When
you reflect on the life of Mary, she mirrors our journey of faith. When we
first meet her, Mary is the object of an ugly rumor. Pregnant without a
husband. That she was innocent and invaded by the Spirit was not believed. So
if you have suffered false rumors, or had your reputation spoiled, or been
misunderstood and maligned, an unwed mom, or divorce or Gay Catholic, you can
identify with Mary.
Mary
had her moments of anxiety and fears. What’s this Mother of God business? How
can this be? She asked the angel incredulously. “What does God want? How can
this happen? How can I do this?” Confused and scared and full of questions,
Mary is us when we have cried out. How can I tackle this challenge? Like a newborn,
another job, new relationships, caring for someone, even a new faith community.
How do I this?
When
Jesus is an adolescent, Mary loses her child, can’t find him in a crowded city.
She becomes every parent, every teacher, every mentor in history who can’t
communicate with a teenager, who loses them to the internet, or drugs or whose
kids have runaway roaming the streets, exploited by the sex trade, abused and
beaten. Many parents can identify with Mary here.
Mary
buried her husband, and everyone who has lost a spouse, cried Mary’s tears,
felt the gnawing void in their belly and returned to an empty bed can identify
with her.
When
her son was old enough he leaves home to begin his mission and he leaves a
widow mother behind. She is a minority woman in an occupied country, a widow
with no man around, She is subject to exploitation and discrimination. Every
minority who feels the effects of prejudice and discrimination can identify
with Mary.
Then
her son is caught, brought to a mock trail, beaten and humiliated, and hung on
a cross. She arrives in time to see him hanging there, straining to go to him,
but she is forced by the soldiers to keep her distance. Every parent who has
seen their child carted off to prison, addicted to alcohol, or sex, not having
their grandchildren baptized, going thorough a divorce-every parent who
experiences these little crucifixions but who must keep their distance, can
identify with Mary and have to pray and suffer in silence.
And
finally Mary cradles the broken dead body of her only son in her arms and sobs
uncontrollably and there she is once more like every parent who has lost a
child, any friend who has lost a friend anyone who has lost someone through
overdose or suicide can identify with Mary.
Yet despite
all this unfairness of life, she clung to God. In virginity, in motherhood, in
widowhood, with lost child, with dead child, she clung to God. She becomes the
woman for all of us who have suffered these little deaths and that is the
secret of her enduring popularity. And her appeal.
The
message of her Assumption, the celebration of taking her into heaven, is a sign
of hope for us. It is meant to be a preview for all who cling to God despite
adversity. Mary is what we shall be. So simply put, she is us at the end of our
journey that we are traveling. That is why Mary is indeed Blessed and a Woman for All times And
All Seasons.
Lord,
I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are experiencing many crucifixions at
this moment. Give them the spirit of Our Blessed Mother to cling to God and
persevere knowing that God will raise us up on the last day.
