by Mrs. Anastasia Rebello
Many of us present here admire great and courageous leaders. Especially the ones that fought for India's independence. So also in Bible we have a very courageous woman who played an important role in Salvation history, 'MARY'. Many people think that Catholics worship Mary, but I beg to differ here we worship only God & honour Mary.
Several topics came to my mind but the thought that dominated my mind was to speak to you on Our Blessed Mother Mary. And this the most appropriate topic as we just celebrated her birthday on the 8th of September. Much said about her would be less, as it is difficult to write or speak about the person you love very much. Let’s read Gal:4v4. The Catholic church taught by the Holy Spirit honours the name of Mary. We are a fallen race. God in His goodness has given us a guide & a model to follow, who in turn will take us to Jesus Christ the light of nations. Since the time of the Apostles, we Catholics have found in Mary, a guide. We celebrated the feast of St Alphonsus De Ligouri (1st August) in his reflection he says : Whoever desires the fruit must go to the tree ; whoever desires Jesus must go to Mary and whoever finds Mary will most certainly find Jesus.
In my own life I had little or no devotion to Mary. The only novena I ever made was when I was in the Std 12th and my mother made a promise that if I got a first class she would take me for the Novena services at St. Michael’s church. I did secure a first class so I made that novena. Many years later after I had set up my office as I was fashion designer, my health was not too good so my Muslim driver and my Hindu master (cutter) said “ Madam , why don’t you cancel the 12 o’clock appointment in the office and go for the novena services at St. Michael’s Mahim. I did go there faithfully for six months and I heard the best teachings on Jesus preached there. After that I experienced the Lord and received my physical healing at Jesus the Real Vine prayer meeting. I know it was through Mother Mary’s powerful intercession that I met Jesus. Mary is that boat which will definitely draw you to the shores of her son Jesus.
I remember in school days the most beautiful essays written by students were on their Mother. She is the apple of my eye and so on and so forth. If we love and have learnt so much from our earthly mothers then how much more do you think that you and I can learn from our heavenly mother? In an unique way, Mary co-operated through her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity. For this reason She is a mother by order of Grace. We Catholics seeking to conquer sin and increase in Holiness should look to Mary who shines forth in the Church as the model of virtues. Let us read the gospel of Luke 1:26-36. Imagine Mary in a typical Jewish male dominated society, she is on the threshold of getting married and I am sure like any other girl on the verge of getting married, must have had dreams of her own. What dress will I wear??? or how will I take care of my husband or how many children will I have?
And here God was speaking through an angel and asking her to be the mother of His son, Mary was naturally disturbed, as in a Jewish society the penalty for an unwed mother or an adulteress was stoning to death. I can imagine a 8th or a 9th Standard girl of today, with all these factors LOOMING LARGE at her, still Mary said 'YES'. Mary must have thought, “It is my will to get married and raise a family, but no, 'Lord I surrender my will to Yours'. This act of OBEDIENCE comes from her deep love for God. She may have been simple but knew very well that Obedience to God was one of the highest virtues in the sight of God. Thus she became the NEW EVE. Unlike the 1st Eve through her disobedience fell out of the plan of God, Mary through her YES made God's salvation plan possible for the entire humanity.
Unlike Mary, when I was asked to quit my profession as a fashion designer and serve Him full time, it took me nine months before I discerned and actually said Yes to the Lord. There were several conditions I put before the Lord which I will share with you later in this talk.
There are a lot of virtues that can be spoken of our Mother Mary but I would like to share on her role as the YES OF THE FATHER. Strange as it may sound but when we contemplate on our mother Mary & the word Yes, Words fail to express the feeling that flow from the heart.
Mary said YES to the Father through out her life. Most of us are familiar with the incident when she meets Angel Gabriel,(Annunciation story) but if you read God’s word you will see in the Gospels that Mary said Yes through out her Life. From the Cradle to the Cross, From the womb to the tomb you can see her YES through out.
Here are the few incidents in the Word of God we see Mary's Yes to the Father.
1. Her encounter with Angel Gabriel. (Luke 1 : 26,38)
In this passage Mary is asked to be the mother of the Son of God. Though she was a virgin and could not understand God's plan, she still said Yes. Through this “Yes” she made God's salvific plan possible for you and me. Her total submission & perfect humility is shown in the Magnificat.
2. The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple & the prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2 : 22-35)
She offers Him back to the Father and listens to the prophecy of Simeon. Her Yes is silently made known to us when she accepted Simeon's prophecy( Luke 2 v34,35)
3. Finding Jesus in the Temple : (Luke 41-51)
The Lord in this verse expresses his need to do the Father's will. Mother Mary accepts its, though she did not understand. (Luke 2 : 51)
4. At the foot of the cross (John 19 v25)
At the foot of the cross it would break the heart of any mother to see her son crucified. So also with our mother Mary but yet she silently endured all the pain. Here too we see her Yes to the Father's will without complain.
Another Virtue that you pick up from this passage is Purity. Mary did not give into negative thoughts or emotions, which normally come to our mind when God plan things that cannot be comprehended by human wisdom. But the word of God tells us that God’s foolishness is better than our wisdom.
