INTRODUCTION
On 1st January 2002,
marking the Solemnity of the Mary, Mother of God, Pope John Paul 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’”. 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’,
and to us his sons and daughters in the Salesian Family of the 21st
century, he urges us ‘to contemplate and imitate her’, as delineated in
Article-92 of Salesian Constitutions.
Mary, as
Mother of God, had perfectly excelled in her faith and has become ‘Mother of all believers’. She is Mother,
Teacher, Helper and Intercessor for everyone in the journey of faith. We
need to ‘contemplate and imitate her’,
as Article 92 of our Constitutions exhorts us.
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD [THEOTOKOS]
"Mary, Mother of God" [Theotokos] was solemnly proclaimed at
the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., when the Council Fathers reaffirmed what
the Church had believed from the beginning. Such grounding in faith is in
perfect harmony with the other fundamental truths of faith the Church proclaims
and adheres to, viz. Jesus Christ, two
natures in one Divine Person; and the Blessed
Trinity, three Persons yet one God. And similarly, the mystery of the ‘Holy
Theotokos’ underlies the whole mystery of our redemption, that is to say, from
her conception of Jesus in her womb by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit to
our own conception in the womb of the ‘Marian Church’, "until Christ be
fully formed in us", as Pope Benedict XVI puts it.
In fact, "Mary,
Mother of God" is the greatest and most sublime title that Mary can ever
be given. It sums up all that she is, all that she does, and all that she
desires. The ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’ explains that Mary was called
in the Gospels as 'the mother of Jesus'" and that she "is acclaimed
by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Holy Spirit and even before the birth of
her Son, as 'the mother of my Lord'"
(CCC 495). God has a mother and she was chosen by Him before the beginning of
time. Blessed John Henry Newman explicates beautifully how Jesus and His mother
are intimately connected and one cannot be separated from the other, for she as
the ‘Christ-bearer’ [Theotokos], leads us all to her Son Jesus, the King of
Heaven and Earth.
Certainly such keen awareness of
Mary's exalted character in God's sight, as she perfectly responded in faith to
the call of God and kept up that burning hope until the end of her earthly
life, enabled Elizabeth exclaim with wondrous
exclamation, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of
your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come
to me? Therefore, our inmost hearts
should leap for joy whenever we feel the approach of the Mother of our Lord,
since we know that she never comes to us alone, without bringing into our lives
Jesus, the blessed fruit of her womb, who is as inseparable from her as she is
from him. Moreover she is given by her Son Jesus Himself as mother to us all,
‘this is your mother’ [Jn.19:27]. She is blessed because she believed that
‘there would be a fulfillment of what the Lord had spoken to her’ [Lk. 1:45].
She is the perfect model of faith, and Mother of all believers.
MARY,
MOTHER OF ALL BELIEVERS
Angel Gabriel
uttered the God’s message with the words, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!" (Lk 1:28). Those
words make up the first phrase of the prayer, ‘Hail
Mary’. The
second phrase of the prayer comes from a human person, Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, who exclaimed, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb" (Lk 1:42). Commenting on such amazing
utterances, St. Bede remarks
that Mary "should be honored by angels and by men, and she should indeed be revered above all other women."
It is immensely
wonderful to imagine how
blessed was Mary that she carried the Incarnate Son in her womb, the
Redeemer of the human race. The
phrase "blessed art thou among women" is the Jewish way of saying, "You are the most blessed of woman!" And why has
Mary been chosen by the Most High to be the mother of the Redeemer? Because of
God’s grace and her faithful response to it, a fact that Elizabeth, herself a
woman of great faith, recognized: "And blessed is she who believed that
there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Lk
1:45).
Blessed Virgin Mary and
Abraham:
Reflecting on Mary’s faith, the Catechism of the Catholic
Church compares Mary to Abraham, who, "because of his faith, became a
blessing for all the nations of the earth. Mary, because of her faith, became
the mother of believers, through whom all nations of the earth receive Him who is God's own blessing: Jesus, the ‘fruit of
thy womb", [CCC - 2676]. This
promise of salvation is also reflected in Psalm 72, "May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun
his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed; all
the nations shall proclaim his happiness."
In the original covenant made with Abraham as narrated in Genesis 12, Abraham is told by God that he will be made a "great
nation," that his name will be made great, and he "shall be a
blessing" to all the families of the earth. The word "bless" is to be
understood as narrated in Scripture in the creation account of the opening chapter of
Genesis, which describes God looking upon the creatures of earth, blessing
them, and declaring: "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:22). Then,
after creating man, he blessed Adam and Eve and said, "Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it" (Gen 1:28).
Blessing, then, is intimately connected to the gift of
life. In the Old Testament blessings were connected with prosperity, progeny,
and promise. Blessings and curses were central to the great covenants made with
Abraham, Moses, and David. With Mary, the blessing also involves prosperity,
progeny, and promise in a unique way, as her Son Jesus Christ encompasses all of those things and makes them available to
all people for the remainder of time. St. Paul writes to us [Rom. 15:8-9], "For I say that Christ became a minister of the
circumcised to show God's truthfulness to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, but so that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy". The promises made to Abraham are fulfilled in Mary.
