Mary comforts our weaknesses

Introduction

Reflection on weakness and its relationship to the figure of Mary, Mother of Jesus, leads the reader to consider various aspects of Christian spirituality and theology. Weakness, as mentioned in Sacred Scripture and Christian tradition, does not refer merely to lack of material goods, but also assumes a profound spiritual dimension that interrogates the human heart and its relationship with God and with others.

The beautiful door

“Mariology, Angelology, Demonology, and Josephology”I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” (Acts 3:6). The words of the apostle Peter to the poor man at the Beautiful Gate are imbued with a performative character, typical of the Word of God, highlighting the paradox inherent in Christianity.

The poverty of Jesus of Nazareth

One of the most characteristic traits of Jesus of Nazareth, to which Peter refers, is poverty, not only recommended but voluntarily embraced, as Paul teaches us. This poverty is intertwined with an existential and anthropological essence, showing that it is not material riches that magnify man, but his creative consistency.

Being prevails over having

In this context, the “Blessed are the poor” (Lk 6:20) emphasizes the importance of being over having. Revelation, philosophy, and theology find a common ground: the created being in the image of God and belonging to the realm of being and life, illuminating humanity and reaffirming the need to fill their poverty with true wealth.

The Incarnation of God and poverty

“Mariology, Angelology, Demonology, and Josephology”Becoming rich, he became poor for your sake, that through his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9). The Incarnation of God embraces poverty, with the Crib and the Cross symbolizing visually its depth. This scandalous path for the pagans reveals a concrete logic rooted in our life experience, especially in moments of poverty and illness.

Divine compassion

The expression “Realeza de Maria” translates to “The Queenship of Mary.”Meu Deus, meu Deus, por que me abandonaste?” (Ps 22:1), borne by the poor Jesus, finds response in the Letter to the Hebrews: “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). Poverty is the signature by which God presents himself to the world, deserving respect as the place of his beneficial wealth.

Our action in favor of poverty must stem from the recognition that God, by becoming poor, enriches humanity. Material means and riches must be seen as subordinate to the value of the human being, in collaboration with the Creator and in harmony with the cosmos. The celebration of Easter Vigil, rich in naturalistic elements, exemplifies this direct experience of the interaction between faith, creation, and human expression.

The priority of being in the entirety of the person

What, then, is the poverty we are called to fill? The answer is inscribed in the fullness of the person, where, more than merely insisting on possession, it becomes necessary and due to start from being, which is the source of action for the benefit (is expected) of humanity.

Challenges of the objectification of man

A current of rationalist and scientistic thought led to the objectification of man, transforming him, in the worst cases, into a commodity for exchange. This thought also accused Christianity of exploitation and violence against the cosmos, generating a new paganism that fails to recognize the uniqueness of man at the apex of the cosmos and as the creator of culture in its various manifestations.

Beyond the material: the offering of the person

In the philosophical and theological realms, a possible path of recomposition and reconciliation lies in the offering that each person is capable of making to another, who always discovers within themselves a fund of indigence and poverty. This is a discourse that transcends a material level, but does not exclude it. To share, to give, to offer: but how?

What motivates man to act?

The central question is: What motivates man in his actions? Secularly, the answer may be a deep faith in the precious universal character of human life and its potentials, or a restrictive and sometimes dangerous one. “What for what?” That leads to shipwreck in lies, egoism, and functionalism. To perform good only to ease conscience is another aspect of this vicious circle.

The true solution: the redeeming Incarnation

Among the solutions, only the first shows a certain degree of positivity and acceptability, although, in the eyes of a believer, it remains incomplete, as it does not imply the semper novum of Creation and, even more, of the redeeming Incarnation. No machine, product of human thought, or mythological being has ever incarnated or fully saved humanity, where poverty, far from being despised, is valued as an optimal condition to receive a wealth not of this world.

The poverty to be filled: multiple faces

The poverty to be filled reveals different faces and is not limited to a question of money or material goods. In this dense plan of human fulfillment, we find a summary in the Eucharist, where the infinite Word and the inexhaustible Bread are given without measure as concrete realities of a Presence that the Church must welcome, inspired by what Mary, Mother of this Word and this Bread, proclaimed and accomplished.

