Mary is strictly linked to evangelization because Mary is intimately linked with Jesus, her son, who is both God’s Good News to the world and the first Evangelizer, model of all evangelizers. Jesus is the Word of God which became flesh in Mary’s womb. That Word, which was from the very beginning with God and through which all things came into being, became flesh in Mary’s womb and lived among us (John 1:1,3,14). That Word is the Word of life announced by Jesus, believed, lived and announced by the apostles and the Church.
Mary believed in that Word and accepted to fulfill the will of God.
“I am the servant of the Lord,” Mary answered. “May it be done unto me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
1.
| Mary brings Jesus to people and brings people to Jesus.
The evangelizer must announce Jesus Christ and become a bridge between the evangelized and Jesus. The role of the evangelizer is important but it is secondary. The evangelizer can not become the centre of the message. The evangelized has the right to encounter Jesus, the Saviour.
Mary, the mother of Jesus has an important role in bringing Jesus to the world, but she can not be the focus of the God News; Jesus is.
1a.
| Mary, carrying the baby Jesus in her womb, visited her relative Elizabeth, who was also expecting the birth of her son John the Baptist. Luke describes Mary’s greeting to Elizabeth as a proclamation of the coming salvation. The presence of Jesus in his mother’s womb is felt by both Elizabeth and her child John. They are all filled with the Holy Spirit.
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed:
‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!’” (Luke 1: 41-45)
| 1b.
| Mary’s proclamation of the coming salvation takes the form of an inspired hymn of praise and worship to God. In it Mary professes her faith in God’s past promises and expresses her firm hope that God is fulfilling today His Word spoken to the ancestors.
“… From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty…
remembering to be merciful…
according to the promise he made to our ancestors.” (Luke 1: 48…56)
| 1c.
| The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is an important moment for announcing the great news to the world. The poor, represented by the shepherds, are the first group of people to be evangelized. The Gentiles, the non Jewish people, represented by the wise men from the Orient, are the second group.
“…the angel said to the shepherds: ‘Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds said to them. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.” (Luke 2: 10-12; 16-20)
“On coming to the house, the wise men went in and they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” (Matthew 2: 11)
We see Mary also actively present at the wedding of Cana, which marked the beginning of Jesus’ evangelization. (John 2)
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| 2.
| Mary is willing to share in her son’s suffering.
Mary gradually understood Jesus’ way of bringing salvation to the world. It had to be through suffering. Mary freely accepted to follow Jesus until the end.
2a.
| Mary heard a first clear prophecy of her role in Jesus’ work of salvation, when she, together with Joseph, brought the child Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem for the traditional Jewish rituals of the mother’s purification and the offering of the child. At that very moment, a very devout old man called Simeon, who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah, suddenly came forward towards the child Jesus, took him in his arms and said aloud: “Sovereign Lord, you may now, according to your words, let your servant go in peace, because I have seen your salvation, that you have prepared for all: a light to enlighten all nations, the glory for the people of Israel.” (Luke 2: 25-32)
Mary understood that being the mother of the suffering Messiah implied suffering. The heart of each human being shall express either acceptance or rejection of the suffering Messiah.
“As the child’s father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about the child, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Look, this child is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce your soul too, so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’” (Luke 2: 33-35)
| 2b
| Mary faithfully followed her son until the final day of the crucifixion. Her participation in the work of salvation becomes a model for each believer. Her motherhood acquires a new universal, spiritual dimension. She is the mother of the Redeemer and the mother of the redeemed.
“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:25-27)
| 2c.
| Jesus had given his parents a hint of his view on “parents-son” relationship, after his first pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. He was only 12. After the celebration was over, he had stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. After three days of searching him, his parents finally found him in the temple disputing with the teachers of the Law.
“When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’
‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. ‘Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?’ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” (Luke 2: 48-50)
During his public ministry, Jesus reiterated his position.
“Now his mother and his brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him.
A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’ He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those sitting in a circle round him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’”
(Mark 3: 31-35)
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| 3.
| Mary and the Holy Spirit
The prophets of the Old Testament had foretold that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be the sign that the Messiah had come. The Gospel of John refers Jesus speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit in these words: “Jesus was speaking of the Spirit which those who had believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not been given as yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:39)
3a.
| But before Jesus’ resurrection, ascension and before the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, Mary had already been refilled by the Holy Spirit when the Word became flesh in her womb. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow.” (Luke 1:35)
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1: 20-21)
| 3b.
| Mary was refilled by the Holy Spirit and inspired by the grace of the Spirit to sing and praise God for His great deeds. When Mary visited Elizabeth, her relative, it was at the sound of Mary’s greetings that Elizabeth too was refilled by the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:41)
After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles remained reunited in the same upper room, where Jesus had shared the last supper with them. In this room the apostles would receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the official opening of a new era and the beginning of evangelization to all nations. The mother of Jesus, who had been called by God to participate in Jesus’ redemption, was present among the apostles.
