Mary

Preparatory Prayer:

"He Who is mighty hath done great things to me and holy is His Name." St. Luke, chapter 1.

Setting:

St. John's majestic language is applied by Holy Church to Our Lady in heaven. She is clothed with the sun; the moon is under her feet; on her head she wears a crown of twelve stars. This vivid imagery is all inadequate to express even faintly the greatness of Mary's glory. But it will help me, just the same, as I begin my prayer, to focus my mind on Mary reigning above, and with angels and saints I can gather before her throne to prostrate myself in veneration, to beg that I may know her even a little better, and, above all, that I may imitate her virtues. She foretold that "all" generations would proclaim her blessed. If this prophecy is to be fulfilled, it must apply to heaven as well as to earth. Let me try to pierce the veil that separates heaven from earth and lift up my voice, with angels and saints, even with the voice of her divine Son, in calling her blessed amongst women.

Fruit:

Knowledge of Mary's position in God's plan; consecration to her; closer imitation of her.

NonCatholics sometimes tell us we show too much honor to Mary. We seem to them to give her the place in our reverence and loyalty that should be regarded as the exclusive preserve of her divine Son. This is not the occasion on which to answer that charge. It is mentioned only to reply that it would be nearer to the truth if it were said we fail to give Mary her due.

This should become clear when we view the unique position assigned her by God in the scheme of Redemption. From all eternity it is in the mind of the eternal Father to send His Son into the world to destroy the work of sin. There is no possibility of a change in God, so it is incorrect to say that "He made up His mind" or "decided" to send His Son. Because of the limitations of our minds, we use these expressions but they do not correspond with reality. There never was a period when God had to come to a "decision." With Him there is no past or future; all is present: He "is" now what He always was and always will be.

Now, side by side with the foreknowledge that Jesus Christ would be sent to redeem us, there is also, in God's mind, from eternity, the knowledge that He will associate Mary most intimately with Jesus in this divine work. He does not need Mary, any more than He needs the Sacred Humanity Itself. He could, most certainly, have devised other means of effecting our Redemption. But the fact is that this is the one He wills. When we try to realize what a sacred task it is to undo the evil wrought by Satan, to reopen heaven, to unlock the treasurehouse of grace and tell us enter and take all we want, to make it possible for us to see Him in the splendor of the Beatific Vision (all this which had been lost irrevocably is to be fully restored) and when we kneel here and pray and begin to understand that it is the truth, we then may hope to catch a glimpse of the unspeakable privilege it was for Mary to be so closely associated in such a task.

This determination on God's part so to choose her, means giving her a place of honor that is most literally unique. No saint or prophet or apostle or patriarch was thus singled out. In God's mind there are two categories of human beings. In one there is "the Virgin and Child," and in the other is the rest of mankind. This is evident from the fact that even in the garden God spoke to Adam and Eve "in the same breath," as we would say, about the Woman and her Seed.

"When the fullness of time was come," the moment struck for God's plan to be put into execution. The condescension of God now becomes breathtaking to contemplate. He sends an angel to explain to Mary what is in His mind from eternity and to ask if she will freely consent to fall in with His scheme of things. Just think of it. Such an unspeakable privilege, that a mere creature should be elevated to such a height of glory as to be God's own Mother! And that God first of all speeds an angel to earth to ask if He may!

Is it any wonder Mary was overpowered? "Turbata est" she was upset; "cogitabat" she began to dwell on the significance of the angel's words and to ask anything she did not understand. How could conception be reconciled with virginity, which she had evidently vowed? An omnipotent God would work a miracle; Mary would be unique here too, for she would be, at one and the same time, Mother and Virgin.

One marvels how any unbiased reader can study the history of God's dealings with Mary, even thus far and, moreover, read it as thus recorded in the inspired word and fail to see that "nonMarian" Christianity is a strange and saddening contradiction in terms. What could possibly be clearer than that God wants Mary, singles Mary out in this unprecedented fashion, and waits for her free consent? If God sees fit to exalt His creature thus, it is a loving obligation on our part to do likewise. It is only too true that socalled Christians who have rejected Mary and refused to honor her in the manner due to her are fast losing belief in even the divinity of her Son. For the two always go together the Virgin and her Child, the Woman and her Seed. Separate one from the other and you lose both.

Mary, Mother of God, on my knees I thank God for the immense graces He conferred upon you. I thank Him that in the Catholic Church I know you and learn how to honor you and love you. Have pity on so many souls who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of your greatness, who falsely imagine that honor shown to you is derogatory to what is due to your divine Son. Teach them to recognize that in reverencing and loving you, they are reverencing and loving Him and following His divine example.