Mary in service to the baptized and life

Father of light, who, to raise up the fallen humanity in Christ, chose the Virgin Mary as the seat of wisdom, grant us, by her maternal help, a profound awareness of our limitations, so that we may not be dragged away by pride and serve you with the humility that pleases you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ…

In this eucharistic text, we find at least four lines of observation that, taken together, reveal the true consistency of the role Mary plays in relation to life and the cosmos. We will therefore divide this contribution into five parts, each titled a distinct aspect found in this prayer. In the concluding part, we will attempt a global assessment of the importance the Holy Virgin maintains in her being, the first and greatest promoter of life.

Fallen humanity

We can start with a very realistic fact: in our world, life is under threat. There are many manifestations, but only one cause. Manifestations like violence, hunger, poverty, and fear have stripped humanity of its fundamental characteristic: dignity. The unique cause that acts across time and space, affecting different places and eras, is sin. There is no need to open theology or sociology books to realize how and to what extent sin operates in terms of destruction; we witness it because we live in contact with it.

Origin and Fall

The first element to consider, therefore, is fallen humanity, but why? The first pages of the Book of Genesis show us a God in action, a God who brings order to chaos. From Him emerges something new: the cosmos with a fundamental character, goodness (Gen 1:25). Goodness that is a gift He bestows: the very environment, complete with all living beings, regulated by cosmic cycles and natural phenomena, is ready to welcome humanity, that creature formed in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26). Here, goodness intensifies (Gen 1:31): Contemplating with joy the creature He has created, God takes pleasure in it, loves it. In His heart, He has already destined it for a great glory, for He has elected it as His collaborator from the very beginning. Humanity is now proclaimed “lord” over creation, called to live in a double harmony: with God and with the cosmos. Already in the first creation narrative in Gn 1, we perceive such harmony, and it is explicitly manifested in verse 28 (“Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it”) in two moments: reproduction, that is, perpetuating life, through which God intends to offer a future. Secondly, subduing the earth not only to meet primary needs, but also “in such a way that humanity, and through it all creation, raise a song of praise to God, because His love and mercy are immense” (Gen 1:28). Everything is truly a paradise, the earthly: the garden, a place of delight whose peak is precisely harmony, pure love between God and humanity (cf. Gen 2:28). He is naked, feels no shame (Gen 2:25): he has nothing to hide, neither his outer parts nor his heart and mind. But something in the horizon threatens and spoils: “

Knowing good and evil, you will be like God.» (cf. Gen 3:5). Basta isso para deformar as relações: não mais a harmonia, mas a prepotência. Não mais a limpidez, mas o medo e a falsidade. A própria imagem de Deus proposta pela serpente não é a verdadeira e real: trata-se de um Deus pintado nos termos do egoísmo, quando na realidade sabemos que Ele é o Deus que criou o mundo e o homem e que se alegra com o seu doar-se, e também o seu poder, o seu domínio, estão sob o signo do amor. Mas, instigado pelo Maligno, o homem vai na direção inversa, comete o pecado, considerando-o o modo justo para chegar ao bem. Aqui está o núcleo da proposta do Maligno, que tem repercussões não apenas sobre o homem, mas sobre as relações que ele possui com o cosmo inteiro.

The effects of sin

Setting aside, for now, the scriptural page and opening to the world, it is easily perceived from many quarters, in relation to the world in which we live, expressions such as «Everything goes wrong“or”One has reached the bottom“These are not rare phenomena. All of this is a sign of impatience and disaffection towards a world and an environment that, weakened by sin, has transformed man from a lord to a tyrant, making it often uninhabitable. It is clear that this is not just about the environment, but an entire set of behaviors that threaten human life, no longer considering it as an objective or end to be served or pursued with the achievements of technical and scientific progress, but rather as a testing ground.”(Continuing his strong anthropological teaching, John Paul II, in his … [rest of the sentence is not provided in the text given]) Gospel of Life From 1995, this document shows, in a more explicit manner, the roots of the moral collapse from which humanity is, at the same time, a victim and an accomplice. The most serious aspect is that, for example, politics and medicine have abandoned their functions of safeguarding and protecting human life, following paths that lead to death. A distortion of noble arts. John Paul II writes:

