A Christian Par Excellence
By Sr. Mary Muriel Ludden, OCD
Sr. Mary Muriel is a member of the Carmelite Community of Jackson, Mississippi.
This article is about Mary, Christ’s Mother. It is a search after Mary’s spirituality in hopes of discovering if and how we can realistically emulate Mary as an example who can fit into today’s world. This might be considered a tall order for such a short essay; but with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it is hoped that these few pages will bring discernment to anyone seeking a way to God through Mary.
Karl Rahner, in his Mary, Mother of the Lord, gives a most obvious reason for writing about Mary when he says by way of a conclusion to the chapter on the fundamentals of Mariology: “If we then have a clearer and more distinct idea of the Blessed Virgin Mary before the eyes of our soul, we shall be better Christians, or at least know better what we really ought to be. And then again we can honor her with great faith, in a more genuine and sincere way, which in turn will be a blessing for ourselves. Amen.”1
It is this writer’s sincere wish that such will be the case of this study of Mary who, as the exemplary Christian, a woman for all times and seasons, leads the way in faith, prayer, courage, and love as she follows Christ from his birth to his death and beyond into the world of the Beatific Vision. There, we believe, she still mediates with a constant prayer on her lips for us, her adopted children, who struggle on this earth to keep to the right path amid all the dangers of modern life. If it is possible, then Mary will show us how to proceed. Besides being mother to Jesus, Mary was also his friend as we see in sacred scripture during the major events of his ministry; when he was in need of her, she was there. Who will argue that the two most important periods of a human’s life are in its beginning and at its end, birth and death? Those who are present at these events we truly consider the important people in our lives. Mary was a pillar of strength at Christ’s birth. A lesser person could hardly have dealt so heroically as Mary did bringing forth her child in such appalling, penurious circumstances as those surrounding the divine birth as related in Luke’s Gospel.2
Years later, as an older but no less heroic woman, Mary withstood the stark horror and darkness of her son crucified. She stood by his side through the entire ordeal while her heart was shattered again and again watching the torment of the dying, crucified Christ. We return to the darker side later in this article. For now let us register the fact that here stands a woman of towering strength. Strength is something we value highly in individuals in these modern times.
The Historical Mary - Woman of Faith
Mary was an historical personage. She walked this earth just as we do. She knew cold and warmth, sunshine and rain, and aloneness as well as anxiety and wonderment. Mary, God’s Virgin Mother, breathed and lived as we do. It is our knowledge of her actual existence that keeps her ever close to us as we walk this earthly journey. Mary was not, nor is she, some far-off goddess or empress who is inaccessible to those who wish to get close. Mary was no Athena or Diana like those imaginary goddesses in Greek mythology with their peculiar traits of spoiled children wielding enormous power over humanity. On the contrary, Mary was a real and wonderful person, a member of the human race, and the most blessed in God’s creation. Mary was the total woman accepting God’s will and accepting her role as mother with unflinching courage and bravery. Hers was not to be a life of ease. She was to work throughout her life, this handmaiden of the Lord, with an endurance that we ascribe to women of deep inner strength and convictions. Mary bore her divine son in wretched conditions. It was God’s will that Jesus should be born in the most humble of circumstances. What woman would naturally want such surroundings for the birth of her child? Yet Mary stood the test and brought him forth, wrapped him in swaddling cloth, and laid him in the manger, for there was no room at the inn.3 Paradox is always a part of Mary’s life. Bethlehem, for all its miserliness, resounded from her first glorious fiat.
Nine months previously, Mary had accepted God’s invitation to become the one overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.4 Was there ever a greater fiat from a human being? Mary, the first Christian, exemplifies all that the word means by being totally in accord with the will of our Father in heaven. “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to Thy word.”5 What tremendous faith, what tremendous love for God and humanity went into those few simple words. Who can claim to understand all the implications of those words? Yet we know a tremendous turnabout for fallen mankind came with that simple sentence.
Mary’s total self-giving in faith brought us from the lowest to the highest realms of creation. She made it possible, in cooperation with the will of the Father and the Holy Spirit, for the Logos to become flesh and ultimately make man’s return to God, the source of love, a possibility. Mary brought us in touch with our Savior. Mary’s “yes” to the angel that momentous day in history made our escape from the enslavement of sin and our return to God a certainty. What love was that of Mary’s? How can we possibly grasp such a “giving”?
Mary gave birth to Christ and her courage, strength, and faith must have grown in proportion as the child grew. She did not permit the penurious conditions of their lives to impinge in any way on the religious duties and obligations that were hers as a Jewish wife and mother. Scriptural evidence shows that the child “grew in wisdom, age, and grace.”6
Mary was the suffering servant for the Lord’s sake and for the sake of humanity. And while ultimately joy follows sorrow, our knowledge of Mary’s future joys does not lessen the fact that she underwent great trauma on our account. When, twelve years after his birth, Mary experienced the youthful Jesus’ loss in Jerusalem, she trudged for many hours back to the city searching for him. That was no easy task. It had to be a nightmare for the Blessed Virgin until she actually discovered him listening to the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions.7
The first part of Mary’s history, her ministry or role in the salvific plan, may be classified as one of total faith in Divine Providence and of some suffering. Simeon’s prophecy at the presentation of her child in the temple foreshadowed the broken-heartedness that would be hers.
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