The apparent marginality of Mary in the writings of Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591): context and purposeA brief analysis of the saint’s writings reveals a fact that, at first glance, may leave us somewhat disappointed: the seemingly marginal place that the Virgin Mary occupies in his texts. The fact should not surprise or disconcert. It is simply explained: Saint John of the Cross does not intend to write a complete treatise on spiritual theology, as it is conceived today. He wishes to offer help and light to so many souls who have already begun, and also well, their path, souls who already live, though not perfectly, their relationship with the Trinity and with the divine world, in which Mary already holds the place that is hers by divine decree.If, moreover, we bear in mind that the immediate recipients of his writings are primarily the Carmelites and Carmelites, this explanation may seem superfluous. He finds himself before existences that, through religious consecration, are also consecrated to Mary. The formula of profession then in force, and not so long ago, explicitly emphasized that to consecrate oneself to God in profession was simultaneously to consecrate oneself to Mary.The face of Mary in Saint John of the Cross: sober scripturalness and elevated theologyYet, despite the material soberness of the references found in his writings, we have affirmations that present a face of Mary certainly distant from certain clichés or superficial devotionalism, but undoubtedly worthy of the highest degree of sanctity and union with God that the Lord deigned to grant to His Most Holy Mother, and also worthy of the role that the Lord attributed to Mary in the work of salvation. On the other hand, not everything that the holy Father John lived he expressed in his writings. And, in this specific case, we know quite a bit of his devotion, with a capital ‘D’, sincere, tender, and ardent towards the Virgin Mary.The first biographers will tell us that, many times during his life, he would narrate how, when he was a boy, he fell into a puddle and, while struggling to get out, a beautiful Lady appeared to him, and at her gesture, spontaneously afraid of extending his hand to not soil the white Lady, in the meantime a peasant pulled him out. We also know that he embraced Carmel because it is the Order of Mary, although he was invited by the nascent and already established Society of Jesus to join this new religious family. He thus nourishes this Carmelite spirituality that sees in Mary, besides Mother, the model and sister: a characteristic aspect of our spirituality, sister to the ideal of union with God through contemplative life.The elements of Mary’s inner profile in Saint John of the Cross’s Carmelite spiritualityWe therefore have sufficient elements to sketch the essential, so to speak, profile of Mary’s inner face, in the light of the San Juanist texts, both those that speak explicitly and those that clearly allude to it, this face, this presence of Mary. According to some commentators, the ideal wife of the Song and the female figure of the Flame, in whose bosom the Beloved rests his head, would be none other than Mary. It is not unlikely that behind this figure appears the eminent face of Mary.However, there is a general affirmation that immediately places Mary in her rightful place in the mystery of Christ and in the mystery of all the saved, and therefore also in John of the Cross’s life. In the prayer of the Enamored Soul, among other things, he says: «Mary is mine, because Christ is mine and all is for me». This alone would be enough to say everything about Mary’s presence in John of the Cross’s life and in the life of every pilgrim on the way to union with God.”Mary is mine”: belonging to Christ and the encounter of Mary in ChristChrist is mine, because He is the Spouse whom the Father destined for me from eternity, and who, through the Incarnation and even more through His death on the cross, united Himself to me in chaste and spiritual consortium. Through this union, everything that belongs to the Spouse also belongs to the bride. Everything that is Christ is also John of the Cross: it is John who has the Father, the Spirit, the Mother, the angels, good and evil men, everything. Therefore, nothing and no one can ever take away this gift that comes from Christ’s heart. No one can take away Mary from me: Mary is mine. He calls her by name, Mary.This connection to the mystery of Christ helps us understand how baptism always moves within the mystery of Christ and receives its meaning from Him. Also, his Virgin Mother, Mary, moves within this mystery, so it is not a reality that can separate us from Christ, but a reality we encounter in Christ, and even more, it is a reality in which Christ offers Himself to us.Mary in the mystery of Christ: union and subordinationIt is a theological perspective, indeed very close to the Church’s current understanding of the mystery of Mary. Mary can only be understood and embraced in her union with Christ and her subordination to Christ. Mary is still the virgin womb in which the Word, through the joint work of the Trinity, takes flesh and unites with the bride, who is humanity. This is a statement we find in Roman 8.St. John of the Cross implicitly asserts here that every soul, within Mary’s virgin womb, unites with the Incarnate Word. It is in this womb that the Word, in the first instant of His coming into the world, unites with the bride, with all humanity. This is not a transient event but