The Second Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church, declared that "this union of the Mother with the Son in the work
of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up
to His death it is shown first of all when Mary, arising in haste to go to
visit Elizabeth, is greeted by her as blessed because of her belief in the
promise of salvation and the precursor leaped with joy in the womb of his
mother" (Lumen
Gentium, 57). Because of her
perfect faith and cooperation with God’s grace, Mary is Mother of God and
"mother of men, particularly of the faithful" (LG, 54). Mary is
revered because she faithfully said "Yes!" to God and gave birth to
the God-man, Jesus and kept up her burning faith in the promises of the
Lord throughout her earthly existence. The Church and the entire human race
looks up to her as Mother of God and Mother of all believers [Jn. 19:27], and
therefore she teaches us, helps us and intercedes for us as shown in the ‘wedding feast at Cana’, We turn to her
in our faith journey and in our discipleship to the Lord.
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 groom and bride. 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 this 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 was confident expectation of its 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’.
MARY, HELP
OF CHRISTIANS – ‘WE CONTEMPLATE AND IMITATE HER’ [C-92]
Immaculate Mary,
the Help of Christians:
Our
beloved Rector Major, Fr. Pascual Chavez in his AGC – 414 written in 2012 [on
the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary], asks us, “can we not therefore in an
analogous manner maintain that the Assumption of Mary marks the beginning of
her protection and of her maternal help on behalf of all Christians, indeed of
all men and women in the world?
“Immaculate
Help of Christians” is the title with which Don Bosco continually honored Mary.
He 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 continues
throughout history.
In
the same letter of AGC-414, Rector Major 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". And it is in the Salesian Constitutions that the
significant role of Mary is highlighted especially in Articles 8 and 92.
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”. Therefore, Mary is
the Madonna of Don Bosco and continues to be our Madonna in the present age,
and when we entrust ourselves to her, she guides us, “do whatever He tells
you" (Jn. 2:5) and we shall become servants of the young to ensure for
them joy and the fullness of life in God.
We contemplate and
imitate her [C-92]:
In
Article 92 we read, “Mary Mother of God… is the model of prayer and pastoral
love, the teacher of wisdom and guide of our family; we contemplate and imitate her faith, her concern for the needy, her fidelity at the hour of the cross,
and her joy at the wonders wrought by the Father…”
In the same letter of AGC – 414, Rector Major
elaborates how we need to ‘contemplate and imitate her’ by explicating on the
two dogmas, viz. the Immaculate
Conception and the Assumption,
through which God the Father had accomplished wonderful things in her life. He says,
·
“We have to think that "God
chose us (in Christ) before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
and blameless before him in love" (Eph 1,4); and that the Assumption of
Mary constitutes "a sign of sure hope and solace for the pilgrim people of
God" (cf. LG 68): in her is fully fulfilled what God wants to accomplish
in us in a similar way”.
The Article 92 exhorts us: “we develop a strong filial
devotion to her”. It is not mere sentimental attachment and that it not only
implies our tenderness to Mary, ‘Mother Most amiable’, but also our courage in
imitating her in her complete dedication to the will of God. The Article ends
with ‘we recite the rosary each day and celebrate her feasts to encourage a
more convinced and personal imitation’, so as to continually become her sons in
Christ, and she leads us to the fullness of our offering to the Lord and gives
us courage in our Mission. She infuses hope in us.
“Spe Salvi”:
In his Encyclical ‘Spe Salvi’ [Hope]
Benedict XVI wonderfully unravels the hope exhibited by Mary:
“… when Jesus began his public
ministry, you had to step aside, so that a new family could grow, the family
which it was his mission to establish and which would be made up of those who
heard his word and kept it [cf. Lk 11:27]. In this way you saw the growing
power of hostility and rejection which built up around Jesus until the hour of
the Cross, when you had to look upon the Saviour of the world, the heir of
David, the Son of God dying like a failure, exposed to mockery, between
criminals. The sword of sorrow pierced your heart. Did hope die? In this faith,
which even in the darkness of Holy Saturday bore the certitude of hope, you
made your way towards Easter morning. Thus you remain in the midst of the
disciples as their Mother, as the Mother of hope. Holy Mary, Mother of God, our
Mother, teach us to believe, to hope, to love with you”.
CONCLUSION
The words of Mary in her Magnificat,
"from henceforth all generations will call me blessed" [Lk. 1:48] are
of immense joy, a prophecy and a charge laid upon the Church for all times, for
she is ‘the Mother of all believers’ and Mother who infuses and teaches us to
Hope. Commenting on this phrase from the Magnificat, Pope Benedict writes,
“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, 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.”
Our Rector Major, Fr. Pascual Chavez
in the letter as mentioned above AGC-414 of August 2012
“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 [Salesians] by the
power of the same Spirit, as educators and pastors of the young.”
Thank you,
Paps
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