The fact that the laws of many countries, perhaps straying from their own fundamental principles in constitutions, attempt to consent in not punishing or even recognizing the full legitimacy of such practices against life is at once a cause for concern and a non-marginal factor of a grave moral collapse: choices once universally considered criminal and rejected by the common moral sense become little by little socially respectable. Even medicine, which by its vocation is ordered to the defense and care of human life, in some of its sectors is increasingly lending itself to perform these acts against the person and, in doing so, deforms its face, contradicts itself, and demeans the dignity of those who practice them.

Very close to us is the recent document from the Pontifical International Marian Academy (PAMI), titled The Mother of the Lord. Memory, Presence, Hope, which effectively identified two areas where this alarming state of the world is most evident. The first field is ecological, where, among other effects, desertification, fires, and pollution are noted; while the second, social and ethical, touches more directly the concrete reality, such as being subjected to violence, exploitation, and instrumentalization for anti-human purposes. Clearly underlying this is a mistaken idea of freedom, stripped and separated from all metaphysical and transcendent development to which reality is constitutively oriented.

Preceding this document, at the conclusion of the 210th General Chapter held in 1995 in Mexico City, the Order of Servants of Mary drafted its contribution to the universal Church, with the eloquent title:

Servants of the MagnificatIn it, a notable part was dedicated to the theme of life, but also to those multiple and disturbing aspects that, unfortunately, favor its disintegration. All of this clearly developed from a Marian perspective. The description presented by “Our Lady” It is also very attractive in style, rich in scriptural figures, as well as elements on which the faithful, prayerful, and living tradition of the Church constantly reflects. Taking the cue from (Ap 6), for example, the struggle between the white horse and the other three (red, black, and green) is depicted, to which four types of evils that afflict humanity are associated: hunger, war, criminal injustice, and ecological devastation. Each of these manifestations causes a wound: hunger causes the greatest damage, followed by ecological devastation, fortunately defined as the «“Result of absolute anthropocentrism”», which placed the ecological problem with extreme urgency, allowing to consider attentively the goodness of creation. A common trait of both documents is to record how the decline of the cosmos and the decline of humanity are mutually evoking factors that can be resolved through the accuracy of the limits within which man must exercise his dominion over the earth. It is precisely the ecological problem that is vividly discussed by some currents and representatives of contemporary theology. Among their positions, there is unanimity in reducing and re-evaluating man’s claims to dominion over the cosmos, showing that life is present in it, not just in man.

Deep awareness of our limitations

Based on what has been said, sin, in any form, appears as a dark reality that offends, above all, those who become its authors. But becoming aware of it and of the limitation it generates is already a first step towards change (cf. 1 Jn 1:8-9). This is what is called the “revelation of sin.”Interior Penance“Of what does it speak?” Catholic Catechism and is the fruit of a long theological and spiritual tradition. Man is facilitated here in two directions: through the effects that sin brings with it in the realm of interpersonal relations, and secondly, represented by the singular vicissitude of Saint Mary, the Virgin, who is an integral part of that humanity that becomes conscious of its own situation. Let us carefully examine these elements.

The recovery of threatened elements

Regarding the first point, the theological distinction between the concepts of original sin originating and original sin incurred, applied to the disobedience of our ancestors, is already well-known. Much has been written in manuals and monographs about this aspect. The fact is that, since the initial disobedience and through it, the separation within humanity itself and from the entire cosmos has been widening, using a familiar and spoken expression, “like an oil stain.” The attempts to justify the ancestors in Genesis 3:11-13 are of no avail; rather, they precisely show the beginning of a history that, if at first, after creation, was idyllic and perfectly communal, now, after yielding to the serpent and embracing its proposal, is impregnated with sin and reveals those fractures that are products of individualism. The subsequent events up to the Tower of Babel confirm this. The destructions (flood) and dispersions (Babel) found in Genesis 4-11 now appear as the instruments by which God holds humanity back from actions inspired by idolatry.

