Mary in the time of Lent

“Lent is the time that precedes and disposes for the celebration of Easter. A time of listening to God’s Word and conversion, of preparation and memory of Baptism, of reconciliation with God and with brothers, and of more frequent recourse to the ‘weapons of Christian penance’: prayer, fasting, and alms (Mt 6:1-6.16-18 ‘Do not let your righteousness be known to men… When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites…’)”, (Directory of Popular Piety 124). The faithful, who each year renews the Lenten journey with a constantly renewed spirit, finds in the person of Mary a concrete example of how God’s Word should be welcomed and how to follow Christ. At the end of the sacramental forty days, when the Church contemplates the central moment of the Father’s salvific plan, it turns its gaze once more to Mary, who, as a ‘new woman’, stands at the foot of the Cross with Christ, the ‘new man’. And, through the Son’s testament of love, who commits her to the disciple, Mary appears as the spiritual mother of those who direct their faith-filled gaze to the Cross.”

Mary in the Liturgy of Lent: The Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th), the New Eve, and the *Marialis Cultus* of Paul VI

The presence of the Virgin Mary in the Lenten season may not be immediately apparent. However, her memory is present in various ways throughout the Lenten liturgical journey.Firstly, on March 25th, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, considered a “Lord’s feast” in the revised liturgical calendar. As Pope Paul VI notes in his *Marialis Cultus*, this feast is both “a joint feast of Christ and the Virgin… of the Word made ‘son of Mary’ (Mk 6:3 ‘Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?’), and of the Virgin who becomes Mother of God” (*Marialis Cultus* 6). In any case, the Eucharistic prayers and the Liturgy of the Word are firmly situated within the context of the Paschal mystery. The Eucharistic prayer speaks explicitly of “our Redeemer,” “the Savior of the nations,” and prays for the strength of his resurrection to lead us to eternal joy. In the Liturgy of the Word, the second reading (Heb 10:7 “Behold, I come… to do your will, O God”) emphasizes the sacrificial offering of the Son of God as he enters the world (“Behold, I come… to do your will”), to which Mary associates herself in the Gospel account (Lk 1:38 “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord… let it be to me according to your word”) with her “fiat” (“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word”).The “no” of Adam and Eve, which brought ruin, is countered by the “yes” of the new Adam, Christ, and the New Eve, Mary, who brought salvation. The Paschal mystery depends on the total availability of the “Servant of Yahweh.”**”From” the “Servant of the Lord” to the divine will. It is, therefore, a feast centered on the Incarnation, but entirely oriented towards redemption. The third edition of the Roman Missal, typica, promulgated on April 20, 2000, and published in April 2002, presents, on the Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent, an alternative collection to the existing one, of new composition, which remembers Mary associated with Christ’s Passion. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the “Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” fundamentally inspired by the structure of the liturgical year, proposes for Lent five formularies that represent a true richness for this period, as a recovery of the figure of the Mother of God in the journey towards the celebration of the Paschal Night. Each formulary corresponds well to a moment of the liturgical path of Lent:– “Saint Mary, disciple of the Lord” (10) – “Mary, the Virgin, at Christ’s Cross” (11 and 12) – “Offerings of the Blessed Virgin” (13) – “Mary, the Virgin, Mother of Reconciliation” (14).”Popular Marian Piety in Lent: Processions, Via Crucis, and Devotion to the Mater Dolorosa in Western ChristianityThe scarcity of Marian elements in the liturgical time of Lent has corresponded, in the West, to a wide development of popular piety, which has given rise to multiple expressions of devotion. Referring to Christ crucified or the Virgin of Sorrows, they gain particular prominence in churches dedicated to the mystery of the Cross or the mystery of the Mother of Sorrows.The usual elements of popular piety, such as songs, prayers, gestures, kisses, processions, and blessing with the cross, intertwine in various ways, giving rise to pious exercises, sometimes notable for their content and form value.The Via Crucis and Mary’s Presence on the Way of the CrossFew pious exercises about the Passion of Christ are so beloved by the Christian people as the Way of the Cross, a synthesis of several popular devotions that emerged since the High Middle Ages: the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, during which the faithful visit the places of Christ’s Passion with devotion. The devotion to the “falls of Christ” under the weight of the cross. The devotion to the “painful ways of Christ,” in which one advances in procession from one church to another, in memory of the journeys made by Christ during His Passion. The devotion to the “stations of Christ,” that is, the moments when Jesus stops along the way to Calvary, whether forced by the torturers, exhausted by fatigue, or moved by love, seeking to establish a dialogue with the men and women who witness His Passion (cf. Directory 132). In the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross, several expressions characteristic of Christian spirituality also converge: the conception of life as a path or pilgrimage from earthly exile to heavenly homeland. The desire to conform to Christ’s Passion. The demands of following Christ (sequela Christi), by which the disciple is called to walk behind the Master, carrying his own cross daily (Lk 9, 23 “If anyone wants to come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me”). A wise development of the Way of the Cross, in which word, silence, song, procession, and reflective pause alternate in a balanced manner, contributes to achieving the spiritual fruits of this exercise, in which two stations, the IV and the XII, are dedicated to the Virgin Mother.

