By Leon Bent –
This reflection is meant to be a Toast, to Our Lady of Fatima, on 13th May, and to Mother’s Day, celebrated on 8th May, each year. The month of May has been set apart as the Month of the Rosary, together with the month of October – Mary’s months.
Mary, also called St. Mary or the Virgin Mary, flourished at the beginning of the Christian era. The mother of Jesus, is venerated in the Christian church since the apostolic age and a favourite subject in Western art, music, and literature. Mary is known from biblical references, which are, however, too sparse to construct a coherent biography. The development of the doctrine of Mary can be traced through titles that have been ascribed to her in the history of the Christian communions—guarantee of the Incarnation, virgin mother, second Eve, mother of God, ever virgin, immaculate, and assumed into heaven, and various of titles in the Litany of the Rosary. She has a number of feast days in various Christian traditions, several of which are holy days of obligation for Roman Catholics.
The New Testament account of her humility and obedience to the Annunciation, made her an exemplar for all ages of Christians. Out of the details supplied in the New Testament by the Gospels about the maid of Galilee, Christian piety and theology have constructed a picture of Mary that fulfils the prediction ascribed to her in the Magnificat (Luke 1:48): “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”
Mary is considered by millions to be the holiest and greatest saint, because of her extraordinary virtues as seen at the Annunciation by the archangel Gabriel. She is said to have miraculously appeared to believers many times, over centuries.
Mother Mary
The Blessed Virgin Mary is our mother because of Jesus. She accepted God’s invitation to be the Mother of the Messiah. She gave birth to Jesus and raised Him with St. Joseph.
According to the gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament, Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph, and the mother of Jesus. Both, the New Testament and the Quran describe Mary as a virgin.
Deeply rooted in Catholic symbolism, the blue of her cloak has been interpreted to represent the Virgin’s purity, symbolize the skies, and label her as an empress, for blue was associated with Byzantine (Eastern Orthodox Church) royalty.
She is present at a wedding where Jesus turns water into wine; she makes an attempt to see her son while he is teaching; and she is ‘fully present’ at his crucifixion. Indeed, Mary is mentioned more often in the Qur’an than in the New Testament.
Matthew used the Greek version of the Old Testament. In the Greek Old Testament, the original Hebrew word “almah” had been translated as “parthenos”, then into the Latin Bible as “virgo,” and into English as “virgin”.
In Western theology, it was generally recognised from the time of Saint Ambrose that, Mary never committed a sin. But was her ‘sinlessness’ in this life because she was born without “original sin”?
The four Marian dogmas solemnly defined by the Church’s Magisterium, therefore, ‘non-negotiable!’ Divine Motherhood, Mary’s Perpetual Virginity, Mary’s Immaculate Conception, and Mary’s Bodily Assumption into Heaven. A doctrine meets two specific criteria: it must be divinely revealed, and it must be officially proposed by the Catholic Church.
Mary has millions of devotees from all religious persuasions. Her devotees made do with apparitions – at Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima, Medjugorje, and several other countries, in different continents. Like the other saints, her pilgrimage sites are places where she can be invoked to ask God to grant the prayers of her devotees.
But she was more than just a ‘saint’. In popular devotion she was a sky goddess always dressed in blue. She was the goddess of the moon and the star of the sea (stella maris). She was known as the Queen of Heaven and Queen of the angels. Mary, the “Mediatrix of all graces,” is a title that the Catholic Church gives to the Blessed Virgin Mary – as the Mother of God, it includes the understanding that she mediates Divine Grace.
Catholic tradition holds that Mary is set apart and revered, because of her participation in the story of divine redemption; not only is she a unique member of the Church, but she also serves a unique role by encouraging the faithful to more closely imitate the way of Christ.
How did Mary play an irreplaceable role in Salvation history? She was deceived into eating the forbidden fruit, and also handed a part of it to Adam (Gen 2:16-17; Also: Gen 3:1-6, NRSV). Mary took her Son, Jesus, from her womb and placed him on the Cross. This gesture brought the human race out of the darkness of sin and into the realm of redemption.
In becoming the human mother of God, Mary performed her concretizing function: she enabled God to become accessible to our senses, as she allowed God to become tangible. Second, as the human collaborator of the Holy Spirit in the Incarnation, Mary helps us to get a sense of God’s action and presence in our world.