You will be like God“It continues in its power of illusion and blindness. Not only must man be at the center of the world, but man can be so if he recovers consciousness of being God’s deputy, guardian of that creation which He has entrusted to him. Suppression of this communion reveals man’s full weakness and finitude, hidden or disguised by a pretended display of freedom that, in reality, is slavery to the worst part of himself. Returning to the biblical saying, only God’s new initiative in calling Abraham manages to turn things around and, though in an incomplete way, free humanity from the stagnation of idolatry. Abraham is entrusted with a communal mission: the old man surrenders to God who visits him and promises him a descendant, despite his advanced age that would prevent him from generating. Isaac, whom Christian tradition later considered an anticipation of Christ, represents a novelty not only in his birth, but in his role as progenitor of a new people. Why all this? Certainly, an anticipation of salvation that will be realized in the New Testament with Christ, but it does not emerge spontaneously. The old testament preparation arises from a precise supernatural will of the Creator and Redeemer God. However, it is worth noting that:The world certainly bears the marks of sin, but it also deeply bears the mark of salvation, its authentic factory seal, the original seal from the Creator.“. A God, therefore, who produces a good superior to sin, and of whom Saint Paul is the herald, emphasizing that «”Where sin abounded, grace did superabound.(Rom 5:20). Saint Augustine, centuries later, will return to the argument in his On the City of GodSpeaking of an original good superior to evil, by which man is not impossible to pray, sayingForgive us our debtsThis makes man aware of his limits, not casting him into despair, but rather leading him to discover himself as an integral part of a cosmos and life marked by God’s favor: a cosmos from which it is possible to ascend to the Author, because He is the place where God has left His mark. Belonging to this humanity of ours, and perfectly integrated into it, is Mary, the Mother of the Lord.

