IntroductionOne of the strongest concerns of our time is recognizing how seriously the balance of factors that, in their interdependence, ensure the world’s survival is threatened. Multiple causes of disintegration exist, and humanity is not entirely alien to them. However, all these factors fit into a broader framework represented by the value of life, a precious gift from God realized in all its cosmic and temporal validity through Christ’s salvific action. It is He who restored to humanity the dignity lost due to sin. This disruptive factor of sin is taken into account in the Church’s prayer that celebrates the Eucharist, immersing itself daily in a propitious time to grow and mature in faith and bring the message of life to the distant, and above all, to realize it. Through the Eucharist, the meaning of life is reaffirmed with force in Christ’s victory over sin and death. The fact that He is the same “yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8) is professed in the acclamation following the Institution narrative: “We acclaim your death, Lord, we proclaim your resurrection, in the expectation of your coming.”Now, the faithful community (and one that professes its faith) contemplates the salvific mysteries, the *mirabilia Dei*, events and persons, among which Mary has a completely special place. It is worth noting that the relationship between Mary and creation, and the service that the Mother of God performs in favor of life and the cosmos, is very intricate, to the point of considering various aspects. But they can be identified through reflection on the text of the Collect prayer in the Holy Mass: “Mary, Virgin Seat of Wisdom.” We reproduce the text:
Father of light, who, to raise up in Christ the fallen humanity, you chose the Virgin Mary as the seat of wisdom, grant us, with her maternal help, a deep awareness of our limitations, so that we do not let ourselves 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 different aspect found in the prayer. In the concluding part, we will attempt a global assessment of the importance that Saint Mary retains in her being, the first and greatest promoter of life.
Decadent Humanity
We can start with a very realistic fact: in our world, life is threatened. There are many manifestations, but only one cause. Manifestations such as violence, hunger, poverty, and fear have deprived humanity of its fundamental characteristic: dignity. The unique cause that acts across different places and epochs 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 experience it because we live in contact with it.
Origin and Fall
The first element to consider, therefore, is the fallen humanity, but why? The opening 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 (Gn 1:25). Goodness that is a gift He bestows: the very environment, complete with all living beings, governed by cosmic cycles and natural phenomena, is ready to receive man, that creature formed in His image and likeness (Gn 1:26). Here goodness intensifies (Gn 1:31): Contemplating with joy the creature He has created, God takes pleasure in it, loves it. In His heart He already destined it for a great glory, for from now on He elected it as His collaborator. Man is now proclaimed “lord” over creation, committed to living in a double harmony: with God and with the cosmos. Even in the first account of creation in Gn 1, this harmony is perceived, and it is explicitly manifest 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 making use of it for primary needs, but also “in the fact that man, and through him all creation, raise a song of praise to God, because His love and mercy are immense.” Everything is truly a paradise, the earthly: the garden, place of delights whose peak is precisely harmony, unstained love between God and man (cf. Gn 2:28). He is naked, feels no shame (Gn 2:25): He has nothing to hide, neither the outer parts, nor the heart and mind. But something in the horizon threatens and corrupts: “Knowing good and evil, you will be like God” (cf. Gn 3:5). Just this is enough to distort relations: no longer harmony, but arrogance. No longer purity, but fear and deceit. The very image of God proposed by the serpent is not the true and real one: it is a God painted in the terms of egoism, when in reality we know that He is the God who created the world and man and who rejoices in His giving, and also His power, His dominion, are under the sign of love. But, incited by the Evil One, man goes in the opposite direction, commits sin, considering it the just way to attain good. Here is the core of the Evil One’s proposal, which has repercussions not only on man but on the relations he has with the entire cosmos.
