Paschal candle dedicated to Our Lady with images of her titles on it. Two of them refer to Our Lady as a star: Stella Matutinis and Stella Maris We speak of Our Lady as a star because she is a guide for our life. Before we had modern means of navigation, sailors had to rely on the stars in order to set the course for their ships. The stars keep the same position in the heavens every night and so always point in the same direction. Our Lady is the star of the sea of our life to guide us. She is also the “morning star”, the brightest star in the sky: she is the clearest guide for our life. I want to speak today especially about Our Lady as a guide for our youth, as a guide for those of you who have not yet chosen your path in this life. It is like having your ship in the dock and you are getting out the map and charting your course, but you have not yet set out on your voyage. You have your life but you have not yet chosen what we call your state in life. Our Lady is a great guide for you because God her the ability to live different states of life all at the same time and to provide a perfect model for all of them. There are some guides who simply tell you where you need to go but do not walk on that path. There are other guides who show you the way to go by walking on that path themselves. That is what Our Lady has done. She says to our youth, “There are three different paths that you can choose in this life. I have walked on all of them in a certain way, but you will only be able to choose one of them. Each of these paths involves a gift of yourself. You are free to choose the path that you desire but you must seek to choose one of them rather than remain at the crossroads your whole life.” God has given us three states of life to choose from. Our Lady is a model for all of them.