Virgin Mary

Now, before embarking on a distinctly Christian religious discourse and reading the Gospel simply as a narrative, we observe how Mary, attentive to the Word, continually becomes aware of herself and her relationship with God and with life. And if for Christians she is the creature destined for a particular mission, for the non-believers or for those who do not immediately turn to a discourse of faith, Mary appears simply as a person in search, who questions. She is also a pilgrim in faith. Before God, she too asks about the meaning of Revelation and life (cf. Lk 1:29). If in “Our Lady”Mary appears as «Unique fragment in which, after Christ, all things are recapitulated and in which all things are said.This has value not only in the realm of being but also in action. A parallel, therefore, to what occurred at the beginning of the world. It is that mediation which, from the unique Christ (cf. 1 Tim 2:5-6), extends to all creatures and allows us to read in Mary our task as guardians of the universe, carriers of the novelty of Christ and his message of redemption. Like Mary, a carrier…From him who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5) and self-aware, it is possible to embark on a path of reflection on what are not only our limits, but also the seeds of light that the Lord has deposited in our darkness. Thus, on one hand, we have the dire consequences of sin, while on the other, the human race, created only slightly inferior to the angels, adorned with glory and beauty (cf. Ps 8:6), is called to actively and concretely bear witness to the greatness of God through the use of talents and charisms. The words of the document from PAMI (Pontifical Academy of the Immaculate Conception) are particularly relevant here, which states that «[t]o the individualistic paradigm of modern times, a new model is substituted, whose components are relationality and solidarity, synergy and complementarity: components that reflect the order of nature and are in perfect harmony with the Gospel teaching». From this foundation, the new meaning of human activity in the world gains strength, and all sciences, each in their own field, can offer their service that operates in the cosmos and in history. If the components mentioned by the PAMI document are put into practice, it is possible to reduce the incidence of sin, considering, among other things, that they, coming from God’s goodness, strengthen our communion with Him and our superiority within creation. This has precise implications in the Marian discourse at two levels: first, in considering Mary as a creature of communion and as one who fully reveals the sense response that Revelation offers to humanity, and at the same time, the need for Marian theology to open itself up more and more to dialogue with other sections of theology. A superiority, following this Marian line, understood as service, deeply in line with the evangelical saying expressed in the Magnificat, where Mary, after having heard the Word with an act of free faith, ecclesial (of an ecclesiality that encompasses and perfects the data of the Old Testament), but above all determined by its Object, unites and reveals the reciprocity between the two dimensions of humility and exaltation. Reading carefully (Lk 1:48), one easily perceives that exaltation passes through humility of the servant, and in turn, this humility is crowned with exaltation, which is the cause of joy expressed in the preceding verses. All this shows us that within the Mystery of God, «[i]nsignificance and incapacity do not mean unproductivity or uselessness (cf. Ps 30:8 [LXX]. Gen 29:32)». These are the «keys» offered by the Mystery of God to humanity to understand and love, because through humility and declaring oneself humble (cf. Mt 11:29), Jesus Christ presents himself as the fullness of God’s Revelation. The baptismal consecration-conforming to Christ of the believer and his second birth cannot do without the Holy Virgin, as presented to us by the Gospels: the creature whose humility the Most High exalted. Indeed, baptism has Marian traits to be valued. Both Eastern and Western tradition are explicit in pointing them out. Cyril of Alexandria, for example, observes that through the Holy Virgin, the faithful join the grace of baptism. In the West, it is particularly Leo the Great who emphasizes the exemplary relationship between Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and Christians, who are born of the Virgin Church.

Let Us Not Be Led Astray by Pride

The fragility of the tomb is all the more tangible and evident as the forces that bear down upon it increase in intensity. What causes the tomb’s fall is precisely in considering these negative forces, these enticements, as factors for fulfillment and consequently aligning ourselves with them. This is the origin of pride, which, as G. Marcel reminds us, by exaggerating self-care, deprives us of that openness that allows us to grasp what is other-than-self. Here lies a fundamental question that affects the tomb and the Christian.

Christianity: The Origin of the Ecological Disaster?

Let us take a step back and begin this new section with a consideration based on what is read and heard: Christianity is often accused of being partly responsible for the ecological disaster we witness today, stemming from a misinterpretation and superficial reading of (Genesis 1:28). How should we respond to such accusations today? We could immediately state that if we speak of disaster, it should be attributed to the scientific and materialist thought that contributed to the separation between cosmos and God. The fact that the tomb receives things from God, contemplates them, and makes them as if, in the present, they come forth from His hands, leads us to the fundamental commitment that the tomb received from God: to participate and collaborate effectively in His work. What should then be said, correcting the initial expression, could be: it is not Christianity that favored the indiscriminate exploitation of the cosmos, with all the tragic imbalances that resulted, but a poor understanding of religiosity as a phenomenon that connects the tomb to the Divine and the Absolute. This distortion had several effects: secularism, efficientism, technicism, which degraded the tomb and the cosmos, greatly obscuring that capacity to see within ourselves the imprint of the Divine.

A New, Contemplative Altar for Creation

But, having reached this point, what mysticism is necessary to contemplate the universe? Without doubt, it is possible to follow a style that refers to Eastern canons, using some instances, clues, and suggestions, provided, however, that one does not slip into a subtle or obvious syncretism with the integration of themes that do not belong to our faith. A first possible path, to which attention should be paid, is precisely that indicated. Alongside it, however, is that represented by Sacred Scripture, which becomes a mirror through which creation presents itself to us, and before which it is possible to meditate. In Sacred Scripture, especially in the Old Testament, we find a considerable number of reinterpretations of the events of creation, and in most cases, it is a text of sapiential background and dimension. Among these texts, the classic one is (Prov 8:22-31), which not only leads to the celebration of the Creator God but also reaffirms an analogy with the book. We reproduce the text, respecting the division of the verses:

