On the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady’s Birthday a few years ago I heard the comment, “We don’t know much about Mary from Scripture except that she was a humble young woman and an example for our own humility.” He added that some Catholics give too much honor to Mary, which detracts from devotion to our Lord. Besides ignoring Sacred Tradition and the constant teaching of the Magisterium of the Church, I thought that this person was also missing the importance of Mary as revealed in the Scriptures. This event has led me to explore the Scriptures and put in writing what I was finding there about Mary.
In St. Luke’s Gospel account of the annunciation by the Angel Gabriel to Mary that God was asking her to be the mother of the Savior we find him addressing her, “Hail, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Lk. 1:28). By these words of the Angel Gabriel we are made aware of how God wants us to address Mary. The salutation, “Hail” implies Mary’s royal lineage as descending from King David. His acknowledging that she was full of Grace tells us that Mary was without sin and indeed the Church teaches that she was conceived without original sin and remained sinless throughout her life. The only other people created without sin were Adam and Eve. The early Church Fathers refer to Jesus as the new Adam and to Mary as the new Eve.
Mary’s question to the Angel Gabriel, “But how can this come about since I am a virgin?” (Lk.1:34) harkens us back seven hundred years to the prophecy in Isaiah that the sign of the coming of the Messiah would be that “the virgin is with child.” (Isaiah. 7:14) One of the proofs of the authenticity of Jesus as Savior was that His coming was foretold in Scripture and here we find that Mary’s coming was also prophesized. When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist he did not use the salutation “Hail” but rather when his authority was questioned, let Zechariah know exactly who he was talking to. “I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence…” (Lk. 1:19)
Mary then travels with haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. In Luke 1:40-44 we read ‘Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.” Elizabeth has no hesitation in giving honour to Mary. She calls her the mother of my Lord. (Mother of God). She is the mother of Jesus who is God therefore the Church calls her “Mother of God”. John the Baptist leapt for joy at the sound of her voice and the angel of God addresses her Hail, full of grace. In the Magnificat which follows (Lk. 1:46-55) Mary tells us that her soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, that all generations will call her blessed, that the Almighty has done great things for her and He has exalted the lowly. If God has exalted Mary should we fear giving her too much honour?
At the presentation in the temple, (Lk. 2:22-35), Simeon tells Mary, “a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Thus he indicated to Mary her future participation in Jesus’ suffering for our salvation. After the Passover, Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem and Mary and Joseph look for Him for three days before finding Him in the temple. Here we see a pre-figurement of Mary’s suffering while Jesus spends three days in the tomb. This privilege of suffering afforded to Mary is something that we also may participate in as St Paul reveals to us in Colossians 1:24-25, “It makes me happy to suffer for you as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body the Church.”
Our next encounter with Mary is at the Wedding Feast at Cana (Jn.2:1-12). Mary says to Jesus, “they have no wine.” The way in which Jesus responds to her is very significant. He says, “Woman, what is that to me and to you? My hour has not yet come.” It was not customary for a man to address his mother as Woman. The Greek word used here means, ‘mother of the living’. This is the same word used in the story of the fall of Adam and Eve. (Gn.3:15) when God says to Satan, “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heal.” Thus God is announcing who Mary is. She is the new Eve who will one day crush the head of Satan. He also reveals to us her future participation in his plan for salvation when he refers to Himself and his mother together saying, “What is that to me and to you?” In spite of His assertion that His hour has not yet come, Jesus performs his first miracle through the intercession of His mother. He will not refuse His mother.
This same Greek word for woman appears again in the scene at the foot of the cross (Jn.19:26), “Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother’ And, from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.” It is interesting that in his Gospel John never refers to himself by name but always as ‘the disciple that Jesus loved’. This leaves open for us the understanding that each of us is ‘the disciple that Jesus loves’. Therefore, Jesus first charges Mary to be a mother to the disciples He loves and invites His disciples to make a place for her in their homes.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we heard God say to Satan, “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heal.” In Revelations, the last book of the Bible, we read, “Now a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all nations with an iron scepter, and the child was taken straight up to God and to his throne, while the woman escaped into the dessert… Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, that is, all who obey God’s commandments and bear witness for Jesus” (Rev.12:1-6,17) We see here that all who obey God’s commandments and bear witness for Jesus are Mary’s children and as her children we are bound by the fourth commandment, ‘Honour your father and mother’.
When we read the first chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and see there the genealogies, the birth of John the Baptist, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birth of our Lord, the Presentation in the temple, the flight into Egypt, the massacre of the innocents, and the finding of Jesus in the temple. From whom do you suppose the Evangelists acquired this information? It is logical to conclude that the person was Mary and that therefore she is the source of a significant portion of New Testament Scripture.
Following the Reformation, Protestants separated themselves from Sacred Tradition and the authority of the Church to embrace the newly invented doctrine, ‘Sola Scriptura.’ This gradually led to a decline in devotion to Mary and eventually, devotion to her came to be thought of as a ‘Catholic thing’ to be avoided by faithful Protestants. Unfortunately, today in the Church we have many theologians and priests who have fallen into heresies and like the Protestants who have left the Church, they promote a ‘Sola Scriptura’ view of Mary. They have abandoned Sacred Tradition and in some cases show open contempt for it and for the Magisterium. I have heard these dissidents referred to as Protestants who refuse to leave the Church. Interestingly, before Sola Scriptura had the effect of obliterating Mary’s role in salvation history at least one of the original Reformers expressed his devotion to Mary when he wrote a commentary on The Magnificat. (Luke 1:46-55)
She is a very precious jewel
May the sweet Mother of God herself obtain for me a wise spirit so that I can expose and explain this canticle of Mary. May God come to my assistance! (…)
These “great things,” which God has done for her, are inexpressible and immeasurable. This is why all her honor can be summarized in just one name – by calling her “Mother of God” – in speaking of her, in addressing oneself to her, nobody can say anything greater, even if one had as many tongues as there are leaves on the trees, grass in the meadows, stars in the sky or sand on the beach. Let us not forget to examine in deep meditation what it means to say: She is the Mother of God (…)
Martin Luther (1483-1546) Commentary on the Magnificate.
In his opening statement, Martin Luther seeks the intercession of Mary to obtain for him “a wise spirit”. Over time many Protestants have abandoned the practice of asking for the prayers of Mary and the saints, “the cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1), who are available to help us on our journey to the Father.
“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother.” St. Padre Pio