Meeting Mary
“Holy Mary, Mother of God, you have given the world its true light, Jesus, your Son – the Son of God. You abandoned yourself completely to God’s call and thus became a wellspring of the goodness which flows forth from him. Show us Jesus. Lead us to him. Teach us to know and love him, so that we too can become capable of true love and be fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world.”
These words were written by our own Pope Benedict XVI in his first Encyclical, God is Love.
If you’re not Catholic, then these words may seem as if Mary created Jesus by herself. There’s a tension in these words because right off the mark, you’re hit by two of Mary’s titles in the world of Catholics – Holy Mary and Mother of God. But moving past that, you see that Mary’s real role was her total abandonment to the Will of God and because of that, she became the font of the grace that comes from Him, and Him alone.
And all Mary can ever do – has ever done – is show us Jesus. Without Mary, would there be Jesus? Well, I suppose that God could have saved the world in any way He chose but the fact of the matter is He chose Mary.
So did He just use her as a willing vessel and then toss her to the side like a used piece of humanity? Why would He treat her in such a way as to degrade her human dignity? Could He have done that to His own flesh and blood? After all, the very flesh and blood of Christ come from Mary alone.
In spite of this, Mary is not divine. She is not a goddess. And those who treat her as such have fallen into an extreme called Marian excess. Unfortunately, Marian excess is determined by the eyes of the beholder – those who would judge the heart and soul of another. Not that Marian excess doesn’t exist – it does. In fact, I suspect that I’ve witnessed it myself.
On the other side of the coin from Marian excess is Marian defect, which is certainly what I’ve always been guilty of. In my former faith tradition, Mary was paraded out on the front lawn in four-foot high, lighted plastic figures, around the first week in December. We also had an inside family Nativity, complete with moss-covered stable (crèche in Catholic-speak) that was packed away by January 1st, and tossed into the dark recesses of the attic for another year. Her role was always minimized. She was a vessel, nothing more. Avoided, at nearly all cost. She was always treated as if she had a singular role to play – that of birthing the Son of God, and since she’d been there and done that, we had no further use for her.
Fortunately, the Church teaches that both of these extremes, Marian excess and Marian defect are incorrect. So if I pay attention to what the Church says about her, I can be safe and know that I’m not about to fall off the watermelon truck! To quote Mark Miravalle from his book Introduction to Mary, “Marian orthopraxis is based on Marian orthodoxy.” Or to put it in a less high falutin’ way – true devotion to Mary is based on true doctrine of Mary, as handed down by Christ through His Church.
Okay, so I’m ready to dig into these doctrines and make sure I understand them completely. And my prayer is that I, too, can enjoy a right devotion to Mary and all the Saints.
And I hope to stop avoiding her.
These words were written by our own Pope Benedict XVI in his first Encyclical, God is Love.
If you’re not Catholic, then these words may seem as if Mary created Jesus by herself. There’s a tension in these words because right off the mark, you’re hit by two of Mary’s titles in the world of Catholics – Holy Mary and Mother of God. But moving past that, you see that Mary’s real role was her total abandonment to the Will of God and because of that, she became the font of the grace that comes from Him, and Him alone.
And all Mary can ever do – has ever done – is show us Jesus. Without Mary, would there be Jesus? Well, I suppose that God could have saved the world in any way He chose but the fact of the matter is He chose Mary.
So did He just use her as a willing vessel and then toss her to the side like a used piece of humanity? Why would He treat her in such a way as to degrade her human dignity? Could He have done that to His own flesh and blood? After all, the very flesh and blood of Christ come from Mary alone.
In spite of this, Mary is not divine. She is not a goddess. And those who treat her as such have fallen into an extreme called Marian excess. Unfortunately, Marian excess is determined by the eyes of the beholder – those who would judge the heart and soul of another. Not that Marian excess doesn’t exist – it does. In fact, I suspect that I’ve witnessed it myself.
On the other side of the coin from Marian excess is Marian defect, which is certainly what I’ve always been guilty of. In my former faith tradition, Mary was paraded out on the front lawn in four-foot high, lighted plastic figures, around the first week in December. We also had an inside family Nativity, complete with moss-covered stable (crèche in Catholic-speak) that was packed away by January 1st, and tossed into the dark recesses of the attic for another year. Her role was always minimized. She was a vessel, nothing more. Avoided, at nearly all cost. She was always treated as if she had a singular role to play – that of birthing the Son of God, and since she’d been there and done that, we had no further use for her.
Fortunately, the Church teaches that both of these extremes, Marian excess and Marian defect are incorrect. So if I pay attention to what the Church says about her, I can be safe and know that I’m not about to fall off the watermelon truck! To quote Mark Miravalle from his book Introduction to Mary, “Marian orthopraxis is based on Marian orthodoxy.” Or to put it in a less high falutin’ way – true devotion to Mary is based on true doctrine of Mary, as handed down by Christ through His Church.
Okay, so I’m ready to dig into these doctrines and make sure I understand them completely. And my prayer is that I, too, can enjoy a right devotion to Mary and all the Saints.
And I hope to stop avoiding her.
posted by Dixie @ 7:19 AM
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