Thus speaks the Wisdom of God: The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, before all his creation, from everlasting. I was constituted from eternity, from the beginning, from the origins of the earth. Before the abyss was formed, I was born; before the springs of water were filled, I was conceived. Before the mountains were established, before the hills, I was brought forth. When the earth and fields had not yet been formed, nor the first fruits of the world, I was present when he established the heavens, when he drew a circle upon the face of the deep. When he condensed the clouds high above, when he fixed the foundations of the deep, when he set the sea with its bounds, so that the waters might not overflow, when he established the foundations of the earth, then I was by his side as an architect, and I was his delight each day, delighting in him at all times. Delighting in the globe of the earth, I placed my delights among the children of men.

The Wisdom is here happily presented with human anthropomorphic traits, and this aids in reflecting on how the Tome can contemplate the world and act in it in a spirit of communion, with a humble and discreet awareness of its limits, and at the same time, conscious of being placed within the Mystery of love that created it. This is already a fertile starting point for a new horizon that can open up for the Tome. By adopting this religious perspective, understood as a situation of bond with the divine, and at the same time, looking at the world with the imbalances often caused or triggered by it, the Tome finds itself in a state of anxiety, leading it to question if there is really a way out.

Humility Pleasant to the Lord

It is very important to clarify the concept of humility, which is common to both theology and philosophy.

What is humility?

If it is considered that timidity derives from tumus (earth), it is understood as nothing more than a reference to the maternal place of origins, from which the “tomé” (root) is taken: the ancient Adam and the new Adam, that is, the “tomé” Jesus Christ. In both cases, it is a matter of a virgin land. Therefore, timidity is connected with virginity, which is the true form of sanctity, understood as separation from everything that, in some way, can corrupt and obscure. However, separation does not mean alienation. The Letter to the Hebrews, speaking of Christ who enters the world to perform the new sacrifice, emphasizes with eloquent words the importance of corporeality (cf. Heb 10:5-10). This means that, instead of alienation, which for the atheist thought is the mark of the “tomé” who believes in God and places his hope in him, leading to being emptied and impoverished, sanctity-separation indicates encounter and participation, to the point of proclaiming the triumph of life. God moves towards the “tomé”, assuming his earthly existence and the consistency of his being, so that the “tomé” may be exalted. Therefore, timidity, in its relationship with the earth as the place of origins, becomes an indispensable condition to explore the relations between God and the “tomé”, within which the Holy Virgin plays a fundamental role. It is, with regard to the Mother of God, a cloudiness that, although in its purity and absence of sin, does not eliminate its relationship with our cloudiness, sinful and continually tempted.

The mystery of iniquity, but first qualified in its being the Mother of Mercy and the Refuge of Sinners. Two titles that belong to the liturgical law of the Church and that express a law of belief oriented towards a stronger and more robust Christian life, made of mercy and works not only good, but apt for reconciliation. The maternal action of mercy, that put into effect by Mary, and even before, the constant unity between her and the human race. In one of his most beautiful homilies, German of Constantinople, speaking of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin, precisely underlines that she did not abandon Thomas by the Mother of God, but she continues to watch over the whole human race. A presence of mercy, a presence that, in order to Christ, favors reconciliation between heaven and earth, but all this because Mary is a model of perfection. In this sense, the redemption and careful consideration of the litany title “Virgin Unviolated” that appears in the SDM (Scripture, Doctrine, and Tradition) n. 108, is more than justified and plausible. Linking Mary to creation, this does not prevent us from seeing this absence of violence as an effective return and redemption of the original state of the earth. So, timidity is not a masking, but the natural way in which what is truly is shown without alterations, and as it was initially created by God for an integral relationship with creation.