remains a secure point in the mystery of salvation. What happened to Christ happens to each one of us who are Christ’s. It is in this womb that the union takes place.Spiritual motherhood: a real, continuous, and subordinate action to ChristThrough this union, historically realized in Mary’s womb, we begin to participate in Christ’s grace, the Incarnate Word. He became flesh from Mary. And in this grace of Christ, the Christian, not to lack better terms, something of the Mother truly, truly, and not just as a figure of speech, contributes to the generation of Christ’s men.The filial relationship, in fact, and we are sons of Mary, Christ gave us on the cross, is always founded on a real, generational fact, which is the communication of life. Divine life comes to us from God in Christ, but we can say it also comes from God in Mary and through Mary to us, and on the other hand, everything and completely comes to Mary from God. This remains in us as a foundation that recalls, invokes, and demands the continuous help, continuous care of Mary for our salvation, throughout the journey that leads to communion with God, to glorification.Mary as a Prototype: Exemplarity in Union with GodAnd another aspect of Mary the Holy Father captures with great evidence: her exemplarity. Exemplarity in union with God, the exemplarity of that union. Speaking of souls arrived at union, whose characteristic is being moved by the Holy Spirit, the holy Doctor comments by exemplifying. It is not a simple example he quotes. Mary is presented as the closest prototype to us, and to which we spontaneously turn our gaze.In *Ascension* III, 2, 10, it is written: “Such were the operations of the Virgin, Our Lady, who, raised from the beginning to this sublime state, did not imprint on the soul any figure of creature, and by none of these, at any time, was she moved to act, but always acted under the motion of the Holy Spirit.” This text has perhaps been emphasized as worth an entire book of Mariology.The Most Pure: Fullness of Motion by the Holy SpiritThrough this text, one can read the entire pneumatological vision of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification. And one also reads the theology of union. All is lived and therefore expressed in this exemplar, this icon, this image that God placed on the path of pilgrims. Mary, therefore, is at the peak of possible union with God, because she is the Most Pure, as they called her at Carmel.She is Most Pure because conceived without sin, that is certain, but she is Most Pure above all because she never allowed herself to be formed by any creature. On the contrary, and this is the positive element that constitutes her Most Pure, she is a resplendent icon on the path of the Church because always moved by the Holy Spirit. She is, therefore, a creature entirely of God and entirely divinized, penetrated in all her being by God, entirely of the Trinity, entirely immersed in the Trinity, with unique and unrepeatable relations that do not distance her from us, but make her an icon and a worthy example.Her intimacy with God in the Spiritual Canticle: images of mystical union in St. John of the CrossTo her, more than any other, the words of the Holy Father are applicable in the commentary on stanza 26: “In the intimate cellar I drank from the Beloved…”. He explains that the soul is clothed with God and immersed in divinity, not superficially, but in the depths of the spirit, since, filled with divine delights and sated in the spiritual waters of life, it experiences what David affirms of those thus united to the Lord: “They will be intoxicated”. And what satisfaction will the soul have if the drink brought to it is a river of delights? This river is the Spirit, whose waters, being the intimate love of God, penetrate deeply into the soul, giving it to drink from the loving river that is the Spirit of the Spouse, infused into it in this union.And in the following stanza, 27, 1, he says that in this union God communicates himself to the soul with such living love that no maternal affection can compare with it in tenderness, nor brotherly or friendly love. He speaks of the humility and sweetness of God, who submits to the humble and loving soul as if He were a servant and she the Lord.Mary as a model of the path in charityIt is said that in all this, Mary is exemplary, the icon. This is possible because Mary places herself at the summit of the unique mystery of Christ communicated to us. It is the same mystery that is communicated to us and was communicated in full to Mary. The same interior dynamics, the Holy Spirit, the theological virtues, the gifts, that explain the singular sanctity, perfection and union of Mary, also explain our redeemed existence.We should not merely look at Mary’s initial privileges. Communion is the fruit of the journey, the journey in charity. And Mary walked this path like no other creature, which is why she is also sublime as a model. If, by absurdity, she had stopped at her initial privileges, she would not be what the Church contemplates, nor what the Holy Father told us.Spiritual riches: Mary and those who serve and love the LordIn *Lumen Gentium* 4, 4, the Holy Father speaks of the numerous ways in which God stirs within the soul, and of the movement that the Word makes in the substance of the soul, of such greatness, power, glory, and sweetness, that it seems as if all the balms, spices, and flowers of the world are shaken to spread its fragrance, and that all the virtues, substances, perfections, and graces