Mother of God

Blessed is she who believed’

Mary: Mother of God and our mother

Part 1 of a 4

One of the most visible distinguishing symbols of Catholicism is that of the Virgin Mary. Statues of her adorn our yards; rosaries dangle from rearview mirrors; children attend ‘May Crownings’ and learn the Hail Mary. But what is it about Mary that the Church finds so precious?

For Catholics, our Blessed Mother is more than just another person, and even more than just another saint; but she is most certainly NOT God— like the rest of us, she doesn’t even come close! All the same, the mysteries of her life seem so immense that we can hardly wrap our minds around them: how are we to understand, much less ever relate to, a life conceived and lived without any sin? A virginal conception and birth? God being the Father of your only child? The key is to focus on the fact that Mary is not simply a ’vessel’ that God somehow needed to bring His Son to us— instead, she is an active participant in the divine mysteries present in her life, both as the Mother of the Savior and as our Blessed Mother!

This week, as every year, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, calling to mind the reality that Mary was conceived without sin (even Original Sin) through a special grace of the Holy Spirit. It is very easy for us to look at this reality and think, “It must have been so EASY for Mary; she had no sin. She had Jesus for a Son, and Joseph for a husband.” But the reality is that God gives no idle gifts, to Mary or to any of us! He expects us to use them with great faith, hope and love. The greater the gift, the greater our own loving response needs to be. Mary had no sin, yes; but it was her immense faith, her response to God, and her participation in the mysteries unfolding before her in Jesus that is the foundation for her importance in the Church. As Elizabeth cried out to her: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb… Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”! (Lk 1:42,45).

And Jesus Himself directs our thoughts this way: “...a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, ‘Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it’” (Lk 11:27-28). Thus, the ‘Gospel truth’ that Jesus gives us about Mary is this: it is better not to say, “God gave her so much”, but instead, “She DID so much with what God gave her”! Celebrating Mary’s Immaculate Conception reminds us of the greatness of the gifts God has offered to us— and challenges us to do what WE can in imitation of our Blessed Mother.

The least you should know:

— Mary is NOT God, nor does she even come close; but she remains a very important figure in the Catholic Church

— Mary’s importance flows not just from the great mysteries of God in her life but from her faithful & loving response to Him in those mysteries: ’Blessed is she who believed’
(cf Lk 1:42)!

The Woman and the Well
Mary: Mother of God and our mother

Part 2 of a 4

Last week we looked briefly at Mary as the woman ‘blessed because she believed’ in the Lord. This week we will touch on the age-old question, “Why go to Mary?”

Christ is often compared to a source of water in the Scriptures. Jesus Himself uses this image in the Gospel of John, declaring that the ’water’ He offers to all people will never run dry or disappoint: “…whoever drinks this water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become… a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14). So, Jesus is much like the well from which we need to draw this special ‘water’— which is nothing other than grace, the gift of God’s own life, the gift that we need to grow closer to Him and to each other. Like water itself, grace is a very basic part of our intake, so much so that we take it for granted most of the time but suffer greatly if we are deprived of it for even a short time.

Now Christ is the true source of this special ‘water’ which never runs dry; that is, He the true source of grace whenever we need it: to be a better husband/wife, a better friend, a better soccer player, a better plumber, etc. To become a better person through our life in Christ, in little ways and in big ways: this is the goal of asking for all graces.

Where does Mary fit into all this? You may recall that the Hail Mary calls our Blessed Mother by the words the angel addressed her: “full of grace” (see Lk 1:28). As we saw last week, Mary not only received great amount’s of God’s life and love through the special graces given to her, but she responded with a great faith of her own, and always tried to participate fully in the mysteries she saw unfolding before her. And one of these mysteries is to be the special mother of everyone in the Church— that is, each of us!

Catholics don’t believe that Mary is the SOURCE of grace; only Christ Himself can claim that. But Mary, acting as a true mother to us and being ‘full of grace’ through the will of God, is able to give us grace when we ask it of her. She doesn’t do this APART from Jesus, but rather BECAUSE of Him! Think of her as the tap in your sink— you know that the water is coming from the well, not the tap itself; but when you want water, you go to the sink anyway! Christ remains the source, Mary only the instrument; but like the tap which runs from the well, God deliberately placed her within His household (the Church) as a sure and immediate means of obtaining the gift of His grace through Jesus, as and when we need it! “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come”… Let the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water” (Rev 22:17).

The least you should know:

— Grace, the gift of God’s own life, flows from Jesus Christ (its source) and helps us to become better people (esp. better Christians!)

— Mary, who is ‘full of grace’, is a unique INSTRUMENT of grace in the mystery of Christ; though not its source, she is able to give us grace when we ask it of her, as our true mother (see Jn 19:26-27).

