What is Mary’s role as a woman and a layperson?
The role of Mary as a woman and layperson in the history of salvationA layperson means a baptized individual who is not part of the clergy. This simple definition distinguishes two states of life: laity and religious within Christianity. In our time, laity are revalued as responsible for the ecclesial community. It is from this definition that we will speak about Mary’s laymanship.Mary, as the Mother of Jesus, is consecrated in the Spirit and joins in the unique sacrifice of Christ to all the priestly people. However, regarding her lay dimension, we must consider three aspects:
- Sociological Sense. Mary is a Jewish woman, so she could never perform any sacerdotal function. In the home, she could, as an educator of the children, transmit the faith until they were five years old. After that age, the child was initiated into public life, where women could not intervene. In fact, even the presence in the temple was carried out in a distant atrium from the prayer space of men, and even in the school of the scribes, female participation was prohibited.
- Historical Sense. Priesthood in Israel derived from lineage. Mary, even belonging to a priestly family, in Jesus’ genealogy, we find Sadoc (Mt 1,14) [Azor generated Sadoc. Sadoc generated Akim. Akim generated Eliud] and Levi (Lc 3,29) [son of Jesus, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matath, son of Levi] was related to Elizabeth, who was a descendant of Aaron (Lc 1,5). The possibility of priesthood would have been for Joseph, because he was a man. Evangelical Sense. Mary’s religiosity took on traits similar to those of Jesus as a new way more existential than ritual. We can even speak of an essential status of lay life in Luke, when he contrasts in a antithetical way the Annunciation of John the Baptist to Zechariah with that of Jesus to Mary. The Angel enters Mary’s house (Lk 1:26) [When Elizabeth was in her sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,] and announces the presence of God to a laywoman. This passage undermines the conception of the ‘stone temple’ and inaugurates the ‘Church of people’, as the secular priestly mediation becomes lay, where the presence of God meets the free person, regardless of their sacerdotal affiliation. Instead, Priest Zechariah remains within the stone temple, incredulous and consequently mute, while Elizabeth points to the veneration of Mary (Lk 1:42) [With a loud voice, she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’]. When we read carefully the description of Elizabeth’s husband, he is a priest who carries out his priesthood in the temple of Jerusalem, the center of Hebrew worship, he was righteous and blameless, lived according to the law and customs (Lk 1:6) [Both were righteous before God and walked faithfully in all the commandments and precepts of the Lord]. However, Zechariah’s long religious and cultic experience did not spare him from doubt about the Angel’s words.
The presence of Mary in the history of salvation transcends the states of wife and mother. For Mariology, all 153 verses about Mary that have reached us do not speak of a change in the *status* of the Mother of Jesus as a layperson. Mary truly participated in the priestly attitudes and behaviors of Jesus when he offers his life for the remission of sins for the world. She was conscious that her Son had come to *save the people from their sins* (Mt 1,21) [“He will save his people from their sins”]. The prophecy of Simeon revealed to her the tragic death, along with the sword that would pierce her soul. Finally, at the hour of the Cross, we witness the supreme revelation of the Son to his Mother, leaving her as an inheritance to the community of the redeemed as Mother in her union with the redeeming sacrifice of her Son. We can thus conclude that Mary’s priesthood is based on the faith response that inaugurates the intrusion of God into the world. The woman who lived in a despised province (Jo 7,41) [“Truly, he is the Prophet”] – others said: *”He is the Christ”* – but others disagreed: *”Can the Christ come from Galilee?”* – is exalted by her faith, for she gave her *consent* (Lc 1,38) [“Jesus turned around and saw that they were following him, he asked them: ‘What are you seeking?’]. As Mother of the Son of God, her actions are the listening to the Word of God, to preserve and realize in daily life what we call the Gospel (Lc 8,19-21) [“His mother and his brothers arrived, but they could not come near because of the crowd. Someone told him: ‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and want to see you’. He answered: ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice”]. Mary is the one who puts into practice the Word of God and teaches us, in all states and forms of life, whether lay or not, to accept God’s call and, with courage, to announce “the great things” of the Lord.The reader, where has he announced the “marvels” that the Lord has done? Comment below on how he has put into practice his laicate.To deepen the theology of Mary as a woman and disciple, consult John Paul II’s encyclical: Redemptoris Mater on Mary in the pilgrimage of faith.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and Graduate studies in Mariology.Graduate Studies in Mariology
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