MARIOLOGY

Mary Leads Us to Christ

by Irene Barrack

We follow the example of Jesus in honoring His mother. He obeyed all the Commandments including the fourth, "Honor thy father and thy mother." If Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, honored His Mother, we His creatures can do no less.

We do not adore her. Adoration is reserved for God alone. Mary is not God. But she is the Mother of God. That special privilege and relationship deserves acknowledgment. She is also our Mother, given to us by Christ in His words on the Cross, "Behold thy mother." Catholics therefore do what Christ did and honor His and our Mother. Christ gave His Mother to us to help His brothers and sisters, her children, find eternal salvation.

Mothers love their children. They will do all that they can to help them succeed. The Blessed Virgin Mary does the same. And we benefit. Success for her children is eternal salvation with Christ in heaven. With her yes at the Annunciation, Christ became man and undertook the salvation of mankind by dying for us and opening the gates of Heaven. Even though she was not yet given to us as our Mother, she took the necessary first step for our redemption.

St. John the Evangelist described the only known conversation between this Mother and Son, at the wedding feast of Cana. Mary's heart goes out to the couple who will be embarrassed by running out of wine, and she appeals to Christ for them. He says it is not yet His time. At that, she tells the servants: "Do whatever He tells you" (Jn 2:5). And Christ performs His first miracle, changing the water into wine. The only recorded words of Mary spoken in a crowd are ones of pleading for the Lord's intercession for others and His granting her request, even though His time had not yet come. This is what Catholics see in Mary, the ultimate intercessor with Christ. As our Mother, she will help us, guide us, and appeal to her Son for us.

The Blessed Mother leads us to Christ. By her words and example, she is telling us how we should act in order to be close to Christ and attain eternal salvation. Her yes to the angel is more than a yes. It is an acceptance of whatever God will send her way: "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke l:38). At Cana, her "Do whatever He tells you" directs us to Christ and parallels the same message that God the Father speaks at the Transfiguration; "listen to Him" (Mt. 17:5). Her life is one of faith, purity, acceptance of the Word of God, obedience, care for her Son, humility, charity, wisdom, gratitude, prayer, fortitude, and suffering. Mary is the model of the virtues we should practice so we can be united with Christ for all eternity.

Pope Paul VI said:

Devotion to the Mother of the Lord becomes for the faithful an opportunity for growing in divine grace, and this is the ultimate aim of all pastoral activity. For it is impossible to honor her who is "full of grace" (Luke 1:28) without thereby honoring in oneself the state of grace which is friendship with God, communion with Him and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is this divine grace which takes possession of the whole man and conforms him to the image of the Son of God.

God has given us His Mother to be our Mother and a powerful intercessor with Him on our behalf. We would be wise, in the spiritual battle we face for our eternal life, not to reject God's gift of His Mother, whose only mission is to bring us to her Son and her Son to us.

Irene Barrack, and her husband Marty, are Catholic evangelists.