Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Teacher

INTRODUCTION

On 1^st January 2002, marking the Solemnity of the Mary, Mother of God, Pope John Paul II in his homily had said, “If Jesus is Life, Mary is the Mother of Life. If Jesus is Hope, Mary is the Mother of Hope. If Jesus is Peace, Mary is the Mother of Peace, Mother of the Prince of Peace… Let us ask her to give us Jesus, ‘our full Blessing, in whom the Father blessed all history once and for all’, making it become the history of salvation.”

The above statement of Pope John Paul II succinctly depicts the relationship between Mary and Christ, which is the crux of the salvation of human race. Jesus is God-made-man and Mary is the Woman that God made to be the Mother of His Son here on earth. She is given to us as Mother at the foot of the Cross “…this is your mother” [St. John 19:27], and she is the ‘Mother of all believers’ as Lumen Gentium calls her and in fact she is the Mother of entire human race.

Expounding on that above exhortation of Jesus from the Cross [St. Jn. 19:27], our former Rector Major Fr. Egidio Vigano in his first letter to the Salesian Family, titled as “Mary is renewing the Salesian Family of Don Bosco”, had said, “… we [Salesian Family] need to re-examine closely the reality of Mary’s Spiritual Motherhood and live again the attitude and resolve of that disciple… we must make the evangelist’s [St. John] affirmation our own program of renewal, viz. ‘make a place for Our Lady in our home’”.

The events of the Annunciation, the Visitation and the Birth of Child Jesus and other narratives as mentioned in the Gospels speak volumes of her faith and confidence in the Lord. In this article I would like to delineate on the event of the ‘Wedding feast at Cana’ where her unwavering faith is highly remarkable in the Lord, of whom she spoke, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord…” and beautifully places her ‘pride’ in the human history saying, “hence forth all generations call me blessed…”. This claim of our Blessed Mother has been marvelously true over 2000 years.

Our father and founder Don Bosco himself fondly took her as ‘Mother and Teacher’ from the time of his dream at the age of nine and throughout his life implored her intercession as ‘Immaculate Help of Christians’. Through the event of the ‘Wedding feast at Cana’, she teaches us her sons and daughters to become ardent disciples of the Lord in our faith-journey.

WEDDING FEAST AT CANA – A TEACHER, HELPER AND INTERCESSOR

The event of ‘Wedding Feast at Cana’ [in St. Jn. 2] signifies the unique role of Mother Mary, as Helper, Intercessor and Teacher. The Gospel text goes along five themes:

I.                    The Place that Mother Mary has:

The text says, “There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.”

We notice that Mary seems to dominate the scene in the wedding feast at Cana, and the presence of Jesus is mentioned only as second. St. Thomas Aquinas, noting this says that at Cana Mary is acting as the “go-between” in arranging a mystical marriage (Cf. Commentary on John, 98; and 2,1, n.336, 338, and 343, 151-152). Hence in a way she almost dominates the scene, and, once the Marriage is arranged, steps back, her final words to us being, “Do whatever he tells you.”

II.                  The Prayer that Mother Mary makes:

The text says, “When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’”

We notice another central role that Mary has: she is interceding here, she is praying for others to her Son. Three significant qualities exemplify her prayer:

·         Her discernment - She notices the problem, probably even before the bridegroom and the marriage party. Indeed mothers often notice the needs of their children before they do. But why didn’t Jesus notice? Perhaps he did, and surely as God he knew. But he waits for us to ask. Yes, God waits and expects us to ask. In such expectation and pleading God teaches us that we must learn to depend on Him and learn habitually to bring Him our many needs. The Book of James says, “You have not, because you ask not” [James 4:2].

·         Her diligence – It is explicitly clear that Mary is actually praying to her Son. Rather than fret and be anxious she goes straightway to her Son out of love for the couple ( and us as well) and trust in her Son. She sees the need and gets right to the work of praying, of beseeching her Son.

·         Her deference - Mary does not tell Jesus what to do per se, but simply notes the need: “They have no wine.” She is not directive, as if to say, “Here is my agenda and solution for this problem, follow my plans exactly, just sing here at the bottom of my plan for action.” Rather she simply observes the problem and places it before her Son in confidence. He knows what to do and will decide the best way to handle things.

Thus Mary is a model of prayer for us. The Scriptures teach that Mary is the quintessential woman of prayer, a model of prayer. She not only intercedes for us, she teaches us how to pray.

III.                The Portrait of Mother Mary:

The text says, Woman, how does this concern of yours affect me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”

We need to notice three things about this brief dialogue between Mary and Jesus.

·         The Title of Mary - Jesus calls her “Woman.” In Jewish culture a man could well respectfully call a woman “Woman,” but it was unheard of for a Son to call his mother “Woman.” In fact, in the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus always calls his Mother, “Woman” and this in fulfillment of Genesis 3:15 which says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, while you strike at his heel.” And thus Jesus is saying that Mary is the woman who is prophesied. Jesus is actually exalting her: You are the woman who was prophesied. You are she from whose “seed” comes forth the Son destined to destroy the power of Satan.

·         Mary is the new Eve. For Jesus also calls her “Woman” at the foot of the Cross wherein He is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve, and the tree this time is the Cross. And thus, just as we got into trouble by a man, a woman and tree, so now we get out of trouble by the same path. Adam’s “no” and sin is reversed by Jesus who saves us by his, “Yes.” Eve’s “No” is reversed by Mary’s “yes”.

