Mary, Star of the Sea

A true Franciscan should have a real desire to go beyond what is a minimal requirement for being a Catholic. For a Franciscan there is no minimal requirement. It’s an all the way proposition, — climbing to the top of the mountain and reaching for the stars.

    Today we are going to talk about a certain star that went all the way, a very great star that reflects not the sunlight, but the light of God Himself. I refer to Mary, Star of the Sea, the Morning Star!

    In the Book of Revelations, our great star is referred to as a woman who had the sun for her dress and the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

    Mary has always been an inseparable part of Franciscanism, even as she was and always will be an inseparable part of Christ. St. Francis made her the special advocate and protectoress of his three Orders.

    In many instances during Francis’ life we find evidence of his great love and respect for her. As an example, he prayed to her every hour when he recited his breviary.

   “Oh holy Virgin Mary,” he prayed, “among all the people of the world there is none like you!”

    St. Francis dedicated the little church he helped to restore, the Portiuncula, to her, which he named “Our Lady of the Angels.” He made it the mother church of his three Orders.

    Pope Paul said of Mary, “She is the most exalted human being ever created by God.”

    Another great Francis, St. Francis de Sales, said, “Nothing is as strong as gentleness, nothing as gentle as real strength.” What a perfect reference to Mary, whose whole life was a model of gentleness and real strength; Mary, who stands quietly invincible with her feet crushing the serpent while her hands radiate shimmering shafts of light, as depicted in her Immaculate representation of herself to St. Catherine Laboure, which has been reproduced for us in the Miraculous Medal.

   Even as a child Mary was gentle, yet full of strength. It is belived as a little girl of three when she was presented in the Temple. This is  where she went to live for the next eleven years of her life. She was a dainty little girl and had, some say at that time, reddish-fair hair that was curly at the ends. She was astonishingly wise and could already read.

   Clad in a sky blue dress and robe she would not take the hands of those who reached out to help her, but eagerly ran up the steps of the holy Temple as though she could not wait to dedicate her life to God.

   The priests who questioned her several times were astounded by the wisdom of her answers. “Seat of Wisdom,” we call her in her Litany, and so she was, even from a very early age. [The source from which Ruth describes Mary’s features and early life is unknown].  

    She showed Gentleness and strength throughout her life; but, more especially from the stable at Bethlehem to the stark outline of three figures silhouetted against the sky on Calvary.

   Picture that scene on Calvary. Let us go there at once. Let us see them take the bruised, blood-stained body of her Son down from the cross. See her sitting there as they place His limp body in her arms. See her hug Him close to her. See her turn her eyes from His inert, unresponsive deadness up to meet ours. See the desolation on her drawn face. Feel the tears come to our eyes as weep we must with Mary.

   Our Lady, I think too often, is pictured as a statue painted in blue and white, hard and cold and lifeless; or we think and pray to her as away up in heaven. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could come to feel her near us, a real live, lovable lady living right in our home?

    Mary was ever and from all time in God’s mind. In Proverbs we could apply these words [of Wisdom] to Mary:

    “From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth . . . I was beside Him as His craftsman, and I was His delight day by day, playing before Him all the while, playing on the surface of His earth and I found delight in the sons of men. So now, O children, listen to me; instruction and wisdom do not reject! Happy the man who obeys me, and happy those who keep my ways, Happy the man watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts; for he who finds me finds life and wins favor from the Lord.”[1]

    Now we implore you, O Mary, to always be with us in time of trial.