by Dr. Jacob Mathew, Malankara World

At the St. Peter's and St. Paul's Syriac Orthodox Church at Southfield (Detroit), Michigan, where our St. Mary's Syriac Orthodox Church also conducts the services, there is a Painting of St. Mary and Baby Jesus. On the first look, there is nothing unusual about this painting. Last year, His Eminence Yeldo Mor Titus, Archbishop and Patriarchal Vicar of Malankara Archdiocese, North America,  explained the significance of this ICON Painting. If you look carefully, St. Mary's fingers are pointing at Jesus Christ. She is pointing all of us to the Savior and Redeemer, the Emmanuel (God with Us) who has incarnated to save us from our sins and paid the ransom to make us sons and daughters of God.

In our cover picture of today, Archbishop HE Yeldo Mor Titus is directing us to the painting of Theotokos and Jesus. Study the picture carefully.

St. Mary was the first evangelist and the first disciple of her own Son, Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. She gave the first Gospel testimony to her cousin, Elizabeth, without words. This was the first act Mary did after the logos entered her womb. This is a fruit of her humble obedient response to the word of God which she was most certainly attuned to hearing. That response was the fruit borne from a life of surrendered love. It also shows that Mary was transformed as soon as logos entered her. We also transform when we encounter Jesus. There are very few records of Mary's explicit words given in the texts of the New Testament of the Bible. (There are no words of St. Joseph recorded in the Gospels!) Mary observed what was going on, and kept them in her heart. After the ascension of Jesus, she had shared her experiences with Dr. Luke. We get a glimpse of the early life of Jesus from St. Luke's Gospel.

Mary was there at the Incarnation, Birth, first miracle performed by Jesus (wedding at Cana), Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God Incarnate. She was there throughout what are often called the "hidden years" in His life at Nazareth where ordinary work was ennobled and childrearing forever changed because of His participation. His disciples spent just three years with Him, during His "public ministry," but Mary spent thirty three years!

Mary was there at the Wedding Feast at Cana in Galilee, when the first of the Lord's 'signs' (as John describes Jesus' miracles) occurred - in a response to and as a fruit of - her intercession. It was there she gave that sage and still relevant advice to all those in attendance at that wedding and to all who throughout human history seek to follow her Son, "Do whatever He tells you". In the painting above, she is still giving us that message that "Jesus is the Way."

Today we celebrate the birth of St. Mary. Many of us had been observing the 8 day lent leading to this event. If you were in Kerala, you would have gone to Marian Pilgrimage churches such as St. Mary's Cathedral, Manarcadu. The meditation there leave us with profound memories. When I was very young, I used to go to Manarcadu church because my mother was a firm believer of St. Mary's intercession. She will not make any food till the evening. So, if you are not observing lent, so be it - no food. (In those days, it was considered improper to buy food from a thattukada or a restaurant. So, you fast, whether you like it or not.)

The significant conclusion from observing the crowd at Manarcadu church is that the majority of people who come to observe ettu nomb (8 day Lent spoken in Malayalam) are non-christians. They will vouch for the power of the intercession of Theotokos. It is astonishing to see the Hindus who live near Manarcadu coming to protect the church from seedy elements. When you consider what ISIS is doing to our churches and to Christians in Iraq and Syria, this takes on added significance. It is a miracle and tells us a lot about our Mother Mary. She has become the mother not only to Christians but also to the whole world and is directing everyone to Jesus. Look at the painting again.

In our home, when we have the evening prayers, the intercessional prayers to St. Mary was always prayed (from the Konatt Malpan's prayer book along with the specified prayers for that particular day). Once I asked my mother, "Why are we praying this prayer?" My mother answered that we are praying for people who are sick, who are students as well as women who did not conceive in time like our Nattassery Thankamma. Thankamma kochamma was an elderly cousin of mine who did not have a baby for a very long time. Then viola! she conceived and had a baby boy. All those prayers were answered! That reminds me of the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth. They prayed so long for a child that they even forgot praying for a child when the Angel finally appeared to Zachariah and told him that God is answering their prayers! (Old Zachariah even forgot by then that they were praying for a child as they were very old at that time. I am sure Elizabeth never gave up.) Isn't that amazing? Like the angel reminded Mary, 'There is nothing impossible with God.'

My mother is no longer with us. But now my wife has taken up the same faith, just like my mother, praying for the intercession of St. Mary and Jesus. We need to surrender ourselves to the God like Mother Mary did. It is very calming and comforting. Like Jesus told us, leave our problems and the heavy load to him. Trust that God will take care of them. We did and we can say that God answered our prayers many many times. We can also vouch for the power of the intercessory prayers to St. Mary.

