There is something about Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is something profoundly mysterious about this woman, whom God intended to be the Immaculate Conception before the Creation, in order to send His Son to us fully incarnated in the human flesh through her. On this matter, Pius IX wrote:
From
the very beginning, and before time began, the eternal Father chose and
prepared for his only-begotten Son a Mother in whom the Son of God would become
incarnate and from whom, in the blessed fullness of time, he would be born into
this world. Above all creatures did God so loved her that truly in her was the
Father well pleased with singular delight. Therefore, far above all the angels
and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all
heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity that this mother, ever
absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that
fullness of holy innocence and sanctity than which, under God, one cannot even
imagine anything greater, and which, outside of God, no mind can succeed in
comprehending fully.
Ineffabilis Deus (1854),
paragraph 1
From the get-go of God’s action for us, His grand
salvific scheme with mercy, Mary has been in His mind, for His only begotten
Son to be sent for us. And this is why there is something mysterious about
Mary. No wonder it is Mary that God was referring to, as the mother of the
Messiah, Jesus, and his brothers and sisters, namely, the Christians, to strike
the head of Satan:
I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel
(Genesis 3:15).
Upon her Assumption into heaven (Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950)), Mary was
crowed in heaven as the Gebirah (Queen-Mother)
to Christ, has made apparitions throughout the human history, upon Pentecost
(i.e. Revelation 12:1; Pius XII, Ad Caeli
Reginam (1954)). Though most of these Marian appearances have taken place
after her Assumption into heaven and Coronation, the very first one was while
Mary was still on earth with the Apostles.
On October 12, the Church celebrates the very first
Marian apparition, which took place in the year 40 AD, to St. James the
greater, the brother of St. John, and his companions, on the banks of the Ebro
River in Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), in the Roman Province of Hispania (Spain).
Spain was where Paul intended to bring the Gospel of
Christ to (Romans 15:24-29). And, according to the Breviarium Apostolorum, James the Greater, son of Zebedee, the brother
of John, was sent from Jerusalem to evangelize this far west Roman
province. Though some success, even
making local disciples to himself, over all, James struggled with his mission to
convert Spaniards. It was during this difficult time of James’s mission in
Spain that Mary appeared to him, accompanied with angels, singing, “Ave Maria, gratia plena”, holding the
child Jesus, in her arms, standing, as standing on a pillar. Then, Mary
instructed James to build a church right there, for the works of God to carried
out fruitfully and durably.
According to Maria de Jesus de Agreda, though he had
already ascended, it was her Son, Jesus, who had commissioned his mother, Mary,
to help his work to be done successfully in Spain, where James the Greater was
sent on mission. So, though she was physically in Jerusalem, Mary mysteriously
saw James struggling with his mission in Spain and appeared to him. As Maria de Jesus de Agreda wrote in “Mistica Ciudad de Dios”, this is
believed how Mary spoke to James in Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza) in 40 AD:
My
son James, the Most High and Mighty God of Heaven has chosen this place that
you may consecrate and dedicate here a temple and house of prayer where, under
the invocation of my name, He wishes to be adored and served, and all the
faithful who seek my intercession will receive the graces they ask if they have
true faith and devotion, and in the Name of my Son I promise them great favors
and blessings, for this will be my temple and my house, my own inheritance and
possession, and in testimony of my promise, this pillar will remain here, and
on it my own image that, in this place where you will build my temple, will
last and endure with the Holy Faith until the end of the world. This must be
done at once, and when your work is accomplished, you will return to Jerusalem
where it is the will of my Divine Son that you make the sacrifice of your life
where He gave up His for the redemption of mankind.
So, the first Marian church was built in Caesaraugusta
(Zaragoza), Spain, for her Son, with the pillar, on which she stood with child
Jesus in her apparition. And this church
is now known as the Catedral-Basilica de
Nuestra Senora del Pilar.
The church in Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza) has been
standing as a pillar of Catholic faith not only in Spain and wherever Spaniards
and Hispanos and Hispanas are, and the rest of us. And, this church, built with
the pillar, Catedral-Basilica de Nuestra
Senora del Pilar, has endured numerous attacks, while it has been a refuge
for persecuted Catholics in Europe. Upon the French Revolution, which was
hostile to the Catholic Church, Bl. Guillaume-Joseph
Chaminade, who endured persecution, exiled to Zaragoza. During the Spanish
Civil War, though the communist forces dropped three bombs from air plane, none
of them exploded.
Yes, there is something about this Marian church in Zaragoza, which Mary in her apparition as Nuestra Senora del Pilar de Zaragoza, instructed to build, becoming the Catedral-Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Pilar. And this reflect the fact that there is something mysterious about Mary.
On the feast of Our Lady of Pillar (Nuestra Senora del Pilar), October 12, we read from Luke 11:27-28. In this pithy Gospel Reading to remember Mary’s first apparition to James the Greater in Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), Hispania, while she was physically with his brother, John, in Jerusalem, we reflect on Mary’s place in the life and the Paschal Mystery of her Son, Jesus the Christ incarnate.