“From the Mount of Olives, as it is called, the apostles went back to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a Sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. With one heart all these joined constantly in prayer, together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:12-14)
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| 4.
| Mary is the mother of Jesus, who is Communication and Communion between God and mankind.
Evangelization is communication between the evangelizer and the evangelized. The Good News announced by the evangelizer, through the work of the Holy Spirit, will touch the heart of the evangelized, who will be drawn to communion with Jesus.
Communication is revealing something hidden and unknown to a recipient. Human words reveal the hidden thoughts of a person to another person. Whenever communication is successful, communion follows.
Jesus is God’ Word, which reveals God’s secret thoughts and His plan of salvation for mankind. Jesus is the most perfect communication between God and mankind and in Him the whole of mankind reaches perfect communion with God. Mary is the bearer of this “Communication and Communion” between God and mankind. The Word became Flesh in her womb and dwelt among us. The name of Mary’s son is Emmanuel (God with us). The mystery of the Incarnation is God's divine way of making public what is in the deepest recesses of His divine Mind. In the Incarnation, God speaks to us and lives in us. Mary is intimately connected with this mystery.
| 5.
| Marian devotions and Marian shrines.
Throughout the centuries of Christian history, (both in the East and the West) devotions to Mary, the mother of God have been very popular. After the division of Christianity in Europe between Protestant and Catholics, devotions to Mary have been a topic of controversy. In the last decades a better mutual understanding and more fraternal dialogue has cleared many obstacles. All Christians agree that Mary remains a “servant of the Lord”, whose purpose is to make her Lord, the only Saviour of the world, better known and loved. All devotions to Mary are meant to draw people to Jesus.
The many Marian shrines scattered all over the world attract pilgrims in search of Jesus. Marian shrines are places of prayer and conversions to Jesus. Shrines are places of evangelization too. The most evident example is the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The apparition, in 1531, of Our Lady of Guadalupe, (with the features, the garments and the language of an ordinary Indian girl in the recently occupied Mexico) to the Indian man Juan Diego, had a powerful effect on the Evangelization of the Indians (as the Spanish called the native population). The increase in conversions became very noticeable after the apparition. The same is true of other shrines. Should devotions to Mary or pilgrimages to Marian shrines fail to lead people to Jesus, they would lose their inner purpose and meaning.
| 6.
| Teaching of Vatican II on the role of Mary in Jesus’ work of salvation.
“This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception up to His death it is shown first of all when Mary, arising in haste to go to visit Elizabeth, is greeted by her as blessed because of her belief in the promise of salvation and the precursor leaped with joy in the womb of his mother. This union is manifest also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish His mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it, when the Mother of God joyfully showed her firstborn Son to the shepherds and Magi. When she presented Him to the Lord in the temple, making the offering of the poor, she heard Simeon foretelling at the same time that her Son would be a sign of contradiction and that a sword would pierce the mother's soul, that out of many hearts thoughts might be revealed. When the Child Jesus was lost and they had sought Him sorrowing, His parents found Him in the temple, taken up with the things that were His Father's business; and they did not understand the word of their Son. His Mother indeed kept these things to be pondered over in her heart.” (57)
“In the public life of Jesus, Mary makes significant appearances. This is so even at the very beginning, when at the marriage feast of Cana, moved with pity, she brought about by her intercession the beginning of miracles of Jesus the Messiah. In the course of her Son's preaching she received the words whereby in extolling a kingdom beyond the calculations and bonds of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God, as she was faithfully doing. After this manner the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, grieving exceedingly with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a maternal heart with His sacrifice, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth. Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross as a mother to His disciple with these words: ‘Woman, behold thy son’”. (58)
“But since it has pleased God not to manifest solemnly the mystery of the salvation of the human race before He would pour forth the Spirit promised by Christ, we see the apostles before the day of Pentecost “persevering with one mind in prayer with the women and Mary the Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren”, and Mary by her prayers imploring the gift of the Spirit, who had already overshadowed her in the Annunciation. Finally, the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all guilt of original sin, on the completion of her earthly sojourn, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe, that she might be the more fully confirmed to her Son, the Lord of lords and the conqueror of sin and death.” (59) |
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