It was at the foot of the Cross that the Redeemer bequeathed His mother to be our spiritual mother. It was when He said to John: "Behold thy Mother" (John 19:27). For more than two decades this Mother of all Nations and Queen of Peace has been appearing all over the world, crying at times, and pleading with her children to change their ways and return to God. She has warned that this is a time of God's mercy and that she can no longer hold back the hand of His Justice if we do not respond to her call. Meanwhile man continues to display an ever increasing disrespect and lack of appreciation of and gratitude for the gift of life, which is so taken for granted. Indeed, we live in an era in which the disrespect and devaluation of life have spawned the advent of the suicide bomber and international terrorism with an increasing incidence of murders worldwide. Truly, we are in the midst of a culture of death.