The Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Fr. Guiliano)

Manuscript Illumination with the Virgin and Child in an Initial S, from an Antiphonary, Master of the Franciscan Breviary

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” Galatians 4:4 

St Paul, in his unmatched style, sums up the Christian message. This verse marks the moment of Christ’s appearing: at the right time, in the fullness of time. It denotes his lineage as a Jewish man “born under the Law.” And it states briefly his purpose: to “redeem.” Christ came that we might become God’s children; he came that we might be free.
And we should remember: all of this was impossible without the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

“God sent his Son, born of a woman…” If we were the Lord God, we might have imagined another way of saving the world: Maybe the Son of God could have come without any earthly parents! You know, it’s not a difficult idea. He could have just made a body for himself and skipped conception, birth, infancy, and childhood. It would have saved a lot of trouble: to just show up as an adult, descending from heaven on a cloud. It would have been very impressive. But then that wouldn’t have made for a human Savior, in the way we ordinarily use the term. No human life develops independently; we all have parents who bore us, and those who raised us.

In any case, whether or not we think God might have picked another way of saving humanity, the Christian faith celebrates the fact that he chose this one. The eternal Son of God was formed in the womb of Mary; he took his flesh (his human nature) from her. He was born of God before the ages; he was born of Mary in the fulness of time. Like us, he had a mother who carried him in her own body, delivered him. She nursed him, cared for him, raised him. And she remained near him through his ministry.

There is no coming to Jesus apart from Mary. We would hardly know anything about him without her. She was one of the only witnesses of his death on the cross. 

How else would we know the words he spoke as he suffered? About the crowd: “Father, forgive them, for they know now what they do.” To the repentant thief: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” To Mary and to John: “Woman, behold your Son.” and “Behold, your Mother.” Mary heard those words, Mary passed them on. 

Of course, too, how else would we know how Jesus was born, how he was conceived and announced to the world, adored by angels, worshipped by Magi – it was Mary who treasured up these things in her heart, until she passed them on to Christ’s disciples, and especially, it seems, to St Luke the evangelist.

“God sent his Son, born of a woman…” 

This is a profound truth. Let me name three more ways Mary is important for us and for our salvation.

Mary is a model to us in the way she heard the God; she is a model as a worshipper of God; and she is a model of our ultimate destiny with God. Let’s take those one at a time. 

Mary is a model disciple. She heard the Word of God and treasured it. In the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel, she is often hearing God’s Word through others: from an angel, through the shepherds, on the lips of her cousin Elizabeth. Sometimes she understands; at others, she is perplexed. She asks questions, like “How can this be?” But she always treasures the Word, turns it over in her mind, keeps it in her heart. Just as she bore Jesus, the Word incarnate, so did she keep God’s written and spoken Word in her mind and heart. 

We often think the Scriptures present to us things to know or instructions for living; and surely they do. But the Word of God also presents to us mysteries surpassing human understanding, baffling and lofty truths, which we must ponder. Mary is our guide, our model, in learning how to receive these gifts from God, how to treasure them.

Mary is also our companion in praise. Every day in the Church’s prayer we utter her Song, the Magnificat, the Song she uttered when she met her cousin Elizabeth and the two women rejoiced over the coming of God’s Messiah. 

As Luke 1:41-45 records, Mary went to the hill country of Judea to visit her cousin, and:

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, her child, John, leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Mary responded to this moment with those immortal words which have been recited and chanted and set to music again and again:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. 
For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 
For he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name. 
And his mercy is on them that fear him through all generations. 
He hath showed strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. 
He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. 
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel, as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed, forever. 

When we sing our praises to the Lord, it is as if we are standing there beside Mary, beside the blessed mother of our Lord. We hear her music, we are inspired by her devotion, we take upon us the invitation of all the psalms and songs of holy Scripture: “Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; let us exalt his name together” (Ps 34:3). Mary is our model in praise. 

And she is the picture of our destiny. She embodies the Christian hope to be with Christ. She was with him on earth, as she bore him, cared for him, wept for him, rejoiced over him. She with him now in heaven. She is united to him in his triumph, and shares in the glory of his eternal kingdom. She assures us; she goes before us, happy, holy, blessed.

​“When the fulness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law…” God’s Son was born of Mary; in this way, he saved us and set us free. Let us rejoice in her example; let us join her in offering praises; and let us look forward to that day, when we shall see her in the clear heaven, accompanied by the saints and angels, as she sings her Magnificat.