Mary is Theotokos (mother of God); but she is our mother too (as well as the mother of the church, and the mother of the world.) When Jesus saw Mary and the disciple he loved at the foot of the cross, he uttered the famous "Woman, behold your son!" (John 19:26) Although it was implied that he was referring to John (or the disciple, he loved) as the son; strictly speaking Jesus did not specify who it was. Archbishop HE Yeldo Mor Titus said that what Jesus said on the cross is that all the people He/God loves are the sons of Mary. So, if we love Jesus, we should accept Mary as our mother and care for her too like St. John did. That is why our church respects St. Mary so much. Theethose thirumeni has reminded us that there is a structure to all our prayers. All the 'yama prayers' start with Qaumo, followed by 51st Psalm (hoosoyo - repentance prayer) and then prayers to St. Mary, prayers to Saints, prayers to departed and other prayers and end in Qaumo. Intercessory prayers to St. Mary is always included in all these prayers. The church consider them very powerful. Why? Because she is our Mother.

Incidentally, if you are wondering what those two chains hanging from Archbishop HE Yeldo Mor Titus' neck, I have a taken a photo of that too. One is a cross with a portrait of Jesus and the other one has a portrait of St. Mary and Jesus. Jesus Christ in this seems to be a little older than what we normally see Mary is holding. Thirumeni carries it wherever he goes, holding them close to his heart.

Syriac Orthodox Church is not the only church that respects St. Mary so much. All Oriental/Eastern Orthodox Churches and Catholic Church have high regard for the intercession to St. Mary. Pope John Paul II reminded us:

With the words "Woman, behold your son!" Christ not only tells John that Mary is his mother, but also invites us to accept her as our mother. At this moment, Christ gives Mary to us as one to whom we may come in prayer, asking for her intercession and guidance. She is also offered to us a model so that we may imitate her willingness to accept the Lord's plan not only for herself, but also for her Son.

At that moment Mary became our mother. Jesus entrusted us to go to her with our problems like a son/daughter will go to his/her mother for answers.

Some of the ignorant people say that we are "Worshipping Mary". They obviously do not know what they are talking about. (Like Jesus prayed on the cross, "Lord, forgive them for their ignorance! They do not know what they are talking about.") We do not worship Mary. We are asking Mary for her intercession, to pray for us. Jesus lived with and cared for by Mary for about 31 years before he left home for his public ministry. So, Jesus has a high regard for his earthly mother. He has always done what his mother asked him to do even if he was not quite ready to do it at that time. Take what happened in the wedding at Cana. When Mary told him that the family is out of wine, Jesus protested that His time hasn't come. But Mary knew better. She told the servants to do as Jesus tells them to do. We know what happened after that! Yes, Jesus answers all prayers of Mother Mary. That is why her intercession is so powerful!

Intercessional Prayers to St. Mary During the Qurbana
St. Mary's Syriac Orthodox Church, Detroit, MI

St. Mary had been represented/compared with many Old Testament and New Testament themes. The burning bush Moses encountered is often compared to St. Mary. Just like the fire burned, but did not consume the burning bush, St. Mary became pregnant when the logos entered her; but her virginity was not broken. It was left intact just like the burning bush.

We also compare St. Mary to the ark of the covenant of Israel. The Ark of the Covenant was described in the Old Testament Book of Exodus as the sanctuary for the Holy of Holies, the tabernacle in which was the dwelling-place of the Lord. Just as the Ark of the Covenant was the dwelling-place filled by the presence of the Lord God, the Virgin Mary became the dwelling-place for Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, as described in the Gospel of Luke. In other words, Mary's womb became the ark of the covenant of the New Testament. (We proclaim this in our Sleeba Noon prayers, "Mosha chamacha sakshya pettakame.... The ark built by Moses)

In this connection, Mary is also described as the woman revealed in the Revelation. Let us take a look:

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm.

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and his throne. The woman herself fled into the desert where she had a place prepared by God, that there she might be taken care of for twelve hundred and sixty days.
Revelation 11:19-12:1-6

We already know that Mary represented the Ark of covenant in the Old Testament. In the Book of Revelation, the Ark of the Covenant precedes the "Woman clothed with the sun," as described in the above passage.