Ap 12: A Always Relevant Proposal

The Unviolated Virgin is not merely an invitation to reject violence or violent thoughts of exploitation, but a re-centering, as an operative memory, of the harmonious situation of origins, not to lament a mythical «golden age», but to act in favor of an environment more in keeping with human dignity, made in the image and likeness of God. It is timely to consider the biblical text from (Revelation 12). The woman dressed in the sun, an image, according to the happy expression of H. Urs von Balthasar, of a «Marian Church», bathed in the light of God, stands in opposition to the red dragon, capable only of producing disorder and evil (cf. Revelation 12:4). And also the double flight of the woman, who finds herself threatened, takes on a new meaning: it is not a withdrawal from one’s own responsibilities, but to be, for the Church, a warning not to abandon her own situation of continuous struggle for life. A struggle that can be carried out not with violence, replicating evil with evil, but with constant union to God. One of the deepest meanings of (Revelation 12) sees humanity itself represented by the woman, of whom the ancient Israel and the Church of the new times are integral and superior parts in their witness, which finds itself in a difficult situation due to the dragon’s threats, and then fulfills a destiny of glory capable of inspiring hope in the various trials. Man is free to choose: to follow the apocalyptic dragon, who continues to disturb equilibria with the complex of various ideologies, systems, and codes of destruction on a vast scale, or to look to the Unviolated Virgin, that is, to become aware of the glory to which God has called the world. Not a destiny of destruction or anonymity, but the recovery of life’s value, for only through it is it possible to discern God’s greatness and power, a power of which man can participate and become an instrument, and this happens entirely in the Paschal mystery, to which the text of (Revelation 12) strongly alludes. The Christian’s employment in the world is essentially employment for life, so that it may triumph. Within this program of life, there is the Mother of the Lord, a trembling and virgin land, who shows man, in Christ, the light to leave paths without return and the strength not to yield to the allurements and fashions of such impudent and deranged advertising and violence. Alongside Christ, the Alpha and Omega of creation, and shaped by the Spirit, Mary presents herself as the virgin land of origins, where life serenely abounds (cf. Genesis 1:24) and, at the same time, represents the ultimate reality that concretely testifies to life’s triumph over death and over the many manifestations of evil that wage war against life and man (cf. Revelation 12:17).

Mary’s Beauty and Wisdom, Parameters for Imitation

In a speech in 1992, John Paul II noted that in Christ made perfect, «the Church finds the fullness of her Motherhood, which is also the fullness of her Beauty and Wisdom». This Beauty and Wisdom are parameters for imitation, guiding us towards the integral and harmonious development of our humanity, in union with Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit. They are the foundations of a life that is truly human, a life that reflects the divine image and likeness, a life that is open to the light and life-giving power of God.

The anthropological project of God reached absolute perfection. At the root of Christ, His conception in Mary’s womb, and His birth into definitive life from the inviolate tomb, there lies a “virginal element” of great significance in reference to His being and His exemplary nature for all His disciples. For this reason, every person and every woman who contemplate Mary as “a mirror set before creation that yearns for the respect of its integrity” cannot remain indifferent to the call for peace that rises from the earth through the voices of nature. Significant in this regard are the words with which SdM concludes the discussion on the relationship between Mary and the cosmos: “Mary of Nazareth did not suffer corruption. Degradation and pollution were foreign to her.” Tota pulchra es Maria. This phrase is not merely a simple, though suggestive, liturgical title, but manifests the depth of a real condition. If, as John Damascene observes in his Homily on the Transfiguration of the Lord, the human being is by constitution a microcosm, containing within itself the bond of all visible and invisible essence, the presence of Mary, a sign of a perfect humanity, leads us to think in terms of origins, where the goodness of God’s creations, through the force of their harmony, is united with beauty, because all creation is oriented towards a télos that realizes and is itself God. Continuing his discourse, J. Damascene observes that it pleased the Lord, Creator and Governor of the universe, that in the only Son consubstantial with Him, the unity of divinity and humanity was achieved, and through this, the unity of all creation, so that God might be all in all. Thus, it is possible to pursue this path and carry forward its instances by elaborating a theological aesthetics that does not limit itself to speaking of beauty, but lets beauty speak to the contemporary human being.

