Editorial: Mary, Our Mother and Model

Mary, Our Mother and Model

WE HOPE THAT THE READERS of The Queen . . .

. . . have noticed the increased interest there is today in devotion to our Blessed Lady in the Catholic Church.

It is an interest that has sprung from a deeper study of the Vatican Council’s teaching on Our Lady in the Church, and from the influence of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical and the letter, a few years ago, of the American bishops. There is little talk these days about “excessive Marianism” and about various abuses and exaggerations in devotion to the Blessed Mother. The adolescent embarrassment that overcame so many in the immediate post-Vatican II era, when her name was even mentioned, seems to have given way to the welcome realization. that she had – and still has – an important role to play in the Church.

Her Role as Model and Mother of the Church

Her role, as we know, is twofold: she is both Model and Mother of the Church. We look to her as a model of Christian perfection, someone we strive to imitate. And we l00k to her also as a mother, in the genuine sense of the word, who gives life to the people of God, who nourishes and cares for them.

Her role as model is being increasingly stressed these days in accordance with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: the faithful “turn their eyes to Mary who shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues. Devoutly meditating on her and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church reverently penetrates more deeply into the great mystery of the Incarnation . . .”.

She is indeed a model of all the Christian virtues. The Gospels portray her love and trust in God in her acceptance of the difficult task of Mother of God made man. They show her love for her neighbor in the Story of her visit to St. Elizabeth, and her concern for 0thers at the marriage feast of Cana. They manifest her acceptance of grief and suffering as she stands at the foot of the Cross, her courage as she undergoes the most trying moments of her life. And the gospels show her as a woman of prayer in awaiting with the apostles, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

THERE IS A GREAT DEAL TO BE learned in seeing her as the model of Christian virtue.

But she is more than just an exemplar that we must strive to imitate. She is also, and above all, the Mother of the Church, the Mother of the people of God.

Mother to Us in the Order of Grace

“In a wholly singular way,” Vatican Il explains, “she cooperated by her obedience. faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Savior in restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason, she is a mother to us in the order of grace.

This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office, but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the ‘brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.”

This is how the Church views our Blessed Lady: she is a model of virtue who, at the same time, “continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.” She is not merely an object of admiration, someone that we try to imitate as we would imitate the eloquence of Abraham Lincoln or the honesty of George Washington. Her role as model is more comparable to that of a woman who expects her child to reflect her own goodness, generosity and love while she cares for the very life of her child.

We are sure that our readers are encouraged by this revival of interest in the Church’s teaching on Our Lady. And we are sure that they will join with us in praying that it will continue to develop among the Catholics of today’s Church.