Introduction

Come; Let Us Imitate the Faith of Mary

The person and role of Mary in the church is a very significant feature of Catholic life. The tradition of asking for her intercession and honouring her in countless ways are part of our tradition that goes back to the first centuries of the Church. We have to acknowledge that in the recent times the place of Mary in theology and in the Church and devotion to her has become somewhat ambiguous. Older people nostalgically remember colourful processions, May crowing of statues of the Madonna, novenas and sodalities in her honour and the daily recitation of the family rosary often deplore the seeming lack of interest or lack of understanding of her person and place in the church today

It is therefore very necessary as we go on in the year of faith to briefly reflect on our Blessed Virgin Mary, her person, her role in the church and in our Christian witnessing.

Mary, the first disciple

Biblical scholarship on Mary shows that the overriding truth about Mary that emerges from the gospels is that she is a disciple of Jesus. Paul VI calls her “the first and the most perfect of Christ’s disciples” (Marialis Cultus n.35), Raymond Brown refers to her as a “true disciple faithful to the word of God”(R. Brown 1975:105).

In putting up their picture of Mary as disciple, biblical scholars and theologians interpret all the passages that speak of Mary in Luke’s gospel in the light of discipleship.

At the Annunciation (Luke 1:26ff), she is the one who is radically open to God, not in a purely passive way but by her free and active choice, at the Visitation (Luke1:39ff), she goes with haste to the one in need, and in her Magnificat (Luke 1:46ff)  she speaks out strongly on behalf of the poor and the oppressed, in the episode of the finding in the Temple (Luke 2:48ff), she accepts that God’s claims over son, as well as over herself, surpass all other claims, even those inherent in the mother-son relationship. When she does not understand God’s word, she stays with it in faith, pondering it. She appreciates that her most authentic relationship with Jesus is rooted not in her physical ties to him as his mother, but in being like him, someone who hears the word of God and does it (Luke 8:19-21).

When we look at the other Synoptics too, we find in one episode which they all report concerning Mary, Jesus himself draws attention away from blood-relationship to him, focusing instead on the priority of disciple-relationship in the new redeemed order. This aspect he affirms again when the woman in the crowd tries to praise Mary because she is Christ’s mother (Luke 11:27-28).

Friends, what is it that you are trying to do in response to God’s call or in your Christian witnessing that Mary has not done perfectly. Her openness to the Holy Spirit was the natural result of a very deep humility. When you really know that by yourself, you cannot do a particular thing, then you are more open to receiving help from greater power. When Mary’s question, “How can this be done?” was answered with an assurance that it would be done through the power of the Holy Spirit, of course she banished all fear, all further questionings, and she bowed her head in quiet acceptance. Mary’s glory consists, not in anything she actually did, but in the fact that she allowed God do anything he wanted to do (J. McARdle 1994:105). This is the crux of discipleship and Christian witnessing.

Let me quickly say here too that the Biblical approach to Mary in which her discipleship is emphasized is not meant to belittle her, much less to deny her natural motherhood, but rather it is to highlight the simple truth that Jesus considers it more important to belong to his eschatological family than to belong to his physical family. This is what we achieve when we accept Mary as our mother and also be willing to imitate her deep humility and firmness in her witnessing.

Mary Role in Salvation

It is no longer news to talk about Mary’s role in the salvation of the human race. It is a constant belief in the Church. Mary as the mother of all Christians has a long standing tradition in the Church.

Lumen Gentium chapter eight treats extensively of Mary’s motherhood, it explains that this motherhood is in the order of grace, not in the order of nature. It is a motherhood which lovingly concerns itself with every detail in the life of those who are her children, having a special care for their salvation. This is exercised by her unceasing pleading with her Son on behalf of these her children. Devotion to Mary as mother has been and is for God’s people a source of comfort, strength and hope. In her we find someone, a mother, who understands us and is always willing to help, a mother who is never scandalized by our weakness and who consequently never rejects us.

Mary is never the centre of Christianity, as some might be accused of making her out to be, but she certainly leads directly to the centre, and is always found at the centre. She is there to encourage us to “whatever He says, you do” (John 2:50. Mary is always found with the friends of Jesus, out at the edge of the crowd, and Jesus is in the centre (Mt 18:46). She has a special mission in bringing people to Jesus and Jesus to people, in building a deep and lasting relationship between her first child and the rest of her children.

Mary and Our Christian Witnessing

Each of us would be permanently transformed for better if only we believed the good news we hear everyday. Mary heard and she believed “All these happened because you believed” Luke 1:45). When she accepted the word that was spoken to her by the angel, it passed from her head down to her heart, she accepted it totally; at that point “The word became Flesh”

Whatever we are called to be and to do, Mary is a perfect and clear model. She emptied herself totally of pride and self-seeking, and God could therefore fill her with His spirit. Her cooperation with the spirit made it possible for Jesus to come on this earth. She became the first Christian as she brought Jesus to Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, and in Cana in Galilee. Her visit to Elizabeth I see as Christianity in practice. She brought Jesus into that scene and the whole stress was on the greatness and goodness of the Lord and what great things he has done. Just to say that Mary’s visit is a challenge to our world of abortion on demand; it is so nice to think of the unborn John the Baptist leaping for joy in the presence of Jesus.

Again, when Jesus says that “I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:18). He meant it because Jesus never makes a statement that is totally unsupported and unconnected. Not leaving us as orphans is in connection or against the background of his other statements; “when you pray, say Our Father” (Mt. 6:9), and “Son, behold your mother…” (John 19:27). Therefore, we are all invited into the family of God, yet the choice is ours, we can decide to be a child of a single parent or to embrace the invitation into a real and full family.

At the waiting of the Holy Spirit, there was still a need for a mother; there was still work for her to do. Because of her unique openness to the spirit, she was the ideal person to conduct the novena for Pentecost. She had something that rough pragmatists like Peter and moody doubters like Thomas needed most. After a few days when nothing was happening in the upper room, Peter probably wanted to go home. He had to be doing something, like jumping out of a boat and half drowning himself, or cutting off someone’s ear and running away. Meanwhile Thomas may well be demanding for proof that something was going to happen, or he would go home too.  In any case, Mary’s quiet waiting prayer, her unassuming but unshakable faith in God’s promises spoke louder to them than any words. Because of Mary, they waited, prepared for, and received their Pentecost. In a way, Mary had given birth to Jesus once again; this she does again and again in our lives as Christians and gives us the courage in our witnessing. As the apostles waited and received the spirit at Pentecost which enabled them to preach the gospel in words and deeds. She is not tired of interceding for us as her children and she is not tired of supporting us in our witnessing only if we appreciate her person and her role in our lives and our calling.

Final Comments

Mary was the first altar of sacrifice in the new covenant; she shared the Eucharist with Elizabeth, Simeon and Anna. She walked to Calvary and stood at the foot of the cross to get clear, graphic, and definite evidence of the horror of sin, the extent of divine forgiveness and the depth of divine love. Mary holds Jesus out to you and me, at times as an infant; reminding us of our own limitation and helplessness, at times as dead on the cross reminding us of dying and self-sacrifice inherent in the Christian witnessing.

Friends, if we have a place for Mary in our life, we will never find it difficult to identify the ‘authentic Christ’. As long as we recognize that Christianity is about a person-Jesus, then we will never have problem keeping a place for the Mother.

Iwuji M. Tochi

SpiritanInternationalSchool of Theology, Enugu

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