine. I became a Shannon. The nuns at my grammar school continued to instill in my young heart the idea that I was always the child of a Mother I never knew, none other than Mary, the Mother of Our Savior, Jesus Christ
It took me a while to grasp the concept that She was always there, from the moment I drew my first breath in St. Vincent's Infant Asylum, in Chicago, and through all those confusing years moving from pillar to post, and when I stayed in the first home I'd know, named for her: Madonna Manor. My own sainted Mother, Olga Shannon, continued my Catholic education at St. Maurice Parochial Grammar School in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. There I was repeatedly bombarded with names like "Our Lady of Grace," "Our Lady Star of the Sea," "Our Lady of Guadalupe," "Our Lady of Perpetual Help," and of course, in New Orleans, "Our Lady of Prompt Succor." I began to wonder who all of these "Ladies," were? It took me years to finally realize, and to accept, that all of these Ladies, were Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Our Savior; and that, best of all, she was also My Mother from the start. All of this is explained in "Behold thy Mother," the three words spoken by Jesus from the Cross, wherein by His Eternal Love, He gave to us, to all the human race, His own Mother. Of course I always loved my adoptive Mother, and nothing will change that; but just knowing I always had a loving, gentle Mother, watching over me from the cradle, and who watches over all of us, even to the grave, was a comfort for me, and should be for all humanity, as she told Saint Juan Diego in the 1500s, "I am the Mother of all Humanity." This book explains in seven distinct cases, how and why she is our Mother, and the many beautiful titles she has been given. It is not intended to point away from Jesus, oh no. It is meant to point to Him, just as Mary does; and this, too, is explained in the book. Jesus loved His Mother so much, He gave her to all of us; and Behold thy Mother will tell you why we should love her as well.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G3X16LS9
• ISBN13: 9798275935271
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"