of all created things shine and make the same movement together.It is just to apply these riches to Mary, but it is also just to apply them to all who, like Mary, in the humility of heart, purity of spirit, and poverty of spirit, serve and love the Lord. Thus, Mary presents herself, as the Council reminds us, as a sign of consolation and sure hope for all of us.Mary as a model of supplicant prayerThe Holy Father presents Mary as a model of supplicant prayer. She exposes her needs, trusting the Lord to establish what is most fitting. In the Canticle, stanza II, n. 8: «Note how the soul, in the quoted verse, «I faint, I suffer, I perish», limits itself to exposing to the Beloved its own needs and pains, for he who loves with discernment does not worry about asking what he lacks or desires, but simply exposes his needs, so that the Beloved may do what he pleases».This can enlighten our prayer. Sometimes we think that to pray, we need to know all the needs, read, know. No. It is simpler: he who loves with discernment does not worry about asking, but simply exposes his needs, and the needs of humanity, always greater than what we can know from the news, whatever it may be.And that is what the Virgin did at the Wedding of Cana, when, without a direct request, she said: «They have no wine», and also with the sisters of Lazarus.The effectiveness of prayer: «omnipotence by grace»The supreme prayer is that which the Holy Spirit raises up within us; it is He who prays in us. Mary’s prayer is that which resonates with the slightest movement of the Spirit, for she is the one who loves and praises the Lord most. And thus it is also the most effective prayer for us.In the Canticle, verse 32, no. 1: “Great is the power and the strength of love, that it conquers and holds fast even God Himself. Blessed is the soul that loves, for it has the Lord as its prisoner, ready to do all it desires.” This is the omnipotence by grace of Mary’s prayer. She loves the Lord most, and thus He is, so to speak, a prisoner of Mary, ready to do all she desires.The Suffering Virgin: Associated with the Redemptive PainMary, finally, is the Suffering Virgin, who by the will of God is associated with the redemptive pain of the Son. In the Canticle, verses 20-21, no. 10, speaks of the great stability of the soul in this state, so that the waters of pain, even the sufferings of her own or of others, no longer cause her distress, even though she acknowledges things as they are. And it explains that in this transformation of love, what happens to the soul is similar to what happens to the angels, who perfectly appreciate painful things without feeling pain, and exercise mercy and compassion without suffering.It adds that the Lord sometimes dispenses from this immunity from pain, allowing suffering to acquire greater merits and kindle love more, as happened with the Virgin Mary, Saint Paul, and others. Mary, therefore, by the will of God, suffered and was associated with the redemptive pain of the Son. Her immaculate nature does not exempt her from pain, nor does her full union with the Lord, which constitutes her joy. Joy and pain can be together.Synopsis: The Mariology of Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591) and Its Legacy for Carmelite MysticismThe face of Mary that is revealed in Saint John of the Cross’ writings is not that of an accessory presence, but a theological presence, situated at the center of the mystery of Christ and, therefore, at the heart of the path of every soul called to union with God. The soberness of explicit mentions does not diminish this presence; rather, it purifies it from all easy devotionalism and returns it to its proper place, where Mary is found in Christ, and where Christ is also offered through her. «Mary is mine because Christ is mine and all is for me» becomes, thus, a remarkable synthesis of the believer’s belonging to the Spouse and the gift that, in this belonging, includes the Mother.In this light, Mary appears as the virgin womb in which the Word is united to humanity and as the real foundation of our filiation, subordinate and entirely dependent on the sole mediation of Christ. Therefore, Mary’s spiritual motherhood is not a figure of speech, but a real, continuous, and maternal action that accompanies the pilgrim along the grace-filled journey. At the same time, she manifests herself as a prototype and icon of union, the Most Pure, always moved by the Holy Spirit, free from every disorderly impression of creatures, and fully conformed to the divine motion. Her exemplarity does not reduce to initial privileges, but expresses the fullness of the charity path, which is also the path of the Church.Lastly, the same Mary who is an icon of union is also a model of prayer and compassion, a simple prayer that exposes the need and leaves the Beloved to determine the mode and time of help, a prayer that is effective because born of supreme love, and also a presence of suffering associated, by God’s will, with the redemptive suffering of the Son. Thus, the title dear to the Saint Doctor, «Our Lady», becomes a program and hope: to place oneself in the Mother’s hands is to remain in the mystery of Christ, without deviations, and to walk safely towards Him who is the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus. And may this be an augury for us and for all, that Mary be truly «Our Lady», until God dwells in us and with us.For the theological understanding of Mary’s role in the economy of salvation, Chapter VIII of the Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council sheds light on the ecclesiastic dimension of Mary’s mystical experience described by Saint John of the Cross.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions and the Master’s in Mariology.