Further, when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved, standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (NRSV John 19:26-27). This is why Mary is humanity’s real and true Mother, in every sense of the word.
1) In order to take Mary to our homes, we need to know her.
2) To know Mary is to follow her.
3) Standing by Mary at the foot of the cross, we become sons and daughters of Mary.
4) A son and a daughter of Mary is a witness to Jesus’ cross and resurrection.
5) Young people are strong, firm, and courageous, and they are willing to follow Jesus to the Cross, accompanying Mary, if they understand their mission.
6) At the foot of the Cross, Jesus asks His mother and His disciple to contemplate each other, in their words, penetrate one another’s heart and live in an intimate relationship with one another.
7) After a deep contemplation, the disciple eagerly takes Jesus’ mother to his home.
The understanding of Mary as humanity’s spiritual Mother is a critical revelation suggested to the Holy Father by the world’s Cardinals and Bishops. Not only does this petition suggest the deepening of interreligious dialogue, but indicates Mary is the common uniting factor in the desire for world peace and harmony. Catholic, Christian, Orthodox, Islamic and even Jewish believers are able to identify with the notion of “universal Motherhood,” as the foundation towards ecumenical dialogue among the world great religions. Regardless of creed, nationality or race, the notion of motherhood is the common and unique mark that, unites brothers and sisters not only in faith, but in biological reality.
Mothers’ Day
For many families around the world and throughout history, it has traditionally been the mother who has the often thankless job of keeping the family and household running. Starting with lending their bodies to house babies before they are even born, mothers have a tendency to give up a lot for their families, and are rarely given the accolades they deserve.
So, Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity each year to remind Mum, how much she is loved, appreciated and noticed.
In 1914, the day was made official when US President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure declaring Mother’s Day, to be celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May. The day has gained popularity throughout North America as well as other parts of the world, although it is not always celebrated in the month of May.
What Makes a Mother Unique?
She is loving, caring, courageous, compassionate, strong, good-hearted, hardworking, and understanding. She always tries to make people happy and after all she has been through, she always tries to keep a smile on her face. I love my mom passionately and would be lost without her.
”There is something unique and powerful about motherhood that you will not understand unless you are a mother. …” The bond between mother and her baby is inexplicable! Though it takes only a few hours to disconnect a baby from a woman’s womb, it takes death to disconnect the mother from her child! The maternal bond between a mother and her child begins to develop during pregnancy and lasts a lifetime.
To every mother, her child is a matchless gift. A baby is God’s gift to every parent.
I relate a mother’s trembling experience in the first person singular: My heart was in knots and I was speechless. Helplessly, I looked at the lady who held my gift; she too was waiting to sense the signs of life. A stinging pain passed through every strand of my nerve; worry was written all over me. And I looked at the tiny tot lying motionless in the arms of the physician.
Time didn’t seem to pass. The physician’s deft hands worked on her with brisk movements. She turned her upside down and tilted her. I witnessed it without any emotion or rather drained sentiments, empathy and fervour.
Then I heard cries of my new born and the joys of heaven. Relief flooded through me and I was happy again. I thanked God and his Blessed Mother, for this moment, a momentous time. There was a smile playing on my lips!
Since the day until now, every morning, I vow, to love her with all my heart, to raise her with all my capacity and above all to protect her all my life. I give my happiness, my years, my day and my nights, and literally my life for my little princess. All my life revolves around this adorable angel. She is 10 years old now. Time slips through the fingers, isn’t it?
Now, I am determined to live to the fullest extent, with my priceless gift. Another oath in the offing – this time I resolve to love her all my life, treasure her and build a bond with her. I decided to enjoy all the little pieces of life, besides sharing a lasting, loving and memorable journey with the best endowment of my life, my daughter!
I cannot but end this Reflection with the famous words: Mary is “tainted nature’s solidarity boast!” What a powerful, yet, succinct summation of the Immaculate Virgin Mary – taken from “The Virgin,” a poem from Part II of Wordsworth’s 1822 Ecclesiastical Sonnets – a fitting tribute to our Blessed Mother.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.