Ladybug

In ancient Scandinavian mythology, Freya was the goddess of love and youth. Springtime, the season of love, was marked by swarms of colorful beetles, which therefore were regarded as "love messengers of Freya." Early Catholic missionaries strove to Christianize this pagan belief, redirecting the pagan cult of Freya to a devotional veneration of the Virgin Mary, by renaming the beetles "Our Lady's little birds," Later American colonists simplified that name to "lady bugs" - the name used by most today.

In my own fanciful piety as a child, I used to think that ladybugs were named for Our Lady - if you'll excuse a respectful pun - because Our Lady once "bugged" her Son, Jesus, at the wedding at Cana (see John 2), by simply hinting, "They have no wine." By that unaffected intercessory prayer she gently "bugged" him to work his first - and "unplanned" - miracle, changing water into wine to save the host embarrassment. And then she "bugged" the servants to do Jesus' will, not hers, as his instruments: "Do whatever he tells you." Even today, she "bugs" us to do nothing but God's holy will.

Thirty-three years before the Cana episode, Mary herself, through the intermediary word of the Angel Gabriel, had been "bugged" by God to become the mother of the Incarnate Word. "The Mighty One" did great things for her, for which she would be called blessed for all generations (see Luke 1:48-49). And today Our lady "bugs" us to live holy lives as his children - and hers. 

This excerpt is from the book One-Minute Meditations for Busy People, by John H. Hampsch, C.M.F., originally published by Servant Publications. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/video recordings can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408 or www.Catholicbooks.net