To deepen Marian theology in the mystical tradition and Mary’s role in the history of salvation, consult the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater by Pope John Paul II.
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If, moreover, we bear in mind that the immediate recipients of his writings are primarily the Carmelites and Carmelites, this explanation may seem superfluous. He finds himself before existences that, through religious consecration, are also consecrated to Mary. The formula of profession then in force, and not so long ago, explicitly emphasized that to consecrate oneself to God in profession was simultaneously to consecrate oneself to Mary.The face of Mary in Saint John of the Cross: sober scripturalness and elevated theologyYet, despite the material soberness of the references found in his writings, we have affirmations that present a face of Mary certainly distant from certain clichés or superficial devotionalism, but undoubtedly worthy of the highest degree of sanctity and union with God that the Lord deigned to grant to His Most Holy Mother, and also worthy of the role that the Lord attributed to Mary in the work of salvation. On the other hand, not everything that the holy Father John lived he expressed in his writings. And, in this specific case, we know quite a bit of his devotion, with a capital ‘D’, sincere, tender, and ardent towards the Virgin Mary.The first biographers will tell us that, many times during his life, he would narrate how, when he was a boy, he fell into a puddle and, while struggling to get out, a beautiful Lady appeared to him, and at her gesture, spontaneously afraid of extending his hand to not soil the white Lady, in the meantime a peasant pulled him out. We also know that he embraced Carmel because it is the Order of Mary, although he was invited by the nascent and already established Society of Jesus to join this new religious family. He thus nourishes this Carmelite spirituality that sees in Mary, besides Mother, the model and sister: a characteristic aspect of our spirituality, sister to the ideal of union with God through contemplative life.The elements of Mary’s inner profile in Saint John of the Cross’s Carmelite spiritualityWe therefore have sufficient elements to sketch the essential, so to speak, profile of Mary’s inner face, in the light of the San Juanist texts, both those that speak explicitly and those that clearly allude to it, this face, this presence of Mary. According to some commentators, the ideal wife of the Song and the female figure of the Flame, in whose bosom the Beloved rests his head, would be none other than Mary. It is not unlikely that behind this figure appears the eminent face of Mary.However, there is a general affirmation that immediately places Mary in her rightful place in the mystery of Christ and in the mystery of all the saved, and therefore also in John of the Cross’s life. In the prayer of the Enamored Soul, among other things, he says: «Mary is mine, because Christ is mine and all is for me». This alone would be enough to say everything about Mary’s presence in John of the Cross’s life and in the life of every pilgrim on the way to union with God.”Mary is mine”: belonging to Christ and the encounter of Mary in ChristChrist is mine, because He is the Spouse whom the Father destined for me from eternity, and who, through the Incarnation and even more through His death on the cross, united Himself to me in chaste and spiritual consortium. Through this union, everything that belongs to the Spouse also belongs to the bride. Everything that is Christ is also John of the Cross: it is John who has the Father, the Spirit, the Mother, the angels, good and evil men, everything. Therefore, nothing and no one can ever take away this gift that comes from Christ’s heart. No one can take away Mary from me: Mary is mine. He calls her by name, Mary.This connection to the mystery of Christ helps us understand how baptism always moves within the mystery of Christ and receives its meaning from Him. Also, his Virgin Mother, Mary, moves within this mystery, so it is not a reality that can separate us from Christ, but a reality we encounter in Christ, and even more, it is a reality in which Christ offers Himself to us.Mary in the mystery of Christ: union and subordinationIt is a theological perspective, indeed very close to the Church’s current understanding of the mystery of Mary. Mary can only be understood and embraced in her union with Christ and her subordination to Christ. Mary is still the virgin womb in which the Word, through the joint work of the Trinity, takes flesh and unites with the bride, who is humanity. This is a statement we find in Roman 8.St. John of the Cross implicitly asserts here that every soul, within Mary’s virgin womb, unites with the Incarnate Word. It is in this womb that the Word, in the first instant of His coming into the world, unites with the bride, with all humanity. This is not a transient event but remains a secure point in the mystery of salvation. What happened to Christ happens to each one of us who are Christ’s. It is in this womb that the union takes place.Spiritual motherhood: a real, continuous, and subordinate action to ChristThrough this union, historically realized in Mary’s womb, we