The Mother of My Lord

THE MOTHER OF MY LORD

He   is praying to so be at one with Our Lady in all she is and does, . . .

that she in turn will draw him to be like herself, at one with her Son. She then can glorify Jesus in him now and always. In so far as the Christian is at one with that reality, he or she has a genuinely evangelical life.

If we glimpse a little of Our Lady’s life through the lens of St. Luke’s Gospel, and a basic Christian life through the eyes of St. Paul, per- haps we can see enough to be drawn to what attracts Montfort. His prayer may then become ours.

St. Paul for example. was accused of being unreliable, saying one thing and doing another. He protested – “as surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No“. (2 Cor. 1 : 18). He identifies himself with his Lord, so at one with Jesus; therefore he can say without any inconsistency, “that is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God”.  (2 Cor.
1:20). Paul’s life too is expressed in ‘Amen’ to all God does in Christ.  So he glorifies God. Montfort too wants to live like that.

ON EARTH

The basis of all Our Lady did on earth was to say ‘Yes‘ to God – “I am the Lord‘s slave; let it be done to me according to your word“. (Lk. 1 :38). God’s will was the touchstone of all she was and did.

In this she is at one with her Son, “Jesus Christ . . .  (who) was not Yes and No; . . .  in him it is always Yes.  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him“.  (2 Cor. 1:19-20). Such outgoing, wholly positive living for his Father’s will –  ”obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phils. 2:8) – is rooted too in his mother. Graced by God – “Hail, O favored one Mary . .  . you have found favor with God” (Lk. 1 :28, 30) – she can do no other than give herself “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God . . . transformed by the renewal of (her) mind”. (Roms. 12: 1-2).

ONENESS WITH . . .

This Pauline vocabulary is his attempt to express his Lord’s oneness with his Father’s will, and the wholehearted response of the Christian who sees it. He is describing root and branch personality. He is not using superficial analogy or extrinsic comparison. Both mother and Son in their individual roles, can best be described as “a living sacrifice,” utterly surrendered to the will of God. In this they are as one. Both lives then glorify God as they say Amen to his will.

This is why St. Louis-Marie saw that ”if devotion to Our Lady distracted us from Our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of the devil. But this is far from being the case; . . .this devotion is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of reaching Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully”.  (True Devotion, 62). This is to be ‘a living sacrifice. ’To say “amen’ to all Our Lady did on earth is to reinforce that reality, as open to her Gospel life, we too may be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

St. Luke’s Gospel sketched something of Our Lady and her rote, but as he makes clear, she is who she is because of the Holy Spirit; – “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, the Son of God”.  (Lk. 1 :35). Fully open to all that this entails,  she becomes the person she is because God. “has put his seal upon us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee”. (2 Cor. 1 :22).

. . . THE FATHER’S WILL

Unless and until we have some feel for the wonder of the Spirit’s creative presence in Mary throughout her life on earth, we shall miss the dynamic which drove “my soul and my Spirit” to glorify and rejoice “in God my Savior”. (Lk. 1 :46). “For the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God, . . . we have received the Spirit that comes from God, to teach us to understand the gift that he has given us“. (1 Cor. 2: 10, 12).

This literally is incredible. It is St. Paul’s attempt to grasp the origin and wonder of faith. The Spirit from the depths of God – there are no realizable depths in God – is present in the depths within us! It has been said that we are ‘two-thirds dustbin.’ True or not for us, Our Lady’s life from her conception is lived within the Spirit’s overshadowing presence.  This she reflects – “and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary . . . Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit . . . (and) the babe in my womb leaped for joy”.  (Lk. 1 :41, 44). Even the sound of the voice of “the mother of my Lord” (Lk. 1 :43) in greeting, reflects her Spirit-graced being. St. Louis-Marie, in faith, heard that encouraging voice too, and says ‘Amen’ to all that he hears.

IN HEAVEN

This is best understood perhaps in terms of knowledge and love – all that is most real about us going to the heart of the personal. Under the Spirit‘s influence, the human being comes alive – “whatever is true . . . honorable . . . just . . . pure . . . lovely . . . gracious”; (Phils. 4:8) is intensified and deepened in human personality open to the Spirit since they are a reflection of what we have come to glimpse of God as revealed to us.

Our Lady, now assumed into heaven, can only absorb and reflect such too since, “Christ Jesus has made me his own” (Phils. 3:1 2) – a supremely personal phrase. Unlike us on earth who, in ideal Christian terms, are “still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me . . . strain ahead for what is still to come racing for the finish” (Phils. 3: 12-14), Mary has what for us is hope.

When he left the transcendent presence of God, Moses’ face had to be veiled, tradition says, because he reflected the holiness of God (Ex. 34:34). Mary is therefore supreme among those who “with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is Spirit”. (2 Cor. 3: 18). She radiates the glory of God, held by what she sees.

THEN I SHALL . . .