Who is the Woman clothed with the sun? St. John, in his Gospel, referred Mary as the new Eve, the woman of Genesis 3:15. The word 'woman' has deep symbolism. Jesus refers to St. Mary as "woman" during his public ministry. Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, the Messiah who will rule with an iron rod (Psalm 2:9), and who is caught up to God and his throne (Revelation 12:5). The church fathers have taught us that Virgin Mary is the "woman clothed with the sun" in Revelation 12:1.

Yes, Mary is the new Eve. Whereas the old Eve brought sin and death due to her disobedience, Mary, the new Eve, with her obedience (and saying "yes" to the angel at annunciation) saved the humanity from the sins of the Old Eve.

We only scratched the surface in describing the role played by St. Mary in the church. Malankara World has one of the largest compilation of articles on St. Mary. Please read them and study them to understand the role played by St. Mary in the God's plan for our redemption.

Mary's eyes are always focused on Jesus Christ, her son and her Lord. Every decision, every choice that Mary made on earth came from contemplating Jesus Christ. In the painting cited above, Mary is looking at you. She is pleading with you to make Jesus Christ the central spot in your life. When we make Jesus Christ the first consideration in every thought, deed, and desire, then we will be pure like Mother Mary. Jesus said, "I am the Way." Mary concurs. She is pointing us to the way.

Archbishop HE Yeldo Mor Titus is also pointing us to Jesus in our cover photo wearing the likeness of Mary and Jesus next to his heart.

By Protopresbyter Michael Polsky

1. The Birth of the All-holy Virgin Mary.

In the birth of the All-holy Virgin Mary we have the beginning of the the sacred history of the New Testament, the history of our salvation. It was the preparation for the incarnation of the Son of God, the advent of God in the flesh. Thereby that human nature, which was to receive God Himself, is made ready, that the race of man might be saved. This human nature had to be made worthy of God, had to be holy and immaculate; it needed a holy origin, upbringing and development. Her being chosen of God rests in the fact that she of all mankind must needs give to God reciprocally the common nature of mankind.

The time of the Virgin's birth is the time of the awaiting of the coming of the Messiah, Christ. Her parents are Joachim and Anna; he was of the kingly, and she of the high priestly, lineage.[1] The spouses, well advanced in age did not have any children. This was regarded as a disgrace among the people, and for this reason they were considered as deprived of God's blessing.

In abasement and humility they desired a child, as a mercy from God and to take away their disgrace and reproach among the people. In this way, humility, prayer and the holy promise to dedicate their child to God for service in the Temple were the spiritual prerequisite of its birth. And God heard them, and to them there was born a daughter, whom they called Mary. The name Mary is a translation from the Hebrew and it signifies: high, exalted over all.

The Mother of the Lord was in actuality born of pious parents, and indeed could only be the fruition of their spiritual endeavour, their heartfelt striving, and their tearful prayers to God. A spiritual existence could only be the fruit of the spirit, initiated not only according to the natural, blind inclinations of the flesh and the natural laws of the requirements of the nature of the flesh, but according to the aspirations of the spirit and through the action of the special mercy and grace of God for people, who were already elderly and whose flesh was withering, but who were living according to the spirit. If the origin be holy, so shall the whole, and if the root be holy, so are the branches (Rom 11:16). From a holy root there came forth a holy fruit.

An example of a promise with reference to a future child is given by the barren Hannah [Anna], the mother of the holy Prophet Samuel. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of Sabaoth! if Thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of Thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give unto Thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life... (1 Kings [Samuel] 1:10-11). Joachim and Anna also followed the example of the parents of the righteous Samuel.

The mother of the Saviour, a King according to His earthly descent and according to His eternal ministry, and High Priest of the future good things, naturally, had in herself to compass the two lines of descent, the royal and high priestly, in her people. By her father she was of the tribe of Judah and the house of David, and through her mother she was of the tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron. Although Christ came forth from a mother alone without a father, and Joseph was only the betrothed husband of Mary, the protector and guardian of her virginity and only the nominal father of the Saviour, yet the Saviour was not simply nominally of the royal house, but was in reality, through his mother and according to the flesh, of this house, of which in the person of David it had been said of the Lord, thy throne shall be established unto the ages (2 Kings [Samuel] 7:16). This throne could not be disestablished, and Mary actually was herself actually descended from the house of David that she might be the mother of the Lord.

