Mary in the Second Advent

Mary in the Second Advent: Presence and Intercession

If Christ has already come at the end of Israel’s expectations and was presented to the world by Mary, He is still the One who is yet to come. “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”, we proclaim in the Creed. We therefore await a second coming: “He will come again”. 

Salvation has already been accomplished, and yet it must still extend to all humanity and be manifested to every man in all its splendor and in all its power. If Israel’s expectation was fulfilled with the coming of Christ the Savior, the same expectation exists today for the Church and for all humanity: “Maran àtha: come, Lord” (1 Cor 16:22) is the cry that has resounded in the ecclesial community from the beginning of the Church until today.

The time of the Church, as is often said, is the time of the already and the not yet; it is the time in which salvation has already been accomplished and has not yet been fully and visibly manifested. The fullness will come with the second coming of the Lord. The time of the Church is the time of a permanent Advent. Christ continues to enter the Church and each one of us, tirelessly, until the end of history, until the final parousia.

In this unceasing coming of the Lord Jesus, Mary continues to carry out a task of the greatest importance: she continues walking in the world, as the Fathers of the Church used to say, so as always to be the one who prepares the coming of Jesus.

This is a truth for all humanity, for the peoples of the earth, and especially for the peoples who are not yet Christian, just as it holds for the baptismal life of each one of us. We can, therefore, reflect on this twofold dimension of Mary’s task in relation to the second Advent:

• the mission she carries out toward humanity and toward non-Christian peoples
• the mission she has and carries out toward each baptized person.

Mary’s Mission toward the Peoples

Let us make a statement: Jesus has not yet come for a large part of humanity. We know that He has come to some peoples, but not to all. He has reached many people, but He has not yet been recognized by all. There are entire regions of the earth where it is as if Jesus had never been born. The Mystical Body of Christ has not yet reached its fullness, as Paul says, the pleroma of Him who is wholly fulfilled in all things (cf. Eph 1:23), in order to lead all things to the Father:

“All things are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Cor 3:22-23)

This fullness has not yet been accomplished. To recognize the altogether singular task that Mary had so that the Redeemer might come into the world implies recognizing at the same time the unique and very special task she carries out in preparing the coming of Christ among the peoples, especially among the peoples who are still waiting for the Redeemer, who are still in the time of Advent.

Herein lies the missionary dimension of the mystery of Mary, as we are called to contemplate her: the figure of Advent. The mystery of the Virgin is to be where Christ is not yet, or has not yet been received. And this is the mystery of Mary: to be present in this space of waiting, of Advent.

From the point of view of salvation history, in historical terms, Mary was in Israel before Jesus. Mary was already present in that space which precedes the historical incarnation of the eternal Logos in the world. There is a time, there is an Advent in which Mary is present, even before Jesus manifests Himself visibly to humanity. A presence of Mary that precedes the coming of Jesus and is neither an end in itself nor an empty waiting. This is a presence that already constitutes an active work, one that prepares in the hiddenness of history and labors so that that same awaited mystery of the incarnation may be revealed and fulfilled in the world in all its fullness and in all its redemptive value.

It seems that we can speak of a moment in which the kingdom of God is already at work even before Jesus explicitly reveals it, for Mary, even before the incarnation, is an anticipated presence; she is already an efficacious sign that the kingdom of God is coming about. Mary is the icon of humanity saved by Christ even before Christ Himself manifests Himself and carries out salvation in history.

Moreover, it can also be said that Mary, the first of the redeemed (the Immaculate), is at the same time the first member of the Church: she is already the Church before the Church. In this regard, it may be significant to mention another fact. Mary is present yet again in that span of time, in that spiritual interval that separates the Ascension from Pentecost. In that span of time, in that mysterious interval, spiritual yet rich in theological meaning, there is no longer the visible presence of Christ, now glorified and raised up to the Father, but Mary is there.

Mary’s being there is already the Church’s being there, even before the official institution of the Church, which will take place formally at Pentecost. There is no visible presence of Jesus, there is no formally established presence of the Church, but there is Mary, and her presence is in some way the presence of the Church; it is the guarantee that the promise of the gift of the Spirit will be fulfilled.

This twofold fact, this presence of Mary before the incarnation and before the birth of the Church at Pentecost, is important because it shows what the role of the Most Holy Virgin is in humanity and among the peoples who do not yet believe in Jesus Christ.

Christ is not present among them in an explicit and acknowledged way. The Church is not explicitly present among these peoples, but one may suppose that there is a presence of Mary.