Here on earth, “now we see in a manner dimly, but then face to face . . . then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood”. (1 Cor. 13: 12). Seeing what she does, she can love and know to an extent beyond any experience of ours. Here is human and graced potential able to express itself from the depths of her being.

St. Paul, who is sketching this portrait, compared his Own coming to Christ to the creation of light!  What then might his description say of Our Lady now in heaven – “for it is the God who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ”?  (2 Cor. 4:6).  Silent before such words, we should try to hear what they are saying.

This, we may believe, is still the experience of a recognizably human woman who “marveled at what was said about him” when her son Jesus, then a babe in arms, was seen by Simeon when “inspired by the Spirit,” as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of . . . Israel”.  (Lk. 2:27-33). Her whole adult life has contemplated the glory of God in the face of Christ. The light that illumines her shows there are always more marvels to be seen. Now as then, open to her heavenly influence, the Spirit may come upon us too to help us see, if we are fortunate to share the wonder of Elizabeth and so many since, who ask – “why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me”? (Lk. 1 :43). She never comes alone.

. . . UNDERSTAND FULLY

Some teachers say ’he who knows does not speak,’ meaning presumably the insight is so simple and rich that words could only fragment – not describe it. Equally, those not yet blessed with such insight do not have the capacity to receive the truth. Clearly there is much truth in that, but the Christian tradition as reflected in the Gospels has always tried to speak.

Our Lord told stories. St. Paul, ’was caught up into Paradise . . . and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter”. (2 Cor. 13:3-4).  But still tried so hard despite the difficulties, “ready to share with you not only the Gospel of God but also our own selves”. (1 Thess. 2:8). Peter and the apostles too, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” found that “we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard”. (Acts 4:8, 20).

Our Lady in heaven is part of that same Spirit-graced tradition, and so communicates in her own individual way. The closer to the Source the more one receives. “Lord, you are always with Mary and Mary is always with you . . .  without you . . . she would cease to be what she is . . . completely transformed into you by grace . . . If we only knew the glory and the love given to you by this wonderful creature  . . . “. (True Devotion 63). This is not the lifeless stance of an impersonal figure on a pedestal, as those open to her influence and so drawn to what she sees, know.

IN MY . . .

Finally, St. Louis-Marie prays to be open to all Mary does in his soul. He is not calling someone over there to come over here. In Christ, he shares with her the one life through baptism in which ’you have all clothed yourselves in Christ no more distinctions between male and female . . . all of you are one in Christ Jesus . . . for by the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body . . . there are many parts, yet one body . . . if one member suffers, all suffer together: if one member is honored, all rejoice together”.  (Gals. 3 and I Cor. 12).

Mary, assumed into heaven, is one in Christ with us. Having lived in faith on earth – “blessed is she who believed . . . ” (Lk. 1:45) – and now seeing ‘face to face’.  She must see this as we never can. She must live the reality of life in Christ beyond anything we can know.

. . . SOUL

Mary is then what we are called to be in Christ, people who “live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them”. (2 Cor. 5: 15). Her center of gravity as ours is meant to be, is God giving himself in Christ. We march to a different drum, no longer chronically self-centered, “for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation . . . It is all God‘s work”. (2 Cor. 5: 17).

Anyone seeing that, living within that reality, subject to the dynamic of God in Christ, will be compelled to share it. Paul does. “In other words God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself . . .  s0 we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God was appealing through us . . . be reconciled to God”, (2 Cor. 5: 18-20). This is what Our Lady is doing now in our souls, encouraging us to live at one with God as a new creation. In so far as this registers with us, we will find too that, “the love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect” (2 Cor. 5:14} on it. The insight is the key to living it. This Our Lady sees.

GLORIFY JESUS

These are ideas we struggle to assimilate. Time, distance, culture, personality, language, faith are just some of the factors that go into the equation in our response to God in Christ. We juggle with them. The saint and the saintly have no such fragmentation. For them it is progressively simple, even as they recognize, ”who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? . . .  Source, Guide and Goal of all that is; To him be glory for ever. Amen”. (Roms. 11 :34-36).

This is why St. Louis-Marie urges desire, prayer and penance to help clear the ground in our response to God, and devotion to Our Lady to help us keep and deepen what God gives us in Christ. ‘We should place in Mary’s care all that we possess and the treasure of all treasures, Jesus Christ; that she may keep him for us. We are vessels too fragile to contain this precious treasure. surrounded by too many cunning and experienced enemies to trust in our own prudence and strength . . . too many sad experiences of our fickleness and natural thoughtlessness”.  (Love of the Eternal Wisdom. 221).

Every-day experience will echo that, but Spirit-enlightened faith will recall that the law of the body of Christ, in which we find ourselves with Mary, is to “owe no one anything, except to love one another”.  (Roms. 13:8). The currency is love, and we are always in debt. Our Lady, glorifying Jesus in me “during all my life and my eternity” is superb payment. We say Amen to that.