The Effects of Sin
Setting aside, for now, scriptural pages and opening the door to the world, one easily perceives that expressions such as “All is going wrong” or “We have reached the bottom” are not uncommon. This is a sign of impatience and disaffection towards a world and environment that man, weakened by sin which transformed him from lord to tyrant, has often made uninhabitable. It is clear that this is not just about the environment, but an entire set of behaviors that threaten the life of man, no longer considering it as an objective or end to be served or pursued through technical and scientific progress, but rather as a testing ground.Continuing his strong anthropological teaching, John Paul II, in his *Evangelium Vitae* (1995), reveals, more explicitly, the roots of the moral collapse from which humanity is both a victim and an accomplice. The most serious aspect is that politics and medicine, for instance, have abandoned their roles of protecting and safeguarding human life, pursuing paths that lead to death. A distortion of noble arts. John Paul II writes:> The fact that the legislations of many countries, perhaps moving away from their own fundamental principles, attempt to tolerate or even recognize the full legitimacy of such practices against life, is both a worrying symptom and a significant cause of a grave moral collapse. Choices that were once universally considered criminal and rejected by common moral sense have become increasingly socially acceptable. Even medicine, which by its very nature is dedicated to the defense and care of human life, in some of its sectors, is increasingly involved in carrying out these acts against the person, thus distorting its own face, contradicting itself, and debasing the dignity of those who practice it.Close at hand is the recent document from the Pontifical Academy of Marian Studies (PAMI), titled *The Mother of the Lord: Memory, Presence, Hope*, which effectively identified two areas where this worrying situation of the world is most evident. The first is ecological, where, among other effects, desertification, wildfires, and pollution are noted; while the second, social and ethical, directly touches the concrete reality of being subjected to violence, exploitation, and instrumentalization for anti-human purposes. There is clearly a mistaken notion of freedom, stripped of all metaphysical and transcendent unfolding to which reality is constitutively oriented.Prior to 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 Magnificat*. A notable portion of this contribution was dedicated to the theme of life, but also to the multiple and disturbing aspects that, unfortunately, favor its disintegration. All of this developed clearly from a Marian perspective. The description presented by *SdM* 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 continually reflects. Taking the cue from (Revelation 6), for example, it portrays the struggle between the white horse and the other three (red, black, and green), associated with four types of evils that afflict humanity: famine, war, criminal injustice, and ecological devastation. Each of these manifestations inflicts a wound: famine causes the greatest damage, followed by ecological devastation, happily defined as the “result of an absolute anthropocentrism,” which has placed the ecological problem with extreme urgency, allowing us to consider attentively the goodness of creation. A common trait of both documents is to note that the decline of the cosmos and the decline of humanity are mutually evoking factors that can be resolved through the precision 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 how life is present in it, not only in man.
A Deep Awareness of Our Limits
Based on the above, sin, in any form, appears always as an obscure reality that offends primarily those who become its authors. But becoming aware of it and of the limitation that arises from it is a first step towards change (cf. 1 John 1:8-9). This is what is called the “interior penance” of which the Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks and which is the fruit of a long theological and spiritual tradition. Man is facilitated in two directions here: by the effects that sin brings in interpersonal relations, and secondly, represented by the singular vicissitude of Saint Mary, who is an integral part of that humanity that becomes aware of its situation. Let us carefully consider these elements.
Recovering the Threatened Elements
…Regarding the first point, a theological distinction is already established between the concepts of original sin as originating and original sin as resulting from the disobedience of our ancestors. 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; on the contrary, they precisely show the beginning of a history that, at first, after creation, was idyllic and perfectly communal, but now, after yielding to the serpent and accepting 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 (the flood) and dispersions (Babel) found in Genesis 4-11 are now seen as instruments by which God holds humanity back from actions inspired by idolatry. “You will be like God” continues to exert its power of illusion and blindness. Not only must man be at the center of the world, but man can be at the center if he regains consciousness of being God’s deputy, the guardian of the creation that He entrusted to him. By suppressing this communion, man reveals his whole 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 around and, though in an incomplete way, liberate 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 conceiving. Isaac, the son, who the subsequent Christian tradition considered a prefiguration of Christ, represents a novelty not only because of his birth, but also because of his role as progenitor of a new people. Why all this? Certainly, a prefiguration of salvation that will be fully 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 has deeply inscribed the desire for salvation, its authentic seal of manufacture, a seal originating from the Creator.” Therefore, God produces a good superior to sin, and Saint Paul becomes its herald by emphasizing that “where sin abounded, grace did superabound” (Romans 5:20). Saint Augustine, centuries later, will return to this argument in his *De Civitate Dei*, speaking of an original good superior to evil, by which man is not impossible to pray, saying “forgive us our debts.” This makes man aware of his limits, without casting him into despair, but rather leading him to discover himself as an integral part of a cosmos and a 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 left His mark. Part of this humanity, and perfectly integrated into it, is Mary, the Mother of the Lord.
