Salus: Health and Salvation in Mariology

In times of pandemic, words are not always the most fitting in the face of the necessary silence and respect for those who suffer or who are “wounded healers.”

As regards the Mariological perspective, the first thing is not to place the Mother in the valley of tears but in the promised land. For Christians it comes naturally to turn to the Mother of Jesus in moments of pain, since she too suffered in her earthly existence, and she intercedes for the health of her children or even for their sanctification in illness. Over these months, seeing sick people in hospital beds entrust themselves to Mary’s maternal protection has become a routine that, in the third millennium, recovers the presence of Mary as a living person, with simplicity and trust amid difficulty.

We pose the question: how can we find theology in these acts of “popular piety”? Recalling the saying of Francisco Suárez (d. 1617), “piety without truth is weak, while truth without piety is sterile and empty”, we shall try to present the relationship between Mary and health, which shares the same root as the word Salvation: salus.

Salvation

When we speak of salvation in a pluralistic society such as the one in which we live, the starting point cannot be contemporary culture but Revelation. The salvation of the cosmos believed in by the religions of Mesopotamia developed toward liberation from cyclical time, an element of the Asian religions, until it arrived at today’s participation in the divine life proclaimed by the monotheistic religions. We always distinguish ourselves from these theological visions, because we start from the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, and Mary was there.

When we examine Christian salvation more deeply, it is common to think of divine filiation as an interior grace that is distinct from the natural order and even comes into conflict with nature. This very Latin view of Christian Revelation was gradually called into question already in the twentieth century by the distinction that looks at creation from a graced perspective, one that considers nature as a gratuitous gift of God and a path of transcendence toward fullness. We can then speak of a unity between God’s creative action and the work of salvation, which opens man (the creature) to God (the Creator) in a way that progresses in the historical process of justice in hearts and in structures, so as to bring about the Kingdom of God.

In reality, when we say salvation we are not speaking only of the salvation of the soul, or of individual salvation from an evil world, desiring death in order to be able to carry out a fuga mundi. Nor can we even affirm that the consolation of a troubled conscience is salvation. The realization of the hope for justice, for the humanization of man, for the peace of all creation comes closer to this reconciliation between God and man accomplished in Jesus. Where, then, do we find Mary in this vision of salvation, and with what meaning? The solution is always to turn to Sacred Scripture in order to find, starting from the Trinitarian Revelation, the points of support for understanding the essence of salvation.

Returning to the biblical source

The term salvation is used at least some 150 times in the New Testament to indicate happiness, peace, communion with God, health, liberation, and grace. Two very particular elements will serve as our guide along the way: illness and slavery. When we speak of salvation, we are speaking of the opposite of the human condition of creature and sinner. New Testament salvation differs from that of the Old Testament in that it goes beyond mere liberation from enemies, so as to serve God in holiness and righteousness (Lk 1:69, 71). New Testament salvation presents the remission of sins (Lk 1:77) and the birth of water and the Spirit (Jn 3:5), which makes us children of God (Gal 3:26) and new creatures (2 Cor 5:17).

Knowing that salvation is eschatological in its fullness, the fruit of the day of the Lord (1 Cor 5:5) for all those who have persevered to the end (Mk 13:13), since we are saved in hope, we cannot obscure the vital commitment to justice and the universal love that stands in solidarity with those in need. Consequently, salvation is realized in each believer throughout history as a present event: today salvation has come to this house (Lk 19:9), “behold, now is the time of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). A conception of salvation that excludes its historical and vital impact will fall into the ideology that postpones the already of salvation to an uncertain future.

Salvation as an event of dialogue

The Revelation that offers us salvation comes from a history, not from a conceptual structure as dogmatics presents it. This event is a dialogue between God and man, through deeds, words, and meditations. Elements such as Covenant or Election try to express it but do not exhaust what can be said about the structure of the event, because in the Bible there is neither God alone nor man alone, but the encounter of both and the outcome of human salvation.

The dialogue is that of salvation and blessing on God’s part, which in the New Testament sets us free from sin, from the law, and from death (Rom 7:6; 8:2) and implies communion with the Father through Christ in the Spirit (Eph 2:18). The voice of the Father, “who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ” (Eph 1:3), calls us to walk in holiness and love as adopted sons. Man’s response then brings the dialogue to completion when he reflects on God’s great interventions in history (Magnificat), when he bears witness in his life to the God of the living, and when he offers worship in spirit and truth. This is our understanding of salvation, which we will now present from a Mariological standpoint.

Mary, part and partner of salvation

The Mother of Jesus holds a singular place in the history of salvation. We can say that all the elements of the experience of the people of Israel, raised to their fullness by the newness of the Gospel, find in Mary’s experience their supreme creaturely realization. In this sense, following the Sacred Scriptures, we can outline some characteristics of Mary that shape her action in the work of salvation:

Mary’s experience of salvation.

When we observe the interpretation that Luke offers of the angel’s announcement and of the visit to Elizabeth through the Magnificat, we come upon the most ancient Marian theology. The pneumatic explanation of what took place leads Mary to bear witness to the experience of God my Savior (Lk 1:47). Mary’s experience is God’s benevolent gaze upon the poor of YHWH, who are also the weak and the helpless. Mary exists under the gaze of God, who turns to her with love, making her take an active part in the salvation of a People. This obedience leads to the blessing pronounced by Elizabeth when she says: blessed are you among women […] blessed is she who believed (Lk 1:42, 45).

Mary’s experience of blessing

Blessing is a gift that is bound up with life and its mystery. God is the source of blessing because He is the source of life (Ps 36:10). Therefore, when it is said blessed are you among women, this means that God has blessed her more than all women, for the fruit that sprang up in her womb is not just any life, but the author of life, the Son of the Most High God (Lk 1:32, 35). This Life has its origin in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, for whom nothing is impossible (Lk 1:35, 37, 49). Indeed, Mary is blessed in the womb that made her divinely fruitful, as well as blessed in the heart renewed by the Spirit, anticipating in herself the fulfillment of Christ’s promises to His faithful. When we reread kecharitomene in the light of what we have said above, we see that it means permanently graced by the love of God through the transformation that blesses her, making her, too, Daughter of her Son (Eph 1:5).

Mary’s response: word, action, and meditation

What is the Holy Virgin’s response to God’s saving and blessed action? Mary takes a responsible part in the dialogue with God, reacting with disquiet and asking for explanations, and offering the consent of perfect faith. Her complete readiness to adhere to the divine word conveyed by the angel still leaves us amazed today at the feminine genius it entails: Here I am, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let your word be fulfilled in me (Lk 1:38).

Mary’s worship and life, together with a particular contemplation, clearly corresponded to this response, since Luke describes Mary as a reflective woman who ponders in the silence of her heart (Lk 2:19, 51). The Mariological tradition still preserves today the title of Mary as the woman of the wise heart and of memory, because she transforms history into awareness. The events of Jesus are remembered by Mary, who repeats in herself the sapiential journey that shapes and characterizes the spiritual physiognomy of Israel.

We can then conclude that Mary is this image of salvation that represents, in a concrete and living way, salvation as a dialogue between God and man. In Mary, God’s action becomes the transparency of the mystery, for she is saved and blessed: whether from her beginning as the Immaculate One or from her earthly end as the glorified Assumed One, Mary illuminates the vocation of every man to be a son in the Son of God the Father through the Holy Spirit.

In the next article, we will discuss the relationship between Mary and Health.