In this, the month honoring Our Lady, we want to highlight Mary as the model for all women and especially for facilitators.  The below is a special exerpt taken from the website “To Teach:  Modern Questions.  Gospel Answers.” which is a USCCB Publishing for Catholic Educators. 

Mary, Model of Faith

After two thousand years, Mary still stands as our model of faith. As you read the three quotes below about Mary, consider in what ways do you walk a similar path as Mary did and what can you learn from her example.

Hail Mary, Mother of God,
You have given the world its true light,
Jesus, your Son – The Son of God.
You abandoned yourself completely to God’s call
And this became a wellspring
Of the goodness which flows forth from him.
Show us Jesus.  Lead us to him.
Teach us to know and love him,
So that we too can become capable of true love
And be fountains of living water
In the midst of a thirsting world.
—Pope Benedict XVI
God Is Love (Deus Caritas Est), 42

Mary, the Mother of the Lord, has received from the faithful the title of Advocate:  she is our advocate before God.  And this is how we see her, from the wedding-feast of Cana onwards:  as a woman who is kindly, filled with maternal concern and love, a woman who is attentive to the needs of others and, out of desire to help them, brings those needs before the Lord.
—Pope Benedict XVI
 Mary:  Spiritual Thought Series, 57

It is time for Catholics to share their familial relationship with the Mother of Christ and for other Christians to rediscover the remarkable example of the woman who was the first to hear and accept the Gospel.  All Baptized Christians can look to Mary as the Mother of the Church’s faith, hearing Jesus bestowing upon them the one whom he entrusted to be his beloved disciple:  “Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:27).  As a loving friend and sympathetic companion, Mary shares in the joys and sufferings of her fellow disciples, while ever confirming for them the great rewards of a life lived in faithfulness to the Gospel.
—Mary in Ecumenical Perspective