The Virgin Mary
Now, before embarking on a distinctly Christian religious discourse and reading the Gospel simply as a narrative, we perceive 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, questioning herself. 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 *SdM* (no. 63), Mary appears as “a singular fragment in which, after Christ, everything is recapitulated and in which everything is said,” this has value not only in the realm of being but also in action. Thus, a parallel to what occurred at the beginning of the world. It is that mediation that extends from the unique Christ (cf. 1 Tim 2:5-6) to all beings, allowing us to read in Mary our task as guardians of the universe, carriers of the novelty of Christ and his message of redemption. Following Mary’s example, the carrier “of Him who makes all things new” (cf. Rev 21:5) and self-conscious, it is possible to undertake 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. On one hand, therefore, we have the disastrous consequences of sin, while on the other, the created being, barely inferior to the angels, adorned with glory and beauty (cf. Ps 8:6), is called to actively and concretely testify to the greatness of God through the use of talents and charisms. Then the words of the PAMI document ring true, for which “the modern individualist paradigm is replaced by a new model, whose components are relationality and solidarity, synergy and complementarity: components that reflect the order of nature and are in perfect harmony with the evangelical teaching.” From this solid foundation, a new meaning for human activity in the world gains strength, and all sciences, each in their 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, taking into account, among other things, that they, coming from God’s goodness, strengthen our communion with Him and our superiority within creation. This has precise implications for the Marian discourse at two levels: first, in considering Mary as a creature of communion and as one who shows in fullness 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 the other sections of theology.In this continuation of the Marian line understood as service, deeply rooted in the evangelical dictum expressed by the Magnificat, where Mary, after having heard the Word with a free act of faith, ecclesiastic (an ecclesiasticity that encompasses and perfects the Old Testament dimension), but above all determined by its Object, joins and reveals the reciprocity between the two dimensions of humility and exaltation. Carefully reading (Luke 1:48), it is easily perceived that exaltation passes through the 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, “insignificance and incapacity do not mean unproductivity or uselessness (cf. Psalm 30:8 [LXX]. Genesis 29:32).” These are the “octaves” offered by the Mystery of God to the tune to be understood and loved, because through humility and declaring herself humble (cf. Matthew 11:29), Jesus Christ presents himself as the fullness of God’s Revelation. The baptismal consecration-conformity of the believer to Christ and his second birth cannot do without the Holy Virgin, as presented by the Gospels: the creature whose humility the Most High exalted. Indeed, baptism has Marian traits to be valued. In this regard, both the Eastern and Western traditions are explicit in noting them. Cyril of Alexandria, for example, observes that through the Holy Virgin, the faithful are united to 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 the Christians, who are born of the Virgin Church.Let Us Not Be Dragged Away by PrideThe fragility of the tomb is all the more tangible and evident as the forces that act upon it become more insistent. What causes the fall of the tomb is precisely in considering these negative forces, these enticements, as factors of fulfillment, and consequently, aligning ourselves with them. This is the pride that, as G. Marcel reminds us, by exaggerating self-care, deprives us of that openness that allows me to grasp what is other-than-me. 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 a 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 in oneself the imprint of the Divine.A New, Contemplative Altar Over CreationBut, having reached this point, what mysticism is necessary to contemplate the universe? It is certainly possible to follow a style that refers to Eastern canons, using some instances, clues, and suggestions, provided, however, that one does not slip into syncretism, either subtle or obvious, by integrating themes that do not belong to our faith. A first possible path, to which attention should be paid, is precisely that indicated. Alongside it stands 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, these are texts of sapiential background and dimension. Among these texts, the classic one is (Proverbs 8:22-31), which not only leads to the celebration of the Creator God but also reaffirms an analogy with the tome. 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 else, from eternity. I was formed before the mountains were established, before the hills, I was brought forth. When he had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first soil of the world, I was there, when he set the heavens in place, when he drew a circle over the abyss. When he fixed the clouds above, when he sealed the sources of the sea, when he set the foundations of the earth, then I was his companion, and I was his delight each day, pleasing him always before him. I was with him as a craftsman, and I was his joy each day. I was delighting in the earth, and I was delighting in the sons of men.
Wisdom is here happily presented with anthropomorphic traits, and this helps to reflect 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 placing oneself from 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 is caught in a state of anxiety that leads it to ask itself if there is really a way out.
