A girl at school wrote a letter to her mother back at home. In the letter, she asked her mother to send her a mirror. Like all good parents, her mother, a devout catholic, wanted what was best for her daughter.

So in reply, the mother wrote: “I am sending you a parcel in which are three mirrors. The first will show you as you are. The second will show you what you will be. The third will show you what you ought to be.”

What fascinating mirrors! What on earth could her mother be talking about? When the box arrived, the girl opened it with curiosity.

The first thing she took out was an ordinary mirror. A mirror just like what she had asked for - to show what her face currently looked like.

The next thing in the box was a picture - a representation of a skull - which is what her face would one day look like. The girl clearly understood that she had seen what she was, and what she was going to be. But now she was very curious as to what her mother would have thought to use to show her how she should be.

On the bottom of the box, underneath the mirror and image of the skull, was the last “mirror.” She reached in and pulled it out.

It was a beautiful little statue of Our Lady.

Thus the pious mother tried to show her daughter that physical beauty does not last forever. No matter what our face may look like now, one day there will be nothing left to it but the skull.

So, in order to be beautiful forever, we must focus on the part of us that does last forever - our souls. Our souls are beautiful when we please God, by doing the right thing in all the circumstances of our lives. To do the right thing, we need God’s grace. And there is no better person to show us the way, and to help us make it, than She Who is “Full of Grace”, our own beloved Mother Mary.