This Divine maternity is a sublime privilege which no human mind can fully understand. But through this Divine Maternity she came into a wonderful relationship with the 3 Divine persons as the a Loving daughter of the Father, The Mother of the Son of God, and spouse of the Holy Spirit according to the Gospels and the Creed.
Each of us has a call in different aspects of our life? But there are two ways to answer a call YES or NO. When Mary answered her call from the Heavenly Father she said Yes without knowing, what the future had in store for her. Through her Yes, it showed the faith and trust Mary had in the Father. There are several others in the Bible who answered their call. Examples
- Call of Abraham (Genesis 12 : 1-5) Is my response like Abraham willing to take the risk? Abraham had to leave Haran to go to Canaan when he was almost 76 years old, am I willing to leave the comfortable zone that I am living to answer God’s call?
- Call of Samuel (1Samuel 3 : 1-21) Do I listen like Samuel in my everyday life or do I turn a deaf ear?
- Call of the Apostles ( Mark 1 : 14-19). Am I willing to leave everything AND follow Jesus or do I want to know how far I have to go?
Whenever God calls a person and sends him or her on a mission, the initiative is always Gods.
To go on a mission and then responds, there are five steps that follow, and this is observed in the life of most of the prophets in the Bible:
- ENCOUNTER : The first stage is that we have an encounter with God. Some may have dramatic experiences while others not so very dramatic. It is an encounter between God and the individual.
- COMMISSIONING : When God chooses the individual he commissions him/her. He sends the person on a mission to play a dynamic part in the life of His people. It is the call that brings one out of his private existence & gets involved in public life of God’s people.
- OBJECTION : In the face of his call the recipient puts forward his objection. This shows both his freedom and reluctance to get involved and carry out the mission. Familiar question normally arise in ones mind: Lord, How can this be , I am nothing? I am too small to fit in your plan of salvation. As for me I kept asking, Why me Lord? I m not worthy.
- REASSURANCE : God counters man’s objection by reassurance. He understands our objection and that is why he assures us by telling ‘Fear not, I am with you.
- SIGN : God often gives us a sign. To Moses he gave the staff, to Isaiah the burning coal…. After I received my physical healing I too was asked to quit and serve the Lord in full time ministry and learn His word. But the only condition I had with the Lord was to give my staff employment. It took me nine months of prayer and discernment. The Lord was very faithful and all my staff got employment. In fact it gives me great pride in saying that one of my staff working for me then has two shops of his own today. After that I went for a retreat where a sister who had the word of knowledge said I was not healed to work my kingdom but God’s Kingdom. I told her I knew about it and I have made a decision to quit but will take some business home in small way. To which she replied for you there is no work besides working for the Kingdom. It reminded me of an essay that I had written in school “ My ambition in Life is to build an empire”, my mother being a teacher made me tear it. After all those years I realized which empire I was to build “ GOD’S EMPIRE”. So when I returned from the retreat and went to the office the next day, as soon as my driver parked the car there was a gentleman who asked me if I wanted to sell the sewing machines. I was too shocked as I had not advertised. So I told him to wait, while I went to make a call to my husband in the office. My husband quoted an amount which I thought was too high. So, I asked the gentleman how much did he want to pay ? He quoted higher than my husband. He also told me I have brought down payment. A few days later on my husband’s birthday he came and collected all the sewing machines. Finally there was only one button hole machine left which I had invested a lot of money, that too got sold on my Father’s birthday & my office got sold on the on the 24th of December the same year. So the Lord did give me the Sign.
So also when God chose Mary, she had the freedom to say Yes or no. As we all know Mary said Yes. Though I have already given you a little bit of the background in the beginning of my talk, I would to repeat it again.
1. God chose Mary who was a virgin from Nazareth, a place much unknown and despised by the Jews (John 1 : 46). It was a village in Galilee which the religious elite of Jerusalem considered polluted because its association with Gentiles.
1. The Divine choice disrupted Mary's quite existence and plans she had for her life. She was betrothed to Joseph and to be married, but God had plans for her. One might wonder why could not have God waited for her to get married? God always calls us in the midst of our circumstances.
1. Now when the calling came Mary must have between the age of 13-14 years. Can you imagine a 8th or 9th std student responding to that call? The calling of God came to Mary at that age. God did not tell her parents or try to convince them, God directly ask Mary and she said Yes, without even thinking of the consequences, although she does object to Angel Gabriel “How can this be for I m a virgin?” But the angel gives her the assurance by telling her that the Holy spirit will come upon her …(Luke 1 : 35)
1. He gives her a sign : Jesus. So Mary the simple woman of Nazareth is called to play a significant role in salvation history. It baffles all human wisdom. As a result of this call her life becomes a challenge, a call to hardships and suffering. She was a woman who was not spared the hardships of life.(Simeons prophecy).The aged Simoen declared that she would suffer much because of her son. Luke s gospel portrays Mary as a believer, a woman of faith, a faith which shows us that there hope even in the midst of our darkness.
I leave you with a Question :
Are you willing to say Yes to the Father no matter what your circumstances are …..? Amen