begin to participate in Christ’s grace, the Incarnate Word. He became flesh from Mary. And in this grace of Christ, the Christian, not to lack better terms, something of the Mother truly, truly, and not just as a figure of speech, contributes to the generation of Christ’s men.The filial relationship, in fact, and we are sons of Mary, Christ gave us on the cross, is always founded on a real, generational fact, which is the communication of life. Divine life comes to us from God in Christ, but we can say it also comes from God in Mary and through Mary to us, and on the other hand, everything and completely comes to Mary from God. This remains in us as a foundation that recalls, invokes, and demands the continuous help, continuous care of Mary for our salvation, throughout the journey that leads to communion with God, to glorification.Mary as a Prototype: Exemplarity in Union with GodAnd another aspect of Mary the Holy Father captures with great evidence: her exemplarity. Exemplarity in union with God, the exemplarity of that union. Speaking of souls arrived at union, whose characteristic is being moved by the Holy Spirit, the holy Doctor comments by exemplifying. It is not a simple example he quotes. Mary is presented as the closest prototype to us, and to which we spontaneously turn our gaze.In *Ascension* III, 2, 10, it is written: “Such were the operations of the Virgin, Our Lady, who, raised from the beginning to this sublime state, did not imprint on the soul any figure of creature, and by none of these, at any time, was she moved to act, but always acted under the motion of the Holy Spirit.” This text has perhaps been emphasized as worth an entire book of Mariology.The Most Pure: Fullness of Motion by the Holy SpiritThrough this text, one can read the entire pneumatological vision of the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification. And one also reads the theology of union. All is lived and therefore expressed in this exemplar, this icon, this image that God placed on the path of pilgrims. Mary, therefore, is at the peak of possible union with God, because she is the Most Pure, as they called her at Carmel.She is Most Pure because conceived without sin, that is certain, but she is Most Pure above all because she never allowed herself to be formed by any creature. On the contrary, and this is the positive element that constitutes her Most Pure, she is a resplendent icon on the path of the Church because always moved by the Holy Spirit. She is, therefore, a creature entirely of God and entirely divinized, penetrated in all her being by God, entirely of the Trinity, entirely immersed in the Trinity, with unique and unrepeatable relations that do not distance her from us, but make her an icon and a worthy example.Her intimacy with God in the Spiritual Canticle: images of mystical union in St. John of the CrossTo her, more than any other, the words of the Holy Father are applicable in the commentary on stanza 26: “In the intimate cellar I drank from the Beloved…”. He explains that the soul is clothed with God and immersed in divinity, not superficially, but in the depths of the spirit, since, filled with divine delights and sated in the spiritual waters of life, it experiences what David affirms of those thus united to the Lord: “They will be intoxicated”. And what satisfaction will the soul have if the drink brought to it is a river of delights? This river is the Spirit, whose waters, being the intimate love of God, penetrate deeply into the soul, giving it to drink from the loving river that is the Spirit of the Spouse, infused into it in this union.And in the following stanza, 27, 1, he says that in this union God communicates himself to the soul with such living love that no maternal affection can compare with it in tenderness, nor brotherly or friendly love. He speaks of the humility and sweetness of God, who submits to the humble and loving soul as if He were a servant and she the Lord.Mary as a model of the path in charityIt is said that in all this, Mary is exemplary, the icon. This is possible because Mary places herself at the summit of the unique mystery of Christ communicated to us. It is the same mystery that is communicated to us and was communicated in full to Mary. The same interior dynamics, the Holy Spirit, the theological virtues, the gifts, that explain the singular sanctity, perfection and union of Mary, also explain our redeemed existence.We should not merely look at Mary’s initial privileges. Communion is the fruit of the journey, the journey in charity. And Mary walked this path like no other creature, which is why she is also sublime as a model. If, by absurdity, she had stopped at her initial privileges, she would not be what the Church contemplates, nor what the Holy Father told us.Spiritual riches: Mary and those who serve and love the LordIn *Lumen Gentium* 4, 4, the Holy Father speaks of the numerous ways in which God stirs within the soul, and of the movement that the Word makes in the substance of the soul, of such greatness, power, glory, and sweetness, that it seems as if all the balms, spices, and flowers of the world are shaken to spread its fragrance, and that all the virtues, substances, perfections, and graces of all created things shine and make the same movement together.It is just to apply these riches to Mary, but it is also just to apply them to all who, like Mary, in the humility of heart, purity of spirit, and poverty of spirit, serve and love the Lord. Thus, Mary presents herself, as the