By Arockia Dhas Rayappan, Concordia University, Canada
During the days of Marian feasts as well as devotions, our families and friends faithfully pray the Rosary at the parish grottos keeping our focus solely on Jesus to experience his healing touch and to draw life-lessons from his birth, ministry, teaching, miracles, transfiguration, the last supper, washing of the feet, agony, passion, crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension including the descending of the Holy Spirit.
At the prayer of the Rosary, we prayerfully journey with Mary through Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious, and Luminous mysteries accompanied by the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Fr. Peter Sticco, S.A.C. a Novena Director at Baltimore reasserts the power of Marian intercession: “Our Holy Mother cares for us without fail, interceding for us even in the smallest of matters, the Church devotes the entire month of May to honour her” (https://stjudeshrine.org/mary-our-mother/).
On the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, Pope Francis had these appreciative words for Mother Mary and her motherhood. He said that it was a fact that God has his mother in the person of Mary. Because of her motherhood, God was ever bound to humanity. “Mary always responds to our pleas, hears our petitions, and blesses us holding her Son in her arms to the invocation of the dearly loved prayer of the ‘Hail Mary.’ She brings the tender love of God-made flesh to humanity and gives us hope” (Wells, 2023).
It is to be noted that we reflect on the monumental departure of Mary’s life on earth (the assumption into heaven) and reward and recognition for her life on earth abounding in genuine and mature faith (the coronation of Mary in heaven) while praying the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary.
The Second Vatican Council urges the theologians and preachers of the Word of God to refrain from false exaggeration in considering the special dignity of the Mother of God (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 67). It further adds, “Let the faithful remember moreover that true devotion consists neither in sterile or feeling, nor in empty credulity, but proceeds from true faith, by which we are led to recognize the excellence of the Mother of God and we are moved to a filial love towards our mother and to the imitation of her virtues” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 67).
We pray that the conciliar interpretation of Mary as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council stir the hearts of the Catholics to receive Mary as a friend/sister – a member of the Church as well as the mother of the Church, and disciple and pilgrim par excellence in faith during the days of the fervent Rosary. May we joyfully receive the merits of her exemplary life on earth and of celestial intercession in heaven! May the feasts of the Mary infuse courage and charity in us to reach out to those who are in need! May the renewal of the Second Vatican Council become a reality in our parishes and the lives of the people of God!
Father Arockia D. Rayappan ([email protected]) is a priest of Delhi Archdiocese and a Ph.D. student at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His ministry in the states of Delhi and Haryana has been in missions of Rohtak and Dharuhera, parishes, the Formation Commission, seminary, and school. He served as the deputy secretary general and PRO of the Regional Bishops’ Council of the North from 2012-2014. His contributions have been published in The Voice of Delhi, The Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, The Indian Currents, The New Leader, The Examiner, The Tablet-Brooklyn, USA, Golden Key Academy-Atlanta, USA, and JDV Times.