Virgin+Mother = True Love

Mary: Mother of God and our mother

Part 3 of a 4

This week we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord (the birth of Jesus). As part of our catechesis on Mary, we will examine the ‘Virgin Birth’ that is part of the Christmas mystery.

Among the Church’s central beliefs about Mary is that she is Ever-Virgin. The core of this belief lies in the Gospels: namely, that Jesus was conceived in a virgin’s womb by the Holy Spirit, not by man (see Lk 1:26-38). In the early Church, this virginal conception of Jesus was an important part of the creed; but over time, the early Church Fathers began to discuss other aspects of Mary’s virginity. Over time, belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity grew in strength and emphasis: that is, not only was Jesus conceived in the womb of a young virgin, but in a true ‘Christmas miracle’, her virginity remained physically intact even in the act of giving birth to Jesus! Likewise, though Mary and Joseph were truly husband and wife, their deep love for each other was never exercised through sexual intercourse— their marriage itself was virginal in nature. The Church declared (in an 8th-century Council) all these things to be truths of the mystery of Christ, so that all should accept them as part of the Gospel He proclaimed; they are summed up in the Marian title ‘Ever-Virgin’.

So why did it take so long to ’officially’ declare these truths about Mary to be true? Did the Church ’change’ the truth about Mary? Not at all. Think of it this way: all plants on earth had the exact same cellular structure in the 1000 A.D. as they do in 2003; but because we have developed microscopes, computers, etc. since then, we know much more about what was always there. We can see more details and understand their importance in our lives better. Catholic doctrine ’grows’ in the same way: through the ‘microscope’ of study, experience, and especially prayer, how we understand the same truths of faith entrusted to the Apostles (incl. those about Mary) can develop while never changing at all!

And finally: why is it even important to believe in Mary’s perpetual virginity— that Mary was a virgin before, during, and after Jesus’ birth? First, it’s NOT in any way a declaration against marriage or sexuality, which is part of God’s loving design! Instead, the OPPOSITE is true: Mary’s unique virginity is actually a sign to all people from God showing that human love, transformed by Christ, becomes TRUE LOVE in the fullest sense! Through this mystery, Mary is able to give herself totally to her husband, her Son, and her God, and yet not have her love for any of them suffer as a result! It is a special part of God’s Christmas message to all— because He gave us His Son, our lives (and love!) are forever transformed for the better.

The least you should know:

— To believe Mary is ‘Ever-Virgin’ is to believe that she remained a virgin before, during, and after Jesus’ birth. It is a truth belonging to the mysteries of Christ.

— Mary’s perpetual virginity isn’t a ‘bad commentary’ on marriage & sexuality, but a sign of the depths of TRUE LOVE made possible in Jesus!

In Good Times and in Bad

Mary: Mother of God and our mother

Part 4 of a 4

In this concluding segment of our catechesis on Mary, we will take a brief look at the Holy Family— Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (feast day: Dec. 28th).

Throughout most of the centuries since the time of Christ, the Holy Family has often been portrayed in an earthly existence that seemed more like another dimension rather than just another house; one easily got the impression that angels did the dishes for Mary if she didn’t have the time! Their tiny home in Nazareth all but floated off of the ground in such stories, so rapt in the love of God were the three people within its walls.

The Gospels, though, paint a different picture. After living in their midst for thirty years, it doesn’t seem like the family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had impressed the other people in their small town, judging by their reaction to Jesus’ first preaching there: “many [from Nazareth] who heard him were astonished. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this?... Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary…?” (Mark 6:2-3). The truth, it seems, is much more ordinary than many popular paintings and stories would have us believe.

And that ‘ordinariness’ is very important. Many people report that they can’t “relate” to Mary because she never sinned, or because her husband was a Saint, or because her Son was perfect. But Mary and Joseph still loved each other, and their Son, with human love; God did not love the other ‘for’ them. And though they did love each other very deeply, their faith in God (like ours!) would often be tested through the love of their family in tough times: Joseph, for example, had to struggle with the unexpected pregnancy of his fiancé. Jesus had to be born in a stable, of all places. After His birth, the three of them had to flee to a foreign country without saying goodbye to family or friends— or else the baby would be killed! Once they had returned to Nazareth, Joseph was a blue-collar worker and taught Jesus to be the same: the old ‘food on the table, roof over our heads’ necessities were came by the work of their hands— not by angels who did it for them.

The mystery of the ‘hidden life’ of Jesus (that is, of the Holy Family) is not marked with floating households or miracles. And that’s precisely because God intended it as a sign to each of us that in the ordinary work and overwhelming difficulties that each of our families sometimes face— the “good times and bad” promised in marriage vows— God will provide for all our needs through each other, even in impossible circumstances, if we allow Christ to transform and strengthen our love. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the holiest family EVER, had to go through all of this before any of us— thereby proving to us that it’s true. And of the many mysteries of Christ expressed in Mary, these lessons ‘proved’ by the Holy Family are ones which we can all “relate” to.