The Matri Way: Marian Compassion in the Seven Sorrows

The *Via Matris Dolorosae*, or simply *Via Matris*, is a pious exercise in which a group of faithful, or a single pray-er, walks a portion of a path inside or outside a church or sanctuary, meditating on the seven sorrows of the Virgin. This path, walked in prayer, is marked by seven stops (the “stations”), corresponding to the seven main sorrows that popular piety has identified in the Virgin’s life alongside the Savior: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight to Egypt, the loss of Jesus, the encounter with Jesus on the way to Calvary, the presence at the Son’s cross, the reception of Jesus taken down from the cross, and Jesus’ burial. The metaphor of life as a path emerges in the exercise of the Via Matris and in other forms of popular prayer (Way of the Cross, Way of Light, Way of Peace). The Gospels inform us of several journeys made by Jesus and Mary of Nazareth, His mother. They have transmitted the memory of multiple paths:– The “path of the Daughter of Zion” to the house of the priest Zechariah (Lk 1:46-47 “My soul glorifies the Lord… my spirit rejoices in God”). – The “path” of Mary, the Mother of God, who, with faith and trust, responded to the will of God and, in obedience, became the Mother of the Savior.The Path of the Pregnant Woman– The path from Nazareth to Bethlehem (Lk 2:7: “And she gave birth to her firstborn son… and laid him in a manger”). – The path of the pious Israelite woman who goes to Jerusalem and there hears the prophecy about the Son and herself (Lk 2:35: “A sword shall pierce through your soul”). – The path of the exiled woman (Mt 2:14-15: “He took the child and his mother… and withdrew to Egypt…”). – The path of the pilgrim woman who annually goes to Jerusalem for the Passover feast (Lk 2:49: “I must be in my Father’s house…”). – The path of the friend woman who goes to Cana in Galilee (Jn 2:5: “Do whatever he tells you”). – The path of the faithful disciple who follows Jesus up Mount Calvary (Jn 19:26-27: “Woman, behold your son… behold your mother”).As with the Crown of the Virgin of Sorrows, the spiritual value and pastoral effectiveness of the Via Matris (Mother’s Way) lie in its ability to draw the faithful closer to one of the essential aspects of the paschal mystery:– The salvific passion of Christ. – To be illuminated by the mystery of suffering with the light that emanates from the unique way Mary of Nazareth, filled with faith, lived out this experience. – To participate in the sufferings of brothers, as the celebration of the Virgin’s pain involves attentive care for those who suffer. – To evoke feelings of mercy, for nothing disposes the heart to mercy like contemplating the loving compassion of the Virgin.For all these reasons, the Via Matris is a particularly suitable act of piety for the Lenten season.The Stabat Mater: A Liturgical Hymn to Mary’s Pain in LentThis celebrated *planctus*, though attributed to Jacopone da Todi (d. 1306) without conclusive evidence, is included in the solemn liturgical action of Holy Friday in the Roman Missal, following the Adoration of the Cross. The *Stabat Mater* has been and continues to be a beloved hymn, deeply understood and consciously prayed and sung by the Christian people. Its twenty stanzas are usually sung after the pious exercise of the Crown of the Virgin of Sorrows, or appear as a processional chant in the *Via Matris* to accompany the journey from one “station” to another.“The complete chant of the *Stabat Mater* allows us to grasp its extraordinary thematic variety: the calm narration, the burning supplication, the silent amazement, the living and repeated desire to share in the Mother’s pain, joining her tears: ‘Let me weep with you’… (est. 13. Cf. est. 9.14.15).”The mystical impulse of “suffering with Christ” drives the supplicant to ask the Mother: “Wound my heart with His wounds, join me to His cross, inebriate me with His blood” (est. 17) and longs to participate in Christ’s passion, so that nothing can separate him from Him (Rom 8:38-39 “Nothing can separate us from God’s love… in Christ Jesus…”), but rather make him entirely like Him.In the *Stabat Mater*, the only spatial reference is the Cross (“Stabat” […] *iuxta crucem*, est. 1. Cf. est. 14), but as the sequence progresses, the place of suffering is no longer located at the top of Calvary, but in the heart of the supplicant. The drama of Golgotha becomes entirely internal: it unfolds within the soul, at its very center.