Council reminds us, as a sign of consolation and sure hope for all of us.Mary as a model of supplicant prayerThe Holy Father presents Mary as a model of supplicant prayer. She exposes her needs, trusting the Lord to establish what is most fitting. In the Canticle, stanza II, n. 8: «Note how the soul, in the quoted verse, «I faint, I suffer, I perish», limits itself to exposing to the Beloved its own needs and pains, for he who loves with discernment does not worry about asking what he lacks or desires, but simply exposes his needs, so that the Beloved may do what he pleases».This can enlighten our prayer. Sometimes we think that to pray, we need to know all the needs, read, know. No. It is simpler: he who loves with discernment does not worry about asking, but simply exposes his needs, and the needs of humanity, always greater than what we can know from the news, whatever it may be.And that is what the Virgin did at the Wedding of Cana, when, without a direct request, she said: «They have no wine», and also with the sisters of Lazarus.The effectiveness of prayer: «omnipotence by grace»The supreme prayer is that which the Holy Spirit raises up within us; it is He who prays in us. Mary’s prayer is that which resonates with the slightest movement of the Spirit, for she is the one who loves and praises the Lord most. And thus it is also the most effective prayer for us.In the Canticle, verse 32, no. 1: “Great is the power and the strength of love, that it conquers and holds fast even God Himself. Blessed is the soul that loves, for it has the Lord as its prisoner, ready to do all it desires.” This is the omnipotence by grace of Mary’s prayer. She loves the Lord most, and thus He is, so to speak, a prisoner of Mary, ready to do all she desires.The Suffering Virgin: Associated with the Redemptive PainMary, finally, is the Suffering Virgin, who by the will of God is associated with the redemptive pain of the Son. In the Canticle, verses 20-21, no. 10, speaks of the great stability of the soul in this state, so that the waters of pain, even the sufferings of her own or of others, no longer cause her distress, even though she acknowledges things as they are. And it explains that in this transformation of love, what happens to the soul is similar to what happens to the angels, who perfectly appreciate painful things without feeling pain, and exercise mercy and compassion without suffering.It adds that the Lord sometimes dispenses from this immunity from pain, allowing suffering to acquire greater merits and kindle love more, as happened with the Virgin Mary, Saint Paul, and others. Mary, therefore, by the will of God, suffered and was associated with the redemptive pain of the Son. Her immaculate nature does not exempt her from pain, nor does her full union with the Lord, which constitutes her joy. Joy and pain can be together.Synopsis: The Mariology of Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591) and Its Legacy for Carmelite MysticismThe face of Mary that is revealed in Saint John of the Cross’ writings is not that of an accessory presence, but a theological presence, situated at the center of the mystery of Christ and, therefore, at the heart of the path of every soul called to union with God. The soberness of explicit mentions does not diminish this presence; rather, it purifies it from all easy devotionalism and returns it to its proper place, where Mary is found in Christ, and where Christ is also offered through her. «Mary is mine because Christ is mine and all is for me» becomes, thus, a remarkable synthesis of the believer’s belonging to the Spouse and the gift that, in this belonging, includes the Mother.In this light, Mary appears as the virgin womb in which the Word is united to humanity and as the real foundation of our filiation, subordinate and entirely dependent on the sole mediation of Christ. Therefore, Mary’s spiritual motherhood is not a figure of speech, but a real, continuous, and maternal action that accompanies the pilgrim along the grace-filled journey. At the same time, she manifests herself as a prototype and icon of union, the Most Pure, always moved by the Holy Spirit, free from every disorderly impression of creatures, and fully conformed to the divine motion. Her exemplarity does not reduce to initial privileges, but expresses the fullness of the charity path, which is also the path of the Church.Lastly, the same Mary who is an icon of union is also a model of prayer and compassion, a simple prayer that exposes the need and leaves the Beloved to determine the mode and time of help, a prayer that is effective because born of supreme love, and also a presence of suffering associated, by God’s will, with the redemptive suffering of the Son. Thus, the title dear to the Saint Doctor, «Our Lady», becomes a program and hope: to place oneself in the Mother’s hands is to remain in the mystery of Christ, without deviations, and to walk safely towards Him who is the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus. And may this be an augury for us and for all, that Mary be truly «Our Lady», until God dwells in us and with us.For the theological understanding of Mary’s role in the economy of salvation, Chapter VIII of the Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council sheds light on the ecclesiastic dimension of Mary’s mystical experience described by Saint John of the Cross.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions and the Master’s in Mariology.
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