Devotion to Mary In The Philippines
Fr. Donald Macdonald, SMM
Devotion to Mary In The Philippines
I live now in Metro Manila, Philippines. If ever I have to travel midweek to Baclaren, where the Redemptorist Church is, invariably someone will say. “Remember, its Wednesday”!
This is to remind me of the increase of the traffic that day. Tens of thousands of people go there for the weekly devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It is public, devotional and reverent, as people, together or alone, say their prayers there.
Traffic-volume is an ever present problem in the city, but not always from devotion to Our Lady. Clearly, Mary is a guide through life for so many of the people who come each week, despite difficulties in getting there.
An English journalist of wide sympathies, and a Quaker religious background, noted that in most of the houses he had visited in Manila, he saw, “a garish corner-shrine of the Virgin, with a little figure of Christ crawling at her feet.” This could scarcely be said now of his own country, though earlier in his lifetime, if he entered a Catholic household, a picture or statue of Our Lady would be there plain to see, often in the window.
Mary was at home there, as a Filipino woman once explained to me. She references Mary’s statue just inside her front door. “Since I was first married, I have always Our Lady here to welcome visitors”. Perhaps, the thousands who travel to Baclaren, on Wednesdays are only a small percentage of those who welcome her into their homes. To be at home in the house means, of course, that Mary is first lodged in the heart.
POOR DEVOTION
Devotion in such numbers and allegedly poor taste, is sometimes seen as belonging to the theologically and culturally deprived. Personally, I would be slow to pass such a patronizing judgement, especially if I do not speak the local language, nor understand the enthusiasm for such devotion.
Of the thousands there, or among the many who have a shrine at home, there may be one person who sees further than I do. He or she may hold the truth in a realized faith. My outlook may simply be because I am blind to who is really there – both as regards the gathering of people and Our Lady.
I shall see only in so far as I have faith. Faith means ‘insight.’ Given that gift, I am drawn to God giving himself to me in Christ through the Spirit. The blessing or eyesight enables me to see the traffic, the people and the shrine. By itself, it is not enough to see who is there in the persons of the people – a community called by God – , Our Lady and her Son. Eyesight means I look from the outside. The intuitive insight of faith enables me to see from inside the situation. There is no substitute for authentic faith. Without it, I am blind to who is there.
Again I remind myself that people there, so graced by God, may see further than I. The creative Spirit who overshadowed Mary, to bring into being a new creation in her Son, is still the heart-beat of the community. In so far as I am open to that same Spirit, I too shall see.
BORN OF MARY
The longer offertory processions at Mass in Manila during May, as individuals and families bring flowers to Our Lady, remind me that the Catholic faith is incarnational. With Our Lord present at the heart of the community, we see what God is like – his glory. Those at Mass, as at the Wednesday devotions, see this too, which is why they come. It is not some abstract truth which attracts, but a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ, which they see among themselves rooted within their own culture. They are drawn to the warmth of God in Christ, in the company of Mary. She does not edge in, or barge in, but is called to be there by God. Those present at devotions, or Mass, delight to share the company of Mother and Son as they share the same call through baptism.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help (at least 1499, and likely significantly older)
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary as represented in a celebrated 15th-century Byzantine icon. The icon may be first traced back to Rome where it has been since 1499.
The longer offertory processions at Mass in Manila during May, as individuals and families bring flowers to Our Lady, remind me that the Catholic faith is incarnational. With Our Lord present at the heart of the community, we see what God is like – his glory. Those at Mass, as at the Wednesday devotions, see this too, which is why they come. It is not some abstract truth which attracts, but a glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Christ, which they see among themselves rooted within their own culture. They are drawn to the warmth of God in Christ, in the company of Mary. She does not edge in, or barge in, but is called to be there by God. Those present at devotions, or Mass, delight to share the company of Mother and Son as they share the same call through baptism.
Return to The Queen: Articles
CONTEMPORARY
The picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is probably as near as the Western Church has come to offer an icon as a guide to understanding and worship. The Child in the arm of his Mother. A sandal falling from his foot. With the signs of his (and his mother’s) later passion and suffering about him, echoes in a contemporary world which can be so unfair, cruel and crucifying.
The realization of what Mother and Son went through then, helps so many now. It helps to know that Someone does understand what they are going through. The framework of humanity and faith helps understanding. It is reassuring to people similarly placed today. To see the Child on the arm of his Mother with their future on earth before them.
God in Christ understands the challenges thrown up by life and just how difficult it is to meet them at times. Encouraged by the insight of faith, despite the difficulties, people travel. They see through faith that, in Christ risen and Mary assumed into heaven, even death itself – the ultimate separation for us on earth and an experience all will share – can never come between us and them. With that barrier gone, there is nothing of substance between us now. To be at Mass, or the Wednesday devotions, or at home, is not to recall evocative memories of days long gone. Ours is now a present relationship.
REALISTIC
One does not idealize the situation. All over the city are ceramics of Jesus and Mary on the gates and doors of houses, where despite the external signs, in a number of cases probably, Jesus and Mary could never be at home there. The gap between lips and heart is almost as old as the first reception of revelation itself.
Perhaps the ‘con-man,’ in every other field, trusts by his ‘devotion’ to Mary – “I honored your statue, attended your novenas . . . .”—to genuinely find salvation. Yet if he depends solely on that, he runs the risk of deceiving himself through superstition. He may be hurt as are the people foolish enough to trust him.
But if for whatever reason he finds himself in the company of Mother and Son under the title of ‘perpetual help’, he may find the insight to see just how bogus is his own pretense, and how genuinely worthwhile it is to open himself to their influence. In the Gospel, always the weakest receive preferential treatment.
