However, over the years, I was able to develop a better relationship with her. And that relationship has been especially relevant and helpful when I was bombarded with exams and last-minute university acceptance decisions. Although my own mother offered her maximum support and prayers when I was writing my exams or visiting a university campus, it was my mother in heaven who was able to experience all those things with me.

While sitting in that tense and quiet examination room, I would say a little prayer to Mary whenever I was stuck on a question or felt anxious. I felt her motherly guidance and support when my own mother was not physically there.

In many ways, Mary can provide for us in ways our earthly mothers cannot. When Jesus was dying on Calvary, He gave us His mother as a wonderful and pure gift so that we can receive her guidance, wisdom and comfort. In many ways, the crosses and sorrows she suffered in her own life can be related to ours.

Sometimes when I think of Mary, I realize the immense courage and humility she must have had to summon to say “yes” to God — a “yes” that enabled Jesus to come into the world and a “yes” that was the catalyst for the Catholic Church. Mary invites us to say “yes” to God in the face of darkness.

Her example lets us know that saying “yes” is no easy task, but one that requires courage and faith. It is this “yes” that inspired me to increase my faith in God.

After a stressful month of less-than-stellar exams, I was quite fed-up. I was saying “no” to God and “no” to whatever plans He had for me. I didn’t want to say “yes” because I was absolutely terrified of what I was saying “yes” to. But it was Mary’s bold and memorable “yes” that finally helped me let go of my own attempts at controlling the universe.

By praying the rosary, a beautiful and powerful prayer to Mary, I was able to feel at peace. Meditating on the mysteries, I gained insight into the most important mysteries and events in the lives of Jesus and Mary. In doing so, I realized their lives, the crosses that they carried, were not so different from ours.

I stopped trying to be the captain of my own ship and trying get my sails to go in the opposite direction of the wind. Saying “yes” to God, like Mother Mary, meant letting God take the wheel, trusting that the wind He sent had a purpose and a direction, the right direction.

(Chazhoor, 18, is a Grade 12 student of Turner Fenton Secondary School in Brampton.)