Jesus’ commands: uniting action and grace

The two commands: “Do this in memory of me“and”Do all that he tells you“They relate to the person of Jesus and refer to his unique mystery, in which the Holy Virgin is inserted as a singular emblem of an active witness to poverty, filled with the gift of grace.”

Mary’s Song: the Magnificat

The Visitation and the Magnificat

The great canticle sung by the Virgin in the episode of the Visitation (cf. Lk 1:46-55) remains a reference point for the believer who desires to understand the evangelical poverty, but also for the “distant” one who can easily perceive how the plot of history is lived by the indigent. In this text, Mary, the poor woman now enriched in an incomparable way by the presence of the Son, proclaims the inversion, the novelty that the God of Israel offered to his people and, by extension, to all nations.

Divine Inversion

This is a reversal of all those who, in one way or another, remaining attached to worldly power and wealth, become refractory to God’s liberating action. The poor, in their various specifications, are blessed and exalted because they are those who most easily receive this divine action. This poverty is linked to humility, of which Mary, from the Annunciation, became the model and image.

The Magnificat as Radical Challenge

Based on a respectful reconsideration of the poor, the Magnificat becomesA radical challenge to the kingdom of sin, defeated by the work of the Savior, and now without a future.“A kingdom expressed through images of wealth and power, prompting the reader once again to reflect on the meaning of our actions in relation to poverty, without the reckonings we usually make when interacting with those who can reciprocate.”

Mary’s dual relationship with poverty

In the person of Mary, we see the dual relationship with poverty: on one hand, the humble servant of Nazareth who stands before God in her simplicity, offering or sacrificing what little she has, in a common project of life. On the other, the rich and omnipotent God who gives himself to this woman, teaching by this act, even before the parables, the gratuity of love and the disinterested offering.

The offering of the poor woman and Jesus’ instruction

From this, we understand the importance of the offering of the poor woman who, in the treasury of the temple, gives all she has to live (cf. Mk 12:41-44 and Lk 21:1-4), and on the other hand, the necessary implementation of Jesus’ command to invite to our feasts those who are most in need (cf. Lk 14:12-14), an invitation that opens the doors of heaven.

Human contribution to divine wealth

What can man give to God, the rich One who benefits him? Nothing. But the wealthy man who helps the needy, inspired by God’s behavior, can participate in eternal life, all of this escaping every logic of calculation and, if we want, of market.

Mary and the understanding of poverty

We can then say that the person of Mary helps the reader to consider the concept and situations of poverty with greater fullness: certainly we have material and spiritual poverty to combat, healing where there are bands of socio-economic degradation through an appropriate and balanced use of the goods of the earth and spreading a true and respectful culture of man.

Illumination and revelation through song

By returning to the evangelical text that the Church daily recites (or sings) in Vespers, we can share what Alberto Valentini affirms: “it is the task of Christians to illuminate with this song the truth about God and his designs, to denounce and render vain the plots of powerful, rich, and oppressive ones.” We are very close, in the substance of these words, to the continuous calls of Pope Francis to the Church for sobriety and respect for the less fortunate.

Dispossession as the Optimal Condition for Discipleship

Not far from the previous evangelical denunciation of the negative aspect inherent in poverty, we find its face as an optimal condition to follow and be disciples of Jesus, without anything weighing on the heart and mind, and leading man to a dangerous and sinful attachment to what is fleeting.

The consolatory and strengthening role of Mary is explored in the encyclical. Mother of the Redeemer From John Paul II, presenting Mary as a mother who accompanies the Church in its sufferings.

Conclusion

The lived and represented dispossession of Mary, besides being characterized by the absence of any concession to idolatry and greed, distinguishes itself by the available service to God and, in the person of the Son, also turned towards her brothers and sisters. The absence of wealth does not mean disengagement, but positioning herself alongside those who, without putting up obstacles, are more facilitated to discover the beneficial footprints of God in history.

Deepen your studies Explore (as in “to investigate or seek out”) Mariology“Short title/phrase – translate without context or additional information.” Marian theology“Short title/phrase – translate without context or additional information.” Marian apparitions “And to her” Postgraduate Program in Mariology“Mariology, angelology, demonology, josephology”