Beauty of Mary and the Beauty of Creation

It is worth noting that if this unity of creation with divinity was achieved through the Person of the Eternal Son consubstantial with God, it means that the beauty of creation is not reducible to fleeting fashions or tastes, but is rather the language through which God not only speaks in creation, but also takes it in. By speaking this language, humanity can grasp and encounter that truth, goodness, unity, and beauty that it bears within itself, having been formed in the image and likeness of God, and which, in its totality, constitutes humanity as both faithful and a creature, whether toman or mulçul. This resonated with the PAMI document, which echoes and deepens what Paul VI already emphasized in the mid-1970s regarding beauty through the image of the apocalyptic Woman. As the document A Mãe do Senhor (The Mother of the Lord) observes, the path of beauty has evolved from being a “pastoral tool” to a “category of theological investigation,” and Mariology did not constitute an obstacle or a prejudice, but rather greatly favored it. “The Tota pulchra, the document notes, is in closest contact with God, the very source of beauty, from which she receives it copiously, being fully molded by it. She diffuses it, after Christ, throughout the cosmos and returns it, transfigured into a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, to its Source.”

Homily on the Dormition by G. Palamas, where the great monk and bishop of Thessaloniki places the Virgin in a middle position between the created and uncreated worlds: “She is merely the boundary between created nature and uncreated, and no one could go to God if he were not illuminated by divine splendor. God is in her, He will not waver (Ps 45:6).” Undoubtedly, one can discern in this text a ecclesial dimension, but what is of primary importance is the position, prior to the ecclesial, that Mary holds as the vertex creationis, so that Mary certainly represents the “yes” of God to the taken (toman), but a “yes” that God does not utter externally, but rather, by taking and exalting that creation of which Mary is the most eminent part, to the point of sanctioning its progressive process of theosis.

The Role of Mary

Here lies a fundamental question that presses with some urgency: How can we speak of the Holy Virgin as the Servant of the Lord, placed by Him herself in service of life and the cosmos? The answer lies, once again, in Sacred Scripture, and in particular, by revisiting the episode of the Wedding at Cana (cf. Jn 2:1-12).

Returning to Cana

Let us begin by noting that this episode presents at least three elements of interest: a set of elements, symbols, and signs interconnected; Mary’s attitude of collaboration; and, most importantly, Christ’s sovereignty over creation, in a perspective of renewal and fulfillment. These elements are not separate but live and find their meaning in reciprocal connection. As for the symbolism underlying the text, it was eloquently highlighted by A. Serra, who noted that the significance of the number 6, the number of the jars, “represents the six ages of the world, during which the Torah was revealed. As each jar realizes the number 6, that is, the whole, we could say that each age of the Mosaic Law moves towards the fullness represented by Christ.” With His presence, in word and deed, Christ completes what was revealed before Him and orients it towards His Person: as He enters history, Christ represents its ultimate totality. From this also derives the second element, the transformation of water into wine: the Torah, the Old Testament, is replaced by the new Law, the new Covenant between God and humanity, encapsulated and fulfilled in the Person of Christ, who is the one who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5). To this project set in motion by the Son of God, Mary silently collaborates, contenting herself to observe the lack of wine at the feast, a circumstance that would compromise its success. This is an attitude of utmost discretion, as well as joyful participation in an event, like a wedding, that celebrates the triumph of life. And it is precisely this triumph that the Son of God, with His first miracle, begins to seal in the world and in history. If with Him enters into time the deepest and highest value of life, Mary, besides being the first to benefit from it, is also, at the same time, the first to become its promoter. “The blessedness of Mary is due precisely to her ability to let the mystery of God enter into her own life and make it operative through her collaboration.”