·         The Tenacity of Mary - Jesus says to his mother, “What to me and to thee, Woman?” It appears that Jesus is expressing resistance over His mother striving to involve Him in this matter. But Mary does not seem to interpret it as resistance of Jesus, but stays in conversation with Jesus and overcomes the ‘tension’ and we notice her tenacity.

To be tenacious means to hold fast in spite of obstacles or discouragements. It is clear that Mother Mary does not give up, and that she confidently expects the Lord to answer her favorably, “Do whatever he tells you.”

·         The Trust of Mary - She simply departs, telling the stewards, “Do whatever he tells you.” She does not hover. She does not come back and check on the progress of things. She does not seek to control or manipulate the outcome. She simply leaves the scene and leaves it all to Jesus.

IV.               The power of Mary’s prayer:

Whatever his initial concerns regarding Mother Mary’s request, Jesus now goes to work:

Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it… “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

From the Gospel narration it appears that Jesus produced almost 150 gallons of the best wine. Mary’s prayer and tenacity have produced abundant results. Sometimes the Lord says wait, only to grant further abundance [Cf. Isaiah 40:31]. Mary is not merely an intercessor for us but also a model for us. We should persevere in prayer and go to the Lord with confident expectation of His abundant response. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much “[James 5:16].

V.                 The product of Mary’s prayer:

 The text says, Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory and his disciples began to believe in him.

The narration in the Gospel mentions towards the end that many began to believe in the Lord this day on account of this miracle. Mary’s essential role is to lead many souls to a deeper union with her Son. And having led us, she instructs us, “Do whatever he tells you.” She continued to hold up Christ for us to see throughout her life and at the foot of the Cross after He is taken down.

Mary has a special role in helping to initiate our faith and in helping by God’s grace to enable Christ to be born in us and continues to assist us as the ‘Help of Christians’.

CONCLUSION

Immaculate Mary, the Help of Christians:

 “Immaculate Help of Christians” is the title with which Don Bosco continually honored our Blessed Mother Mary. This is the feast we shall be soon celebrating on 24^th May. Don Bosco expressed it to Fr. Cagliero, "the Madonna wishes us to honour her under the title of "Help of Christians"; the times are so sad that we have real need of the most holy Virgin's assistance in preserving and defending the Christian faith". He affirms emphatically of the motherly intervention of Mary at the beginning and early development of our Congregation and it continues throughout human history.

In the letter of AGC-414, written by our beloved Rector Major, Rev. Fr. Pascual Chavez in August 2012, we read that he outlines the disturbing problems, evil and the ‘culture of death’ present in the contemporary society and poses serious threat to the Church and to Salesian Mission as well. He underscores that Mother Mary, as a woman stands out as shining example. He explicates that ‘Mary Immaculate Help of Christians’ shows us the field of our mission and continues to guide and support us in carrying it out.  He poses a question, “what would Don Bosco do today?” and he suggests the answer of Don Bosco himself, “If you have loved me in the past, continue to love me in the future by the exact observance of our Constitutions". In Article 8 we read, “…we believe that Mary is present among us and continues her mission as Mother of the Church and Help of Christians, we entrust ourselves to her, the humble servant in whom the Lord has done great things, that we may become witnesses to the young of her Son’s boundless love”.

It is worth to reflect on the words of our Blessed Mother in her Magnificat, "… henceforth all generations will call me blessed" [Lk. 1:48]. Commenting on this phrase from the Magnificat, Pope Benedict XVI writes eloquently,

“The Church invented nothing new of her own when she began to extol Mary; the Church does what she must; she carries out the task assigned her from the beginning. While writing this text [Lk. 1:48], Luke the Evangelist was already among the second generation of Christianity, where Jews had been joined by that of the Gentiles, who had been incorporated into the Church of Jesus Christ. The expression "all generations, all families" was beginning to be filled with historical reality. The Evangelist would certainly not have transmitted Mary's prophecy if it had seemed to him an indifferent or obsolete item. He wished in his Gospel to record "with care" what "the eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Lk 1:2-3) had handed on from the beginning, in order to give the faith of Christianity, which was then striding onto the stage of world history, a reliable guide for its future course.”

We turn to Mary, our Mother because the Lord had done most wonderful things in her life. She fully trusted God and took pride in it as she said, “hence forth all generations will call me Blessed”. As we turn to her and place ourselves under her Maternal Protection, she teaches us as true mother, out of her own exemplary life as evinced in the ‘Wedding Feast at Cana’.

In the same letter of AGC-414 of August 2012, our Rector Major, refers to her beautifully:

“Mary, as Mother and Teacher, not only reminds us of the dream at nine years of age and her presence in the life of Don Bosco, but goes much further… refers to the fundamental mission of Mary as Mother and Teacher of Jesus, the Son of God made man. Just as Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit brought to the light the Saviour, so also she brings to the light each one of us by the power of the same Spirit, as educators and pastors of the young.”

Yes, she is the ‘Help of all Christians’, Mother of all believers and her maternal protection and intercession is extended to all who seek her with a sincere heart.

Thank you,

Papireddy

14^th May 2013