By Catholic News Service • Posted June 2, 2014

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Standing before a replica of the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes from France, Pope Francis told Vatican employees and other guests that Mary is a mother who never makes her children wait for a response to their prayers.

“She is the virgin of readiness, Our Lady of Haste,” the pope said May 31 at the end of a rosary procession and prayer service marking the feast of the Visitation and the end of May, the month traditionally devoted to Mary.

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As darkness fell and those participating in the procession held candles in the Vatican Gardens, Pope Francis noted how in the Gospel of Luke’s description of Mary visiting her cousin Elisabeth, it says Mary went “in haste.”

“She did not lose time; she went right away to serve,” the pope said.

Mary is always “ready to come to our aid when we pray to her, when we ask her help, her protection over us,” Pope Francis said. “In the many moments of life when we need the help of her protection, remember that she will not make us wait: she is Our Lady of Haste.”