2. The entrance Into the Temple of the All-holy Virgin Mary.

When Mary was fully three years old, Joachim and Anna fulfilled their vow and brought her to the Temple in Jerusalem, that she might stay there in the Lord's service. The maiden, thus consecrated to God, was brought up at the Temple and lived nearby in the special apartments [attached thereto]. Customarily the high priest received and blessed all those consecrated to God at the gates of the Temple, but when they brought in the infant Mary, he, by the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, led her into the Temple's Holy of Holies, where he himself was permitted to enter only once a year.

The All-holy Virgin Mary lived at the Temple until her fourteenth year, continuing in labours, in prayer and in the reading of the word of God, in the fulfillment of every virtue. But at that time it was necessary for her either to return to her parents or be given in marriage. As Joachim and Anna had at that time already reposed, and the All-holy Virgin had no desire to enter marriage, the priests of the Temple betrothed her to a distant relation, the elder Joseph, for him to be the guardian of her virginity.

The All-holy Virgin was consecrated to the Lord after fulfilling three years, following the example of the Old Testament injunction regarding the fruits of the trees: "Three years shall it be uncircumcised unto you, it shall not be eaten of But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be consecrated for the festivals of the Lord" (Lev. 19:23-4).

Thus did Hannah say of her son Samuel: "When the child shall be taken from the breast and weaned, then Will I bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide for ever." "And she brought him unto the house of the Lord in Silom, and the child was still an infant ... and she said: For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath fulfilled my petition, which I asked of Him; therefore also have I given him over to the Lord all the days of his life, that he may serve the Lord" (1 Kings [Samuel] 1:21-28). In a like spirit, we must suppose, Mary's parents brought and gave over their little child in the Temple for service.

How far this comparison is true and represents the actual entry of the All-holy Virgin Mary into the Temple can be judged from the fact that that the All-holy Virgin herself sang her festive song ("My soul doth magnify the Lord") and her thanksgiving to God for her election to be His mother according to the flesh following the example of the song of Hannah, the mother of the Prophet Samuel (1 Kings 2:1-10): "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the Lord...." It is evident that certain of the most important verses in the composition of these wondrous hymns parallel each other. Furthermore, we can not only find parallels between the All-holy Virgin and the Prophet Samuel in their birth and in their being presented in the Temple, but also in the fact that Samuel sought out and anointed the child David, the originator of the royal house, for the kingship, and Mary gave birth to his last Descendent, the Messiah, the King of an Eternal Kingdom. The ministers of the same work had the same upbringing.

Everyone who has the Holy Spirit is a temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). In such a man, God abides by grace. But only in one person in the world did God Himself abide, in His very Being, in His nature, taking human nature and abiding in her - this one was the All-holy Virgin Mary. She is actually the Temple of God and the place of His presence and of His glory.

As she is thus herself the "Holy of Holies" - herself "the Ark" - , again the Lord shall be manifested (Ex. 22:25) unto the race of man, the All-holy Virgin does not simply enter the Temple but goes into the very Holy of Holies, behind the veil with its depictions of the Cherubims. Just as Simeon the God-receiver came by inspiration into the Temple to meet the Infant Lord (Luke 2:27), so also by the inspiration of God the high priest met the Virgin in an extraordinary way, and led her into the holy place, which corresponded to her. In "the chambers built round the walls of the Temple, round the Temple and the oracle (the Holy of Holies), there in the chambers built around at the sides" (3 Kings 6:5), which were by the second Temple, there it was that the All-holy Virgin spent her youth.

The Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is an enormous subject in the Orthodox Church. At the same time it is rather modest, dogmatically speaking. In the Orthodox Church the presence of Mary is defined by only two dogmas, but she is advocated by a thousand names or images.

The two dogmas adopted by the ecumenical councils affirm that Mary is Mother of God and that she is the ever-Virgin. 1 All the rest of what we know about her comes from the Ecclesial Tradition, history, popular devotion, and the Holy Spirit.

"The name of Mother of God is the only name which contains all the mystery of the economy," as St. John Damascene says. The "economy" means the "work" that God has done for our salvation, and which is revealed through the name of Mary. In the mirror of her participation in the work of salvation operated by God we shall consider the dogmatical, spiritual and liturgical role of the Theotókos in the Oriental Church.

"Nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved," said St. Peter of Jesus (Acts 4:12). This confession remains immutable and inviolable for all disciples of Christ. But the other apostle, St. Paul, proclaims the "depth of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of God" (Rom 11:33); the depth which is concealed from us, but which is constantly revealing the incredible richness of the veneration of Mary in the Orthodox Church can be viewed as a particular form of this revelation. In fact, faith in Christ is fulfilled in the person of Mary with an unspeakable light which betrays the secret of God that only his Mother knows. And she communicates it to us, because she does not cease to reveal the wisdom and the human face of God. Lending an ear to the innumerable prayers addressed to Mary, we understand that each one of them underlines a singular facet of the inexhaustible mystery of the Incarnation-as if the feast of the Nativity continued forever in the Orthodox Church and since Christmas Eve the world lives in astonishment.

"In the Silence of God"

"From apostolic times," writes the Orthodox Archbishop of San Francisco, John Maximovitch, "and to our days all who truly love Christ give veneration to her who gave birth to him, raised him and protected him in the days of his youth. If God the Father chose her, God the Holy Spirit descended upon her, and God the Son dwelt in her, submitted to her in the days of his youth, was concerned for her when hanging on the Cross, then should not everyone who confesses the Holy Trinity venerate her?" 2

This veneration was not affirmed directly in the letter of Scripture, but was concealed in the spirit of Scripture, and the earlier generation of Christians, obedient to this Spirit, could recognize him in the presence of Mary. One may say that the whole veneration of Mary has matured in the bosom of the spiritual recognition of her presence in the strictly and fundamentally Christocentric faith. One of the first (if not the first) of the witnesses to such recognition, or awakening, of the discreet presence of Mary belongs to St. Ignatius of Antioch. On the way to his martyrdom (107) he wrote: "To the prince of this world, the virginity of Mary and her birth were kept hidden; and so also was the death of our Lord. These are the three glorious mysteries that took place in the silence of God." 3

Tradition tells us that St. Ignatius wrote these words during a brief rest while on his way to Rome, where he was sent to die in the arena of the circus. He is not afraid; he begs his friends not to intervene on his behalf with the Roman authorities in order to save his life. Death promises to him a meeting with Jesus-"I am seeking the One who died for us; I want him who resurrected for our sake." 4 Facing his death, he behaves and confirms his vocation and duty of a pastor; he writes letters to his flock imparting some teachings, he prays, preaches, exhorts. Above all he is concerned about the unity and catholicity of the Church, because where the Church is, there the Christ is truly present, and there truly is the faith and the Eucharist. From the very source of his ecclesial experience, in the offering of his life to God, he discovers the mystery of Mary.

"The links between Our Lady and the Church are not only numerous and close," writes Henry de Lubac, "They are essential, and woven from within. The two mysteries of the faith are not just solitary; we might say that they are 'one single and unique mystery.' ... In the Church's Tradition the same biblical symbols are applied, either in turn or simultaneously, with one and the same ever increasing profusion, to the Church and Our Lady." 5 The same thing can also be repeated by an Orthodox theologian, but with one difference: In the Eastern Church Mary is never above the Church, but always inside of it. (For this reason the term "Mother of the Church" was not accepted by the Orthodox). But the Church constantly "recognizes" itself in the presence and the grace of Mary, as if the Church had the need to live the presence of the Mother of God in her own bosom, to enter more and more in communion with her beatitude, and the Church's river of praise is never exhausted. On the contrary, it always finds new expressions; with time it becomes richer, more abundant. For instance, every title given to icons, which express the various facets of Mary's life in the Church, attempts, through that same title, to anticipate and to explain the secret content by means of the representation of that icon: "Unexpected Joy," "Finder of the Lost," "Vivifying Fountain." "Petitioner for Sinners," "Divine River of Living Water," and so on. This river of images and of words that comes from the spring called "Mary" is born in the faith, nourishes it and becomes part of our "ecclesial being,"6 though it often doesn't come to light in the Word. However, where the Church is, there is Mary, and where there is Mary, the Church of her Son is born and is formed. In order to understand the origin of our spontaneous veneration, we have to examine our way of living the faith in the Tradition of the Church.

The Heart Filled with the Holy Spirit

"How shall we call you? Full of grace? Heaven, since you made the sun of justice rise? Paradise, since you caused the flower of incorruptibility to blossom? How shall we call you? Virgin, since you remained incorrupt? Chaste Mother?

"Since you held in your holy arms the Son, God of the universe, implore him so that our souls may be saved."7

Liturgical thought tries to link within itself praise, the marvelous, and the paradoxical. From the very beginning of Mary's existence in the Church, it is as if Mary were cloaked in mystery, that kind of mystery which gives rise to the wonderment that caused Elizabeth to cry out: "And how does this happen to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