». It should not, therefore, surprise its solicitude, joined with profound discretion, to note that there is no more wine at the feast, and, in addition, it should not be too surprising to refer to Christ to receive from him the novelty represented by the fact that, with his wine, he, as God, returns to offer himself as the Spouse of all humanity. The transformation of water into wine contributes to making joyful the atmosphere of a world that we know is wounded by all sorts of evils and imbalances. But, even with its difficulties, the world remains always God’s creation, in need of transformation. In this sense, it is possible to achieve a new understanding of this story and of creation, not as pure entities that pass or over which it is possible to dominate, but, rather, as places in which God wants to celebrate with us and for us. And the feast par excellence is Easter, an event in which the world and creation are once again clothed with the glory of God, of which Mary already participates, the Virgin Announced and full of grace (cf. Lk 1:28) and the Virgin Assumed, to which Christians and all creatures can look as the creature «in which the wonders of God, the wonders of grace, are accomplished». They are invited to walk towards the same goal.

Faith and Testimony

Above all, the theme of faith: v. 11 reminds us of Christ’s manifestation, accompanied by the fact that «the disciples believed in him». The first step towards true service is faith: to adhere to the proposal of a God who, freely, becomes a servant to liberate men from everything that offends him. Just as we, supported by faith, find ourselves, like Christ’s disciples, in a situation similar to those who witnessed the miracle at Cana. Alongside faith, and deriving from it, a consistent testimony towards a real promotion of life. It is clear that praise and veneration of Saint Mary cannot be separated and isolated from a consistent conduct, always in connection with the circularity lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi, in which a synergy of useful elements is realized for a service that makes credible the greatness of him who came to restore the ancient ruins (cf. Is 61:1-2 and Lk 4:16-21). All this is life recovered with a greater force than that of the apocalyptic dragon, and, as recovered and valued life, it leads to the feast, which is only such if it celebrates the harmony and communion of men and the cosmos with God, who is their Origin, and, in celebrating, lives constantly with consistent schools. The wedding guests do not fast, nor are they in mourning or distress when the bridegroom is with them (cf. Mt 9:15), but they celebrate, which is not disorderly and noisy euphoria, but rather joy at reuniting with him who gives life and gives it abundantly (cf. Jn 10:10). When the Author of Life is absent, placed in a corner under the false idea that he can limit the space of men, one does not take long to enter the world of error, uncertainty, and incompleteness. But, above all, losing the sense of life, models that encourage contempt and that ally themselves with actions that, as we have already said, gravely offend God and the cosmos are embraced.

Conclusion

«Flee from evil with stupor; cling to good».

Therefore, a vital, optimistic, yet not superficial attitude is required: to start over from the positivity and beauty of creation, to see through it the Original Beauty, who has a face and a name: Jesus of Nazareth, in whom all the promises of God find their fulfillment.“sim” (yes)“as seen in 2 Corinthians 1:20”“sim” (yes)“To salvation, life, and the culture that proceeds from it.”“sim” (yes)“Finally, it is powerful within which all attitudes promoting and respecting life are modeled. Here, Mary enters with full right and, precisely due to the convergence of intentions, exemplary for them, she assumes that greatness which, in her very personal style, Pierre Teiltard de Chardin describes as ‘…”According to the brilliant gem of Matter, the Pearl of the Cosmos, and its connection to the absolute personal Incarnation, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother of all things…“A fascinating and open-ended perspective, if you will, for further explorations, but its disruptive force is enough to strengthen hope for the betterment of our world, reminding us all of our unique vocation as collaborators with the Creator and guardians of the universe.”

To deepen Mary’s service to the life of the Church and the baptized, the apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus Paul VI presents Mary as a model of the timid and Christian service.

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