“Blessed is the
womb that carries you and the breasts at which you nursed”, a woman from
the crowd called out to Jesus (Luke 11:27). She said this because she must have
been astonished by Jesus, witnessing him drive out a demon from a mute man,
enabling him to speak, and she was marveled by the wisdom of Jesus in disputing
an accusation against him with a sound reasoning (Luke 11:24-26). Apparently,
she attributed Jesus’ amazing power and judiciousness to his mother in the
above benediction for her.
Don’t we tend to think of his or her mother, when we
are so amazed by someone for his or her extraordinary abilities?
Perhaps, the Catholics and Orthodox Christians are
more like this woman who blessed Mary for her Son’s marvelous quality in
venerating Mary as the Theotokos.
In response to the woman’s blessing for Jesus’ mother,
Mary, he said:
Rather,
blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it (Luke
11:28).
Does this response of Jesus to the woman’s blessing on
his mother mean that Jesus was indifferent to the importance of his mother?
Think and reflect on what was in Jesus’ mind when he
said:
My
mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it (Luke
8:21).
Jesus said this in response to someone telling Jesus
of his mother and brothers wishing to see him as they had a hard time in
reaching him due to the crowd (Luke 8:19-20).
Jesus was not belittling the importance of his mother
and his family. Rather, Jesus was implying that he was not contained in his
immediate family as his family is constituted of those who listened to the Word
of God spoken out of his mouth and not only to keep but to act on it.
Think of what Jesus meant by saying:
“Woman, behold
your son”, to his mother, and “Behold
your mother” to John, from his Cross (John 19:26-27).
Mary knew that she would be blessed (Luke 1:51) for
her humbly service to God as His handmaid as the mother of the Son of God (Luke
1:48-49; cf. Luke 1:38).
It does not mean that Mary was indifferent to the Word
of God, just because she was at a distance from him due to the crowd. As she
was the handmaid of God (Luke 1:38, 48-49), how could Mary fail to listen to
the Word of God, especially when her Son speaks?
And Jesus said that his mother not only listens to the
Word but also acts on it (Luke 8:21).
So, Jesus returned the woman’s blessing on his mother
for her womb and breasts that are important in bringing and nursing him to do
great works of the Father with his blessing to those who are to be his mother
and brothers and sisters, namely, to those who listen to the Word (Luke 11:28).
And the mother of Jesus, Mary, who always listened to
the Word of God, listening to her Son, who speaks the Word, and is the Word
incarnate (i.e. John 1:1, 14), direct us to join in his family, as well as, her
family, by her apparitions to direct us to her Son and the Word spoken by him,
so that we can remain fruitful in our works (i.e. John 14:12; 15:5,7-10).
Mary listened to the Word of God, spoken by Archangel
Gabriel, at the Annunciation, to which she responded with her fiat (Luke
1:26-38). And she let the seed planted in her womb at the Annunciation, the
Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) grow, and save birth to the fruit of her womb (Luke
2:6-7). And as the woman out of the crows said to Jesus, Mary nursed the fruit
of her womb with her breasts (Luke 11:27), giving an image of Maria Lactans.
The woman out of the crowd, praising Mary, the mother
of Jesus, certainly believed in Jesus for his miraculous act of exorcism and
listened to the Word of God spoken by him, while not everyone did (i.e. Luke
11:14-26). By telling her that those who listen to the Word of God and observe
it are blessed ones (Luke 11:28), as his mother does, as well as, his brothers
and sisters do (Luke 8:21), Jesus gave her encouragement to keep up with her
faith in him.
Praising Jesus and his mother is one thing. But this
is not where our faith ends. In this terse Gospel Reading (Luke 11:27-28), we
see Jesus’ desire for us to act on our faith, upon listening to the Word of
God, as a seed to grow in our heart into abundant fruitions through our
apostolic works of faith, the works of mercy, spiritual and corporal (e.g.
Matthew 25:31-46). And, as God the Father, the Creator, arranged Mary, before
the Creation, to be the Immaculate Conception, fully of grace, no space in her
for any trace of the Original Sin, as to know the fall of humans already, so
that His Son, the Christ, is sent to us as the Redeemer. Therefore, Mary is not
only the humble and faithful handmaid of God the Father but also Christ the
Redeemer of the purity of the humanity, the Son. This is why she listened to
her ascended Son from heaven for struggling James in Hispania and helped him on
his mission to succeed, giving the pillar through her first apparition in Caesaraugusta
(Zaragoza), 40 AD. And, from there, many
fruitful works of faith have flourished for the Christendom.
Mary comes to us to redirect us to her Son, Jesus the
Christ, to assure that our apostolic works are successful and fruitful in spite
of many challenges. Mary, as the humble and faithful handmaid of God the Father
and God the Son, continue to comfort us and encourage us and assure us with her
Son’s promise, as empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Sub tuam
misericordiam
confugimus,
Dei Genitrix ! nostras
deprecationes ne des-
picias in necessitatibus
sed a perditione
salva nos
sola pura,
sola benedicta.
Under your
mercy
we take refuge,
Mother of God! Our
prayers, do not despise
in necessities,
but from the danger
deliver us,
only pure,
only blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment