Ok, here's the deal. I
am a Catholic, if you know me you know this about me already. Being Catholic can be simple and yet complex.
Being Catholic means that I believe in the teachings of our ancient Church, a
community that begun when Jesus' disciples (apostles)gathered after his death;
who left for us a model of living and of
how to worship our God; how to be Church.
Now, those of you who are reading this and are not Catholic may have all
sort of assumptions about my faith and my church. I have found that the most confused about the
Catholic faith and Church are those who once were Catholic themselves and were
catechized (taught) in a way that is not truly and authentically Catholic. And then there are the Hollywood images of
Catholicism which usually contorts the Catholic faith into something it isn't. And there are many Catholics who just don't know their faith and easily confuse others when asked about what the Church teaches. This is the case often when we are asked about why we "worship" Mary.
Mary was a young
Jewish girl, who we believe accepted God's invitation to become the Mother of
Jesus. We see her as the first disciple.
She was the first to say "yes" to God. This is scriptural. In Luke's Gospel he references 3 themes in regards to Mary-they are discipleship, her virginity and motherhood. In Luke 1:26-38 he tells us of the moment of the Incarnation, when the Word of God took flesh in Mary's womb. You will find in Luke 1: 45-55, where Mary proclaims God's goodness and
holiness and all the marvelous deeds he has done. She was a faith filled Jewish girl who
has become a great role model for all
Catholics by her ability to say "yes" to God so fully.
Because Mary was a simple woman, a devoted mother, a wife,
and a disciple, from the very beginnings of the Church, she was a woman who was
honored for her part in building God's Church.
One only has to look at architectural monuments, early churches from the
3rd and 4th century in Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and find old Churches named in her
honor or see her image depicted as large icons on the church's main walls. There was something special about Mary, she
was the heart of the early Church, and the early Church fathers did not want future
generations of Christians to forget. Many early bishops and theologians from
those early centuries wrote about her special role as Mother of the Church.
Over the centuries devotions to Mary grew, but this crucial understanding
of Mary: being especially selected by God, being a virgin, and giving birth to
our Lord, makes her worthy of devotion and honor (caution: in Catholic lingo
devotion and honor does not equal
worship). Heads up!....beware Catholics who are reading this, remember that our devotion to Mary does not mean that we adore her like we do God.
Not a lot is written about Mary in the Bible, but like
other events that happened in the early church period, certain oral traditions exist and
were passed down, like about where Mary lived, where Mary died, etc. It is not my intention to write a theological
argument for the Catholic doctrine of Mary.
But what I do want to share today is my love for Mary, especially on
such a special day for her. Today we celebrate her going (being assumed) into God's presence, body and soul. This is
another very early Christian understanding of Mary's death.
Simply, I
want to share with you dear reader, that as I have deepened by relationship with our Lord I have
naturally found a need to know his family
more. I reflect on how Mary came to be
his mother. The Bible gives me some
understanding on her humility and her being "full of grace". "And he (the angel) came to her
and said, 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!'" (Luke 1:28)
To really grasp the full depth of meaning in this passage,
we have to look at the original Greek language in which it was written. What does that mean, to be FULL of grace? Unlike you or me, who have grace accessible
to us, we are not "full of grace" in the same way. She carried our Lord in her womb, she became
a living tabernacle for our Lord to grow and become human!
Mary wasn't just given grace like we receive grace. The bible say she was filled with
grace, completed in grace, perfected in grace, and this fullness
of grace persisted, it continued up to and through the present. Sin and grace
are opposed (Rom 5:20-21), and grace saves us from sin (Eph 2:5, 8).
Where there is fullness of grace there is no room for sin. The more I reflect on this, the more
I am in awe of God's mysterious plan for salvation for his creation.
When I pray to Mary, I am not worshipping her, nor am I
saying she is equal to Jesus. Simply I am developing a spiritual relationship with
her, as I would to my deceased grandmother for example. I believe that Mary, who is my
mother too, is in heaven already enjoying God's presence, she will intercede
for me and she will direct me to be holy, as any good mother does for her child. This
is similar when I ask anyone to pray for me, who better than our Lord's mother
to also put in a good word for me?
Lastly, I am not here to defend my love for Mary. Because in
the end, when you love someone, whether they are alive or passed on, there is no need to justify it, you continue to experience
the love and you want to share it. I
enjoy my relationship with my spiritual mother, she keeps me focused straight
on her son. She wants me to love her Son
more, because He is God. (As she did in the Wedding at Cana....she tells us too
"do as he says".)
So as I reflect on this feast day, The Solemnity of the
Assumption of Mary I think of this song I learned as a girl, sung to me by my
Catholic Grandmother:
Oh Maria, Madre Mia, o Consuelo del
mortal....amparadme, y guiadme a la patria celestial.
Literally translated this song says: Oh Maria, My Mother, Consoler of mortal ones...protect me and guide me to the celestial homeland.
The understanding of Mary that I learned from my abuela was
to trust in God's mercy who gave us his Church as a way to reach our celestial
homeland. The Church
doesn't want us to worship Mary. The Church only follows in the example of Elizabeth, who exclaimed upon seeing Mary, “And why
is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).
God not only sent us his
son to save us, he gave us his Mother too.
So by making room for Jesus in my heart, I also found Mary waiting there
for me too. No, we don't worship Mary, but we do love her for what she did and who she continues to be to us.
My son's 2nd grade artistic interpretation of Rafael's "Madonna and Child"-21st century
Actual "Madonna and Child" by Rafael- early 1500's.
