Mary – She Who Shows the Way: Part II
Fr. Donald Macdonald, SMM
SHE . . .
If we are blessed with eyesight we can find our way to a Catholic Church, but eyesight alone could never show us who is there.
If we are graced by the insight of faith we are able to see that we are in the presence of our risen Lord Jesus. At the heart of Catholic worship we hear, “This is my body for you . . . my blood for you . . .myself for you”. Spoken, we believe by God among us, giving himself to us through the Spirit of the risen Son. Here is real presence, and to the extent that we realize this gift, we respond in wonder and adoration.
The insight of faith which enables us to glimpse this is a gift from God: “. . . for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. . . Now we have received . . . the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God”. (1 Cor. 2:10, 12). The Spirit from the depths of God (which are measureless) to the depths within ourselves! One can scarcely hear that without a shiver down the spine. It is this presence which enables us to see in faith, bridging the gap between then and now.
If we are to understand Our Lady’s place in the Church we should primarily look from this perspective. When she is invited to become the Mother of the Redeemer, she is told, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, Son of God”. (Lk. 1:35). The verb “overshadow” has a long and rich biblical history. It is the verb used to describe the environment in which the Trans-figuration took place. (Lk. 9:7).
. . . WHO SHOWS THE WAY
God first brought the people of Israel from slavery to Mount Sinai. It is there a Covenant committed them to God as a holy people, within God’s ambit. God’s presence there was symbolized by a cloud. On Sinai, Moses would speak to God face to face as a man does to his friend. Such intimacy was even reflected in Moses’ face as he came down from the cloud. It was so illumined from his time in God’s presence, that his face had to be veiled from the people. He was trans-figured by the experience.
When it was time to leave Mount Sinai, Moses built a portable Tent to house the Tabernacle where God would be especially present among his people. “When Moses had finished the work, the Cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the Presence of the Lord filled the tabernacle”. (Exod. 40:34). So God’s creative Spirit was present to the people wherever they went. The best of them responded in awe and wonder.
In time they settled down, and the Tabernacle was placed as the heart of the Jerusalem Temple in the Holy of Homes. Here, above all, was holy ground. To read the opening verses of Isaiah 6 is to glimpse the effect on a man who came to realize the wonder of this gift of God’s presence. The prophet was transfigured by the experience. The psalmist too spoke for many in his ecstatic utterance before the wonder of God’s presence. “I rejoiced when I heard them say, ‘Let us go to God’s house’ . . , and now our feet are standing within your gates, 0 Jerusalem”! (Ps. 121). God, he believed, was present there as in nowhere else on earth, and his being was transfigured in wonder at the gift.
The Marriage at Cana : Netherlands Painter: Gerard David : 1500
This oil on wood painting resides in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Seen through the perspective of the Spirit, the icon of Our Lady and her Son depicting her is; ‘She who shows the way,” is not mistaken. In our confusing times allied to a loss of nerve, we would do well to return to her Spirit-graced person, one person with us in Christ, and pray to see who she sees.
Part I may be found here.
INDWELT BY THE SPIRIT
In New Testament times of course, there were no Christian temples or buildings. People met in each other’s homes. There were temples in Corinth, but St. Paul reminds his people there; “surely you know that you are God’s Temple, where the Spirit of God dwells .. . The temple of God is holy; and you are that Temple”. (1 Cor. 3:16-171).
Against the back-ground outlined above that is an emphatic call to realize the wonder of who they are in Christ, when seen from the perspective of the indwelling Spirit. He recalls this again to people trying to live a Christian life in a pagan environment; “Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is God’s gift to you”? (1 Cor. 6:19). The word St. Paul uses for Temple is “NAOS,” which more accurately refers to the Tabernacle – “and the Presence of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.”
VIEWED . . .
To even glimpse what this means for ourselves, we should stay with the word and pray to assimilate what we hear. The answer to St. Paul’s, “Do you not know . . . ?,” may be, “No, we do not”. This leaves us ill-placed to appreciate what is being said of Mary as “overshadowed” by God’s Spirit. In so far as we are at one with what is being described in the biblical reflections outlined in this article, so can our faith and imagination inherit a rich vein of belief. We too could be transfigured. Only in mining such a theme, can we come to glimpse in wonder what is being said of Our Lady.
God’s creative Spirit, therefore, which brought this universe into existence, then at Sinai and later, created the people of Israel and deepened their identity in being present to them in the Jerusalem Temple, has also overshadowed Mary. This means that in the person of her Son she brings into the world a new creation, in which God’s Spirit continues to dwell.
. . . IN THE SPIRIT
If as St. Paul says, it is the indwelling creative Spirit who enables us to understand God’s gifts, must the Spirit not help us to see the wonder of his presence in Mary? Far front taking the Spirit’s place, she is a transparent reflection of the Spirit, to such an effect that the Word of God took flesh through her. To such a depth is Mary overshadowed and so transfigured by God’s indwelling presence. In her company, progressively we shall become like who she sees.
In the 1960s, in my corner of Western Europe, we became silent about Our Lady. Almost embarrassed to speak publicly of or to her. Today, we are increasingly mute in speaking of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Saints have predicted such a path. The name Jesus Christ” is heard in film, TV, Radio and on the street as commonly a swear-word. It is the same in print.
Even the furnishings of a Catholic home, where once a crucifix, picture of the Sacred Heart and statue of Our Lady or a favorite saint would be familiar company, are now less and less seen. The company admitted through TV and video, apart from our front doors, are perhaps not at home with them, and so we choose. Seen through the perspective of the Spirit, the icon of Our Lady and her Son depicting her is; ‘She who shows the way,” is not mistaken. In our confusing times allied to a loss of nerve, we would do well to return to her Spirit-graced person, one person with us in Christ, and pray to see who she sees.
