The Simplicity of Devotion to Mary
Fr. Donald Macdonald, SMM
The Simplicity of Devotion
S aints travel light. As they focus on God alone, they let go of anything that might obscure that view.
Plans to secure their future, their good name, food, housing, health, wealth, personal relationships, which understandably take up so much of our time, mean less and less to them.
Their center of grain is being wholly alive to God giving himself to them in Christ, That is the face of reality as they see it. ‘they are full-of- wonder’. It is essentially what they see no matter how life presents itself to them. Receiving the gift of God in Christ in the present, they know they have everything.
IN CHRIST
The saint knows what he or she believes, They have realized knowledge. Experience has taught them that what they took on faith is true in fact. With St. Paul they share the delight of being aware that those who are in Christ are a new creation (see 2 Cor. 5:16-21). Notice, not just a card-carrying member of an organization whose address can be found on a computer, Paul speaks of baptism ‘in Christ’ – producing in a new type of being. Once baptized, I am given a new identity. Now ‘I am in Christ’.
A present, personal relationship is meant. If it is to reach the core of a human being it must be in terms of knowledge and love. These are the channels to the heart of the human being. God in Christ takes the same way. Heart then speaks to heart as God reaches me at the core of my being, and enables and invites me to respond in kind.
In so far as I am graced to savor that in faith, aware that God in Christ came through a grave to make it so for me, I am in fact a ‘new creation’. Now I realize that I have a new center of gravity. The selfish, self-centered ‘me’ from the cradle, gives way in wonder to a wholehearted response to God giving himself to me in Christ through the Spirit.
If that is what I see now, progressively, I shall become like what I see, reflecting the glow of God on the face of Christ. There lies the simplicity and achievement of the saint.
IN MARY
One of the reasons why devotion to Our Lady is so attractive is because she can help us realize that simplicity. She is now held by the wonder of it all as no saint has ever been. Open to her influence and so glimpsing in faith what she now sees in glory. In time we too will become one with her and what attracts her.
Mary is in Christ a new creation. St. Paul is describing her life as well as ours. As we are doing now, Mary once did too, living here on earth in faith. What first she lived in faith she sees now in glory. It is all one piece. I too am one with her in Christ through Baptism. If I allow her to lead me to look at God giving himself in Christ through the Spirit, I shall genuinely become a new creation, living for God alone, as the wonder of it all takes hold of me.
Virgin and Child: Painter: Giovanni Bellini: 1480-1500
The painting resides in the National Gallery, London.
One of the reasons why devotion to Our Lady is so attractive is because she can help us realize that simplicity. She is now held by the wonder of it all as no saint has ever been. Open to her influence and so glimpsing in faith what she now sees in glory. In time we too will become one with her and what attracts her.
Mary is in Christ a new creation. St. Paul is describing her life as well as ours. As we are doing now, Mary once did too, living here on earth in faith. What first she lived in faith she sees now in glory. It is all one piece. I too am one with her in Christ through Baptism. If I allow her to lead me to look at God giving himself in Christ through the Spirit, I shall genuinely become a new creation, living for God alone, as the wonder of it all takes hold of me.
Return to The Queen: Articles
YOURS . . .
If Christian reality, therefore, is in our capacity to allow God to give himself to us in Christ through the Spirit, and then to respond to what we see in faith, clearly Our Lady’s life is real and authentic. She, above all, lives not for herself but for Jesus her son, who lived, dies and rose from the grave for her and for us.
Her interests, then, are as wide as her son’s. The Christian’s perspective as well described by St. Paul. We should see in all what we are or do, “Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake”. (2 Cor 4:5). There is the perspective of the new being in Christ. That is Our Lady’s too.
Seeing what she does of God in Christ, she can do no other than give herself with all that she is. It is inconceivable that such a person could ever come between us and God. She is who she is, as we are who we are, in Christ, through the creative Spirit. Unlike us, Mary is perfectly attuned, and so the will of God is her breath. She is where she is, as she is alive to the Spirit’s breath.
We recall the Gospel account of her arrival at Elizabeth’s house. Her presence was electric, transforming and supportive. The moment Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice in greeting, she felt her child leap for joy in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Our Lady’s presence at Cana, Calvary, and with the early Church at prayer, would be equally graced.
. . . FOR JESUS SAKE
She is what we try to be, genuinely a new being, utterly selfless – your slave for Jesus’ sake. This is not to dominate or manipulate, but to be to us in knowledge and love, just as the Holy Spirit directs.
We are open to the influence of so many. With television, radio, newspapers, social media, and the media in general, we are not short of advice on how to look, to dress, to speak, to buy, to eat, to drink, to vote, to entertain, to live. Yet so many of those who would advise us have no experience of authentic Gospel living, when they are not actively opposed to it. Even within the Church worldwide, not all the guidance offered is to be followed without prudent discernment.
Our Lady, living for God alone, and in consequence gave in her son a new creation to the world, is one with us in Him. She knows from experience how hard it is to live here in faith. Now she knows too how worthwhile it is to live in faith. If we find the courage to try to meet the challenge of making ours the perspective of “Jesus as Lord with ourselves your slaves for Jesus sake,” we might welcome the guidance of her feminine, maternal presence.
If we are wise, and willing open ourselves to whatever influence she can bring to bear upon us, we may come to realize in wonder what so many others have found over the centuries – “why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me”? (Lk 1:43). Her voice in greeting once brought so much to Elizabeth. May she bring as much to us.
