There are two very important things that we learn from our Mother Mary. We are devoted to her in her humility and obedience. The Angel spoke and she did not put her trust in her own fears and doubts. She put her trust in the Angel’s promise because she had heard the Word of God before, who chooses the smallest to do the greatest work. She takes our part in taking the part of the couple in Cana, reminding us that the wine of this world has failed us, and that we must draw as servants from the font of our baptism to find the new wine of the new Covenant.
She stood patiently and silently at the foot of the cross. She could not end his suffering, but with her heart she could humbly share in that communion of suffering. She may have wondered why he hurried to the cross when it meant that he would leave her to suffer. The storm that overtook her soul had been prophesied by Simeon years earlier. Yet she waits in faith and hope, humble and obedient, confident in the knowledge of a God who has always been faithful.
She is our mother in the order of grace. “When we appeal to the throne of grace we do so through Mary, honoring God by honoring His Mother, Imitating Him by exalting her, touching the most responsive chord in the Sacred Heart of Christ with the sweet name of Mary.[i] We give ourselves to her because Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite Him to us and us to Him.[ii] That is who she is; she is the perfect means to unite us to Jesus and Jesus to us. We come to her because she gives us Jesus. It is entirely the initiative of God that we celebrate her. It is entirely the initiative of God that our salvation should be born of her and from her; that our salvation comes through her. So, those who reject Mary, reject what Christ loves. They reject God’s work, and God’s will. If we reject Mary, we reject grace. But God is our only desire and His grace is what we need, and this grace is given to us first, through Mary; she is the one who gave birth to the grace that saves us.
Notes
[i] St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621),
[ii] St. Louis Grignon de Montfort
She stood patiently and silently at the foot of the cross. She could not end his suffering, but with her heart she could humbly share in that communion of suffering. She may have wondered why he hurried to the cross when it meant that he would leave her to suffer. The storm that overtook her soul had been prophesied by Simeon years earlier. Yet she waits in faith and hope, humble and obedient, confident in the knowledge of a God who has always been faithful.
She is our mother in the order of grace. “When we appeal to the throne of grace we do so through Mary, honoring God by honoring His Mother, Imitating Him by exalting her, touching the most responsive chord in the Sacred Heart of Christ with the sweet name of Mary.[i] We give ourselves to her because Jesus chose her as the perfect means to unite Him to us and us to Him.[ii] That is who she is; she is the perfect means to unite us to Jesus and Jesus to us. We come to her because she gives us Jesus. It is entirely the initiative of God that we celebrate her. It is entirely the initiative of God that our salvation should be born of her and from her; that our salvation comes through her. So, those who reject Mary, reject what Christ loves. They reject God’s work, and God’s will. If we reject Mary, we reject grace. But God is our only desire and His grace is what we need, and this grace is given to us first, through Mary; she is the one who gave birth to the grace that saves us.
Notes
[i] St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621),
[ii] St. Louis Grignon de Montfort
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