The Mother of God and her look of tenderness

This narrative, though simple, does not fail to contain an important anthropological truth: being welcomed with tenderness is not beyond God’s reach. If it is true that the industrial age is coming to an end, giving way to the information age, a problem persists: techniques and work structures that dehumanize. In this sense, the value of the tenderness of welcome balances the frenetic life of the metropolitan man, his loneliness, aggressive competition, the invasive assault of the web world, the eternal discovery of unforeseen things, both good and bad. All this is part of Mary’s great emblem: to welcome with tenderness the unpredictable, the totally other.Mary welcomed the Son of God into her heart and body. In contrast to the scribes and Pharisees who were hostile to Jesus, Mary is in every way a welcoming. In her radical poverty, she opened herself to God and saw His presence. For this very reason, Mary’s iconography, in contrast to the emperors depicted on coins, shows Mary facing the light of God, where she welcomes and points to the pilgrims of the Church the life of Christ.Mary’s tender welcome goes beyond the horizon of the world we know because it opens to a personal hospitality, beyond the local, as she welcomes the God who comes. This welcome from the Mother of Jesus is both feminine and the work of the Holy Spirit. It reflects the paternity of God, becoming the ‘maternal face of God’, an expression of tenderness that evokes the Father’s mercy, which we express in Latin as Mother of Mercy. In this way, Mary responds to two cries of our humanity: the need for tenderness and the valorization of women. The ‘reinforced concrete’ of the metropolises houses but does not welcome; people communicate but without compassion in the harshness of the days. Mary, on the other hand, welcomed with tenderness the Child, the Crucified, the Resurrected, and the children in the Son who abandoned Him on the cross. From a feminine perspective, Mary nurtures, defends, and welcomes the life of all the crucified of all times. We cannot think of Mary without thinking of the women to whom she gives her treasures in every consecrated virginity or espousal motherhood.If we consider contemporary atheism, we see this disregard for the Virgin Mother and for women who safeguard the moral values that humanize and balance materialist structures.As the Russian theologian Pavel Evdokimov put it: “Now, if Christ saves the world, it is the Theotokos who protects it and introduces into its humanity the attention that becomes sensitive to grace. The maternal tenderness linked to the cult of the Theotokos infuses Christian humanism with a note of sweetness absolutely particular.”The world, the Church, can only gain from encountering Mary, as she represents in the concrete reality of the days the paradigm of divine compassion and the welcome of the other, not putting up obstacles, prejudices, judgments, or conditions to her maternal tenderness. We remain with the words of Pope Francis when he met the Bishops of Mexico in 2016:> “I know that when I look into the eyes of the Virgin, I catch a glimpse of your people’s gaze, which has learned to manifest itself through her. I know that no other voice can speak as deeply to the heart of Mexico as the voice of the Virgin. She protects her deepest desires, her hidden hopes. She collects her joys and tears. She understands her many languages and responds to them with the tenderness of a Mother because they are her children. As Saint Juan Diego and successive generations of Guadalupan children have done, I myself have had the desire to see her for a long time. Even more, I, as the Pastor of the Church, wanted to be reached by her maternal gaze. I reflected deeply on this mystery, and I ask you to receive what comes from my heart at this moment. Above all, the Virgin Morenita teaches us that the only force capable of winning hearts is the tenderness of God. What captivates and attracts, what persuades and overcomes, what opens and unbinds chains is not the force of instruments or the harshness of the law, but rather the weakness that is all-powerful, the divine love that is the irresistible force of its sweetness and the irreversible promise of its mercy.”Invited by the Tenderness of the Virgin, we also invite every Mariology enthusiast to practice the “Revolution of Tenderness.” This is a day to act concretely in family, at home, with your loved ones, or perhaps with those who have long awaited a display of your tenderness. Perhaps a phone call to someone expecting your call, a thank you to your family member who cares for your home and belongings. Perhaps a message of affection, a hug, a “I love you” well-said. The Holy Spirit will inspire you on this day with concrete acts of tenderness.Later, we want you to share with us here how your concrete act was!To deepen your theology of Mary as Mother of God, consult John Paul II’s encyclical: Redemptoris Mater on Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, in the Church’s faith.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Graduate Studies in Mariology.