Mary, Mother of the Church
(Sister Mary Antoinette Saade, Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family)
Mary, Mother of the Church
By Sr. Mary Antoinette Saade
She lived, meditated, and celebrated the Mystery of Christ.
http://www.ayletmarcharbel.org/content/mrym-am-alknyst-maa-alakht-may-anttouanyt-saaadt
Mary is a role model for women. She is the model of the great, wonderful lady with her silent, open and welcoming presence. She teaches us—we who are tempted to judge others and to criticize those around us (others, relatives, strangers, the Church, etc.)—how to live this presence. Mary in Cana remains for us the model to follow.
1- Mary is the model of obedience, agreement, and flexibility…with her faith, attentiveness, obedience, and concern. How much would the circumstances of our lives have changed if we were to offer them to Mary, especially if we were to contemplate her beautiful face, the face of the Lady of All, and heed her advice?
2- Mary is the model of the praying person because she lives in harmony with the Holy Spirit. Isn’t she His beloved bride? We all need to learn from her intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Let us become her students so that she can open the gates of Heaven for us, and in our hearts, and so that the Morning Star can shine in the midst of our darkness.
3- Mary, like her Son, is the link between heaven and earth. If we simply turn to her for refuge, the doors of hope will open for us and for the Church. Mary is near. Mary has never disappointed those who turn to her.
Let us take Mary into our home, just as John did. “And John took her into his home” (John 19:27). Let us open our homes to Mary, if we want to live in intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
By Sr. Mary Antoinette Saade
She lived, meditated, and celebrated the Mystery of Christ.
http://www.ayletmarcharbel.org/content/mrym-am-alknyst-maa-alakht-may-anttouanyt-saaadt
- 1- Who is the Virgin Mary?
She is one of our daughters, from our land; a daughter who smells like the good earth created by God; one of our daughters, one of our women; a woman who carries humanity (and creation) in her own constitution.
Mary is a woman full of warmth, humanity, enthusiasm and vitality. Everything in her speaks since she carries the Living Word. Mary, of whom the Gospel speaks, is a woman from our land who resembles us, or, more correctly, the woman we are called to resemble. She is a woman unlike any other…She is a precious jewel and a kind flower among women. She is a great lady, Our Lady, the Lady of All. She is a unique woman whose presence and example help women and men alike. She is bright-faced, mild-mannered, kind and tender. If you have ever met such a woman in your life, you are fortunate because you have known, in one way or another, Mary who is from our land…Mary whom God has chosen to carry the joy of heaven, the Beloved of the Father, her son Jesus.
2- Mary is openness and fertility
Mary’s dignity and beauty stem from her openness to the Divine Mystery. She knew, as she meditated in her heart, how to receive the mysterious and the impossible…. This is how she was able to contain He who cannot be contained.
At the Annunciation: Mary’s name appeared at the Annunciation. She is the daughter of Anna and Joachim (“Behold! The Virgin will be with child and will give birth…”) She had been unknown until now, like all the girls in her neighborhood…Despite all that, the Savior will come from her. This common girl will be the Daughter of her Nation and the mother of a new people, and this is thanks to her inner ability to be open to, and to accept, the Mystery of God, even if she did not understand it. She heard, believed, touched, and said yes…because, deep inside, we only see with the eyes of the heart…and what is important and essential is invisible to the eyes.
Mary understood with her heart…she is a truly astonishing young woman. With what transparency she received the joyful annunciation, the pregnancy that could have turned into a tragedy!
Because Mary received the angel’s Annunciation, we are able to glimpse into the ancient world in which she lived. Her inner life did not start with the angel’s visit to her. Thanks to her intimate connection with heaven, the angel was sent to her. This visit, it seems, came to establish a special link between her and God, the God of her forefathers, the God of the covenant and the Torah.
At the birth of Jesus: Mary carried the Son of God…and in the silence of her womb, she kept him, carried him, loved him, awaited him, and got to know him…she got used to his presence. When the time came for her to give birth, Mary separated from her son for the first time to put him in a manger and to give him as nourishment for the world…She gave her son…Isn’t it for this purpose that she carried him? She gave him with the same love with which she received him.
Mary’s experience, in this sense, is unique. There is only one Mary. Yes, Mary is unique, and her experience is unique and strange. But if this one woman had this experience, wasn’t this in order to enable every person to relive this same experience? Isn’t this the object of our faith and meditation? Doesn’t God, in his plan of salvation (yesterday, today and tomorrow), want each one of us to be open, attentive, prayerful, in communion with the Living God, so that God can come and dwell in us and so that we carry him and give him to the world? Isn’t this the vocation of every baptized person? Isn’t this the Church’s vocation—a vocation attached to her identity and mission? Isn’t the Church that woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, described in the Book of Revelation? Isn’t this the woman with child who will give birth to a son, destined to rule all the nations (Revelation 12:1-18)?
3- Mary of Nazareth is a woman with an inner life
In Nazareth, Mary found a way of life that helped her hidden life. But what life is this?
An inner life with Jesus. It is a full, joy-giving, intense inner life, full of love and presence. Mary lived with the Son of God who became her son. She lived under his gaze just as he grew under hers. What great blessing and great joy! Ask the mothers among us. Ask Mary. Let us ask our hearts, we who have tasted something of this inner life. Nothing is more valuable than this life. Nothing.
4- Mary is the believer, the daughter of Abraham
On the road like nomads and refugees, Mary left her home three times. She left just like her forefather Abraham did and went looking for refuge. She lived in self-abandonment, and she needed comfort and security, but she lived in obedience to God and men when she went to fulfill the law of Augustus Caesar. On the way there, she gave the world her firstborn son. God visits the Earth, his Earth. He came to his own, but his own did not know him because they were concerned with the things of this world. This is a big pain for the mother as well as for the son…. But this is Mary, the “magnanimous”…To those who received him he gave the grace of becoming the children of God. Instead of people welcoming this child with gifts, he was the one who gave them the gift of becoming sons and daughters. Who shall this child be, this woman’s child?
In Jerusalem…in search of the lost treasure: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety” (Luke 2:48).
Mary, to whom God entrusted the treasure of heaven and earth, has lost this treasure. She is anxious and in pain. She is confused and helpless! Even when she found him, she didn’t understand what had happened. But she kept all things in her heart…until the mystery was revealed.
On the roads of Galilee…in her son’s footsteps: “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they wish to see you” (Luke 8:19-21).
The child is growing. Mary, the mother who carried Jesus, becomes a student. She became her son’s disciple, and he became her teacher. She gave birth to him, but he gave birth to her as the model of the student who listens to God’s Word and who allows this Word to give birth to her.
5- Mary is presence, mother and witness
At Ain Karem: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” At Elizabeth’s house, Mary is agile. She hastened to share with her relative the joy of the Mystery they have in common. To share her joy, yes, but also to serve. She, the young woman, went to serve the elderly relative. Mary, by the fact that she was carrying life, became a servant of humanity, and an example of sisterly service after she had become the servant of God!
In Cana: “They no longer have wine…Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:4-5).
Mary revealed her role as mother of creation when she anticipated matters and asked her son. She is the mother of Jesus but also the mother of those touched by misery. She is the woman who sees, prepares, feels and sympathizes with humanity. She is the hidden but effective woman who serves, counsels, and demands the rights of the weak ones. She is the woman who knows how to disappear and yet remain present. She is love and presence.
At the foot of the Cross: “Standing by the cross of Jesus was his mother...” (John 19:25).
Mary is persistent, persevering and bold. Mary is humane and sensitive. Mary is the mother with the wounded heart, the humble spirit, and the bended body. Mary is the martyr of love, the martyr standing beside her Son, the Martyr. She is in solidarity with suffering humanity and with all those who are facing temptation on earth, at all times and everywhere. Mary is standing at the foot of the Cross. In the midst of extreme suffering and love, she gives her son and births with him the Church and the entire saved humanity.
At the resurrection: Just as she was with her son at the foot of the Cross, she is with him in the joy of the resurrection. “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed!” (John 20:29)
At Pentecost: “Mary the mother of Jesus was in the Upper Room” (Acts 1:14).
Mary was present amid the community of men who are preparing to go on mission. Just as in Cana, Mary is present; she motivates, strengthens, and shares with the Apostles and Disciples their joy. She encourages them, opens the doors of the Upper Room and compels them to go out on the road to meet people…
Mary is transparent.
She sees, anticipates, and fulfills urgent needs.
She understands in her heart and courteously avoids difficult situations.
She feels, encourages, and takes under her wings those who are weak.
She receives and listens compassionately. She empathizes.
She is watchful, she protects and sees beyond what is present and visible.
She shares our human condition, our joys and sorrows.
She serves, understands and is patient.
She is near, but discreet.
She consoles, guides, and repairs what is broken.
She rejoices with us when we’re happy and is sad for our sorrow.
She has a body that is entirely like ours.
She loves and hopes.
She is chosen among women, the daughter of a people journeying and marching forward, and to whom she is the guide and the example.
She is the Gate of Heaven.
What did this Daughter of our Land not experience?
Giving and receiving.
Trust and abandon to a Great Mystery.
A hidden life of service.
Being an exhausted refugee.
Anxiety and fear.
The Cross of her Son, the birth of the Church.
The joy of the resurrection.
A joy-filled spirit, the joy of the mission, the joy of the birth of the Church.
Finally, the joy of the final encounter with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, her Bridegroom.
This is how Mary lived, this is how the Church has lived for 2000 years and will live forever.
Thus, Mary transformed every occasion into a feast, a joyful celebration, because she lived all this with her Son, beside him and for him.
Her son, Jesus Christ, is the center of her life, her being, and her desire. (Let us examine how we pray the rosary based on the Mysteries of Christ: the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries). Therefore, every occasion had a special flavor, the flavor of the intense presence of God in her life. She had the full life, and this is thanks to the “Life,” the “Gift” offered to, and received by, all people. Mary loved her son and, through him, loved all people. Mary was all love, a ball of pure and sincere love. Could she have been anything else, being so close to “Love” himself?
Mary is a role model for women. She is the model of the great, wonderful lady with her silent, open and welcoming presence. She teaches us—we who are tempted to judge others and to criticize those around us (others, relatives, strangers, the Church, etc.)—how to live this presence. Mary in Cana remains for us the model to follow.
1- Mary is the model of obedience, agreement, and flexibility…with her faith, attentiveness, obedience, and concern. How much would the circumstances of our lives have changed if we were to offer them to Mary, especially if we were to contemplate her beautiful face, the face of the Lady of All, and heed her advice?
2- Mary is the model of the praying person because she lives in harmony with the Holy Spirit. Isn’t she His beloved bride? We all need to learn from her intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Let us become her students so that she can open the gates of Heaven for us, and in our hearts, and so that the Morning Star can shine in the midst of our darkness.
3- Mary, like her Son, is the link between heaven and earth. If we simply turn to her for refuge, the doors of hope will open for us and for the Church. Mary is near. Mary has never disappointed those who turn to her.
Let us take Mary into our home, just as John did. “And John took her into his home” (John 19:27). Let us open our homes to Mary, if we want to live in intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
