Mary is our Mother

There is not a lot written about Mary in the Gospels; what there is, we can cherish.

    Let us consider the Marriage Feast at Cana, when Mary went to Christ about a very human situation in which their host and hostess were running out of wine. Mary sympathized with this human embarrassment and when she spoke of it to her Son, He said very bluntly, Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”[1]

   But, when Mary turned to the servants and told them, “Do whatever he tells you.”[2] Her Son must have smiled to Himself and thought, "That's my mother, always wanting to do something for somebody." Then, He went, obediently, ahead and did what she asked.

    I think this speaks volumes about Mary and how she stands in the sight of her Son, and how He stands in her sight. If she was ready to go to bat for the host and hostess at Cana, why would she not be willing to go to bat for us, too!

    We also have the earlier episode when the 12-year-old Jesus was lost in the Temple. When He was found, Mary said to Him, Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” He spoke to her again, very bluntly, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”[3]

    This must have shaken her. She did not understand this — Jesus, her meek and mild little boy, talking to her like this. Clearly, there was a separation between them on this occasion — a line beyond which she could not go, the line that crossed over into His divinity.

    How then, can we look upon Mary today? First of all, as Pope Paul said, she is the most exalted human being ever created by God and the closest one to us.

    Who is closer to a child than its mother? She was the Mother of God; but, she was not divine. She was the one and only, perfect human being. We do not pray to her with the idea that she can give us what we ask for. We pray not just to her but also through her to Christ. She is the saint of saints, the queen of all saints, the queen of Heaven and of Earth. We pray to her to intercede to God on our behalf, nothing more than that.

    Over and over, in comparatively recent years, Jesus has sent her down to earth to beg us to turn or return to Him. He did not come Himself. He sent her! Why? Clearly, it would seem, because He wants her to be our go-between with Him, our Mediatrix, as she is sometimes called.

    From St. Catherine Laboure, to Bernadette at Lourdes, and the children at Fatima, she has appeared and has pleaded, ever more insistently, that mankind turns away from the evil that is marching through the world and follow the saving footsteps of her Son. At Fatima, again and again, she asked the children to urge everyone to pray the Rosary every day.

    In recent times, many people, including some clergymen have downgraded the rosary. Can anyone imagine Christ being pleased with this? He sent her down to earth in these apparitions; she did not come on her own, she was speaking for Him. She was saying what He wanted her to say. We can be sure He wanted her to advocate the recital of the rosary; otherwise, she would not have been so insistent about it. Her will now, as always, is in perfect harmony with His. What He wants she wants!

    Christ sends her — His Mother, to us. She is our mother, too! Christ would be well pleased to have us bring his Mother right into our homes and live with us day-by-day. We can be sure that if she is living with us, He will be with us, too! That is exactly what we Franciscans want, isn't it?