Humility pleasing to the LordIt is very important to clarify the concept of humility, which is common both in theology and philosophy.What is humility?If timidity is considered to derive from *tumus* (earth), it is understood as a reference to one’s maternal place of origins, from which the *tomus* is taken: the old Adam and the new Adam, that is, *Tomus* Jesus Christ. In both cases, it is a virgin land. Therefore, timidity is connected with virginity, which is the true form of sanctity, understood as separation from anything that, in any way, can corrupt and obscure. Separation, however, 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 mindset is the mark of the *tomus* who believes in God and places his hope in him, becoming thus emptied and impoverished, sanctity-separation indicates encounter and participation, to the point of decreeing the triumph of life. God moves towards the *tomus*, assuming his earthly existence and the consistency of his being, so that the *tomus* may be elevated. 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 *tomus*, 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 by the *Mysterium iniquitatis*, but rather qualifies itself in its being *Mater misericordiæ* and *Refugium peccatorum*. Two titles that belong to the *lex orandi* of the Church and that express a *lex credendi* oriented towards a more firm and robust Christian life, made of mercy and not just good deeds, but deeds apt for reconciliation. A maternal action of mercy, that which Mary puts into practice, and even before, a 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, emphasizes that Mary did not abandon the *tomus* but continues to watch over the entire human race. A presence of mercy, a presence that, in order to Christ, promotes reconciliation between heaven and earth, but all this because Mary is a model of perfection. In this sense, the rescue and careful consideration of the litany title *Virgo inviolata*, which appears in *SdM* in n. 108, is more than justified and plausible. Connecting Mary to creation, this does not prevent us from seeing this absence of violence as an effective return and rescue of the original state of the earth. Timidity, then, is not a masking, but a natural showing of what one is really, without alterations, and as it was initially created by God for an integral relationship with creation.Rev 12: A Always Relevant ProposalThe *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 most 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 retreat from one’s own responsibilities, but a warning for the Church not to abandon its 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 because of 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, which 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 the value of life, for only through it is it possible to discern the greatness and power of God, 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 is situated the Mother of the Lord, a trembling and virgin land, who shows man, in Christ, the light to come out of dead-end paths 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 the triumph of life over death and over the many manifestations of evil that wage war against life and man (cf. Revelation 12:17).The Beauty and Wisdom of Mary, Parameters for ImitationIn a 1992 address, John Paul II noted that in Christ taken up into perfection, “the anthropological project of God has reached absolute perfection. Now, at the root of Christ, His conception in Mary’s womb, and His birth into definitive life from the unviolated tomb, there is a ‘virginal element’ of great significance in reference to His being, to His exemplary nature for all His disciples.” For this reason, anyone who contemplates Mary as “a mirror set before creation that yearns for respect for 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, Litany, but reveals 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 perfect humanity, leads us to think in terms of origins, where the goodness of the things God creates, by the force of their harmony, is united with beauty, for all creation is oriented towards a *télos* that realizes and is God Himself. Continuing his address, J. Damascene notes 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 whole of creation, so that God might be all in all. Thus, it is possible to pursue this path and carry forward its instances by developing a theological aesthetics that does not limit itself to speaking of beauty, but allows beauty to speak to the contemporary human being.It is to be noted that if this unity of creation with divinity was achieved through the person of the Eternal Son, consubstantial, it makes the beauty of creation not reducible to fleeting fashions or tastes, but rather, it is the language through which God not only speaks in creation, but simultaneously takes it in. By speaking this language, man can contain and encounter that truth, goodness, unity, and beauty that he bears within himself, having been formed in the image and likeness of God, and which, in its entirety, constitutes him as both faithful and a creature, whether taken or mulc. This resonated with the PAMI in its document, reiterating and deepening what Paul VI, already in the mid-1970s, emphasized precisely regarding beauty through the image of the apocalyptic Woman. If, as the document *The Mother of the Lord* still observes, the path of beauty has moved from being a “pastoral tool” to a category of “theological investigation tool,” mariological reflection 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 abundantly, and is fully molded by it. She diffuses it, after Christ, throughout the cosmos and sends it, transfigured into a cry of praise and thanksgiving, back to its Source.” All of this is found in *Homily on the Dormition* by G. Palamas, when the great monk and bishop of Thessaloniki places the Virgin in a median position between the two worlds, toman and divine: “She is only the boundary between created nature and uncreated, and no one could go to God if he were not illuminated by divine splendor through her. God is in her, he will not waver (Ps 45:6).” There is undoubtedly a ecclesial dimension in this text, but what matters is the priority position that Mary holds as *vertex creationis*, so that Mary certainly represents God’s “yes” to the toman, but a “yes” that God does not utter externally, but rather 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 is it possible to speak of the Blessed Virgin as the Servant of the Lord, by Him Himself placed in service of life and the cosmos? The answer can once again be found in Sacred Scripture, and in particular, by revisiting the episode of the Wedding at Cana (cf. Jn 2:1-12).