Mary and the Lenten Journey: From Conformity to Christ to the Paschal Synthesis at the Foot of the Cross

The Lenten journey, understood as a time of listening to the Word, conversion, and returning to the sources of Baptism, finds in Mary a discrete yet decisive presence. Discrete, because the Roman liturgy does not multiply Marian allusions during this period. Decisive, because in the places where the mystery of Christ deepens, the figure of the Virgin appears as the most pure ecclesial form of divine will. The memory of the Annunciation, situated in the Paschal horizon, reminds us that incarnation is not an isolated episode but the concrete beginning of redemption. The “fiat” of Mary, the “yes” she gave to God, resonates with the “yes” of the Church to Christ throughout the Lenten journey.”The ‘yes’ of Mary, inseparable from the ‘yes’ of the Son to the Father, reveals that Easter ripens in obedience, in complete availability, and in faith that surrenders without reserve.In the same vein, the contemplation of Mary at the foot of the Cross illuminates the core of Lent as a paschal path: it is not merely an ascetic effort, but a progressive conformity to Christ, until the cross ceases to be merely an external event and becomes, by grace, an interior place of communion. Mary, the ‘new woman’, remains with the ‘new man’ not as an ornamental figure, but as a witness and mother, because the love of the Son establishes her as a spiritual presence for those who raise their faith-filled gaze to the mystery of Calvary. Thus, the Lenten experience, lived in a baptismal and penitential key, finds in her a criterion: to welcome the Word, to persevere in trial, to remain in hope, and to learn to love at the point where love costs everything.This is also why, where the liturgy remains sober, popular piety in the West has developed rich and pedagogically fruitful forms, as long as they remain ordered to the cristological center of the paschal mystery. The Way of the Cross and the Way of the Mother, when well guided, educate the faithful towards a spirituality of the path, in which prayer, silence, song, and gesture sustain a real conversion, not merely a devotional one. In them, the compassion of the Virgin is not sentimentalism, but a school of mercy and concrete solidarity with those who suffer. And the Stabat Mater, by placing the Cross at the heart of the believer, prevents Lent from reducing itself to external practices, reconducting everything to interior transformation that springs from union with Christ.Finally, the synthesis of the Marian Lenten journey can be expressed thus: Mary helps the Church to cross Lent with paschal eyes. She guides penance to faith, discipline to love, and mortification to joy promised. In the silence of the Virgin, the community learns to listen. In her ‘fiat’, it learns to obey. In her presence at the Cross, it learns to persevere. And thus, Lent fulfills its proper end: to prepare the believer to celebrate Easter not as a simple memory, but as a living renewal of the alliance, in which the new life received in baptism is reaffirmed and matured in the following of Christ.”Read also in this series: “The Pain of Mary”: The Immaculate Heart at the Foot of the Cross and The Path of the Disciple Passes Through Calvary with Mary. For a deeper look at Mary’s role in Christian piety during Lent, consult the Apostolic Exhortation Lumen Gentium.Marialis Cultus §17: Mary and the Liturgical Time.—Deepen your Mariological knowledge: If you desire to study Mariology with academic rigor, explore our Postgraduate Program in Mariology. Learn more about Marian Theology and the approved Marian apparitions by the Church.