Mother of Faith
In
Pope Paul VI’s exhortation, “Marialis Cultus”, he noted “a certain
dissatisfaction for the cult of Mary and a difficulty in taking her as a model
for today” because of the changed circumstances. Modern women do not live in
the same world as women of the Middle East at the time of Christ. To this Pope
Paul replies that Our Lady is proposed as a model not for her particular
(cultural) life-style but for her faith. So Mary is the type (model) of the
disciple, and as such for all men as well as women.
In
the Gospels Mary is portrayed as a women of faith, who sings a psalm of praise,
known as the Magnificat, upon meeting her cousin Elizabeth in the land of Judah
(Luke, 1, 46 –55). The song reflects traditional Hebrew parallelism and metre
common in the Psalms and expresses Mary’s belief in and obedience to God. She
praises God for exercising divine justice and compassion on behalf of the
lowly, both for herself and for Israel as “God’s servant”. With the covenant
reference to Abraham, Mary claims this moment as an act in continuity with
God’s promises and blessings in the past. Her obedience puts her alongside the
leaders of Israel; not only Abraham but also Moses and David. The Magnificat is
modelled on Hannah’s (Samson’s mother) song in 1 Samuel 2, 1 – 10, who prayed
and said, “My heart exults in the Lord, my strength is exalted in my God.” It
preserves the depth of Jewish prayer and is marked by humility and trust in
God’s power to save.
John’s
account of the wedding at Cana (John 2, 1 – 13) provides the only Gospel
account of a conversation between the adult Jesus and Mary. Although brief, it
rings true as an exchange between a Jewish mother and her son. When Mary asks
Jesus to provide more wine, his initial response appears rather tetchy. “What
concern is that to you and me?” Jews, says the Talmud, often have their feet in
the dust but their heads in the stars.
According to St. Augustine (Explaining
John’s Gospel, 8.9), Mary is the mother of Jesus’ weakness, not his strength.
He makes it clear he will do the miracle but not because of her – his divinity
has its own aims, connected with the hour of death to which he steers under the
Father’s guidance. She is not privy to that higher mission. The Father controls
Jesus’ hour, and Jesus is obedient to him. “Before he does perform this sign,
Jesus must make clear his refusal of Mary’s intervention; she cannot have any
role in his ministry; his signs must reflect his Father’s sovereignty, and not
an human or family agency” (Raymond Brown, The Gospel according to John, Vol.
I, p. 109).
However,
Jesus, like most Jewish sons, fulfils the biblical command to respect his
mother, and obeys her. The wine appears, justifying Mary’s faith in him when
she tells the servants the hauntingly unforgettable line: “Do whatever he tells
you.”
Our
lives are to sparkle and dance and lure others into the arms of God. Mary’s
faith life is a dance to imitate, but the steps are ours to learn, and no dance
is the same. What is more important is to grow up, walk on our own two feet,
and run after the Spirit’s gifts. A mother’s love stretches us and makes us
imitate the love we have been given so graciously. Mother Mary saw that “the
Child grew in stature and strength.”