Return to Cana
Let us begin by saying that in this episode, we have at least three points of interest: a set of elements, symbols, and signs interconnected; Mary’s attitude of collaboration; and, at the center, and most important, Christ’s sovereignty over creation, in a perspective of renewal and fulfillment. These elements are not separated but live and find their meaning in reciprocal connection. As for the symbolism underlying the text, it was well highlighted by A. Serra, starting from the significance of the number 6, the number of the jars, which “represent 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 words and deeds, Christ completes what was revealed before Him and orients it towards His Person: by presenting Himself in history, Christ represents His ultimate totality. This also gives rise to 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 all this project put into action by the Son of God, Mary silently collaborates, limiting herself to observing the lack of wine at the feast, a circumstance that would compromise its success. This is an attitude of utmost discretion, as well as a joyful participation in an event, like a wedding, which 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, in addition to 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.” Her solicitude, therefore, united with her profound discretion, is not surprising when she notices that there is no more wine at the party and, in addition, does not astonish much her referral to Christ to receive from Him the novelty represented by the fact that, with His wine, He, as God, offers Himself once again as the Espousal 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 mere entities that pass or over which it is possible to dominate, but rather as places where God wants to celebrate with us and through us. And the celebration 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, as the Virgin Announced and full of grace (cf. Lk 1:28) and as the Virgin Assumed, to which Christians and all creation can look as the creature “in which the wonders of God, the wonders of grace, are accomplished” and are invited to walk towards the same goal.Faith and TestimonyAbove all, the theme of faith: v. 11 reminds us of the manifestation of Christ, accompanied by the fact that “the disciples believed in him.” The first step towards true service is faith: adhering to the proposal of a God who, freely, becomes a servant to liberate men from everything that offends him. We too, supported by faith, find ourselves, as disciples of Christ, in a similar situation to those who witnessed the miracle at Cana. Alongside faith, and deriving from it, a consistent testimony towards the genuine promotion of life. It is clear that praise and veneration of Saint Mary cannot remain separated and isolated from a coherent conduct, always in connection with the circularity *lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi*, in which a synergy of useful elements 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) is realized. All this is recovered life with a strength greater than that of the apocalyptic dragon, and as recovered and valued life, it leads to a 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 coherent schools. The guests at the wedding 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 an uncontrolled and noisy euphoria, but rather joy at reuniting with him who gives life and gives it in abundance (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, one acquires and embraces those models that encourage their contempt and ally themselves with actions that, as we have said, gravely offend God and the cosmos.Conclusion“Flee from evil with sloth; attach yourselves to good” (Rom 12:9). St. Paul’s urgent call to the community in Rome transcends space and time, reaching us with its freshness. “Flee from evil with sloth” is merely one aspect of Christian living. Evil is not only individual sin, small or great, but more innocently, the limit and incompleteness inherent to human nature. Moving beyond this limit means not stagnating in mediocrity or uncritically accepting schemes proposed as bearers of illusory fulfillment. It means growth and fostering growth. Here lies the persuasive power of a discourse on Mary. “She is the woman whose ‘cultivation’ of a human being was so profound that her experience corresponded with the ‘worship’ due only to God.” “Attach yourselves to good” is the second part of Paul’s admonition, which can be reduced to the happy expression, “cultivation of a human being.” It indicates Mary’s twofold service: to man, and through him, to the world. Service to man, therefore, service to life, and even more so, to the Author of life: attachment, in communion, to the Supreme Good of humanity, which is the true Source of Life, a sign of a novelty that is always present in its timeliness. “Attach yourselves to good”: it is not a static good, but rather a Person who impels us to do good and makes man the protagonist of a well-doing action for himself, for others, and for the cosmos. Especially and more visibly in the episode at Cana, Mary, the New Eve, the first redeemed, can lead man to God, so that he collaborates with him in transforming and promoting life joyfully. The feast of life signifies the triumph of faith. It is thus possible to observe that the way Mary places herself “before us as light for the problems of our humanity is, at the same time, presence, exemplarity, and an invitation to collaborate with her to make present God’s love culture, which is life and Resurrection.”It is therefore imperative to adopt a vital, optimistic, yet profound attitude: recommencing from the positivity and beauty of creation, to perceive through it the Original Beauty, which has a face and a name: Jesus of Nazareth, in whom all the promises of God find their “yes” (2 Cor 1:20). A “yes” to salvation, to life, and to the culture that emanates from it. A “yes” that is powerful, ultimately, within which all attitudes that promote and respect life are shaped. Here, Mary enters with full right and, precisely due to the convergence of intentions, serves as an exemplary model for the tone, assuming that greatness that, in her very personal style, Pierre Teiltard de Chardin describes as “a sparkling gem of Matter, the Pearl of the Cosmos and its link to the Personal Absolute incarnate, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen and Mother of all things…”. A captivating vision, open to further depths, but its disruptive charge alone is sufficient to strengthen hope for the betterment of our world, reminding the tone of their singular 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, Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation *Marialis Cultus* presents Mary as a model of humble and Christian service.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and Post-Graduate Mariology.Academic Marian Resources: Deepen your formation in Mariology and Marian Theology with the Locus Mariologicus Institute. Pursue the Post-Graduate Mariology program, an academic excellence.
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