Before the pagan peoples are converted to Christ, before the visible Church is present in their midst, there is a mystical presence of Mary that prepares the coming of Christ, prefigures the Church, and constitutes it in anticipation.

Herein lies Mary’s mysterious and profound relationship with non-Christian peoples. Mary is truly the figure of the Advent of the Kingdom for all peoples.

Before the Our Father, the Ave Maria

Many “sinners” are unable to recite the Our Father, yet they still recite the Ave Maria. And rightly so: when it is not possible to say Our Father because the filial dispositions of grace are lacking, and therefore one does not pray in spirit and truth (cf. Jn 4:23), one can still say Ave Maria. Where Jesus and the Spirit seem to be absent in a full and complete way, there is certainly a hidden presence of Mary. 

This explains the mysterious and extraordinary relationship found between sinners and Mary, so strongly felt in the testimonies of sinners. They invoke Mary, even though they are often unable to invoke God or to approach the Church. I remember having known people who for long periods were distant from God and from the Church, and in some way from the faith, and yet during that time they trusted in Mary. And this trust was the starting point for that return to God which is conversion. There truly is a particular relationship: Mary anticipates and prepares for the full encounter with God the Savior, with the Church, and with the sacraments.

In the same way, the peoples who are still far from the true faith, far from the Gospel, have the presence of Mary among them. Jesus and the Church are not explicitly there, but Mary is certainly there. A mysterious protection, a mysterious Marian preparation, surrounds the peoples who do not yet know Christ. We can invoke her, especially for them; we recognize in Mary the way of encounter with the Holy Spirit. We can also recognize that where the resurrection cannot yet be witnessed and the Church cannot yet be spread eucharistically, the way of Mary remains open, just as in Advent, waiting for the Lord to manifest Himself fully.

Dogmatic Explanation

Let us look at what theology says about grace. Alongside sanctifying grace, theology distinguishes what is called prevenient grace: before we are in the state of grace, we are not devoid of all grace. There are graces also for those who are not yet in grace; these are graces that prepare for grace. Without these preparatory graces, which give us the possibility of attaining grace, that is, the fullness of grace, we would never attain it by ourselves.

Mary’s mission, in the aspect we are considering, is situated at this level. Mary is like an initial presence of grace where grace is lacking or does not operate in all its fullness. Mary is like the grace that anticipates and prepares grace, so that it may be realized in man in all its fullness.

That is why we can affirm the existence of a particular relationship between her and the peoples who are not yet Christian. Let us think of the great continents of humanity: of China, of Russia, of India, of the Arab peoples, of the immense populations who, for the most part, live in a situation with respect to Christ analogous to that of the Hebrews before the coming of Jesus, or to that of the Apostles before the Holy Spirit descended upon them.

We are in a situation of waiting, in a present-day Advent. If we look at:

• Islam’s profound veneration of Mary.
• The popular devotion to Mary that remains so alive in Russia.
• The cult of the Mother that characterizes Chinese culture.
• Or the cult of virginity so present in the civilization of India.

Who knows whether all this does not express this presence of Mary in humanity, and who knows whether it is not precisely on the basis of these signs that Mary may one day lead these nations back to Christ.

In any case, Mary occupies an immense place in the world and carries out a fundamental task there. And we regret that our brothers of the Reformation are still unable, at least for the most part, to perceive this mystery of Mary, even though very significant signs of a rediscovery of Mary are emerging among them.

Mary’s Mission in Each Baptized Person

What holds for the populations of the world obviously holds for each one of us. The non-Christian nations are not alone in Advent. The Church waits continually, in a situation of Advent, because she continually awaits a fullness that she does not yet possess. She lives constantly in a time of Advent.

Christ has come, but His coming has not yet been manifested fully and visibly. Christ is present, but His presence is hidden beneath the signs of the Word and the sacraments. We can perceive Him, but only with the eyes of faith. One day all this will be revealed in an evident, visible way. Nevertheless, in the interregnum between the first Advent and the parousia, the Church lives in a time that precedes the true Church, the definitive Church, the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the present Church is the preparation and the still imperfect prefiguration. In the Church, too, alongside a presence of Jesus, there is an absence of Jesus and a particular presence of Mary, inasmuch as Mary is the one who prepares the coming of Jesus, His definitive coming.

That is why the Virgin of Nazareth fills with herself the space that separates Pentecost from the parousia, just as she filled with her presence the space that separated the Ascension from Pentecost.

To explore more deeply Mary’s role in the second Advent and in Christian eschatology, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater of John Paul II, on the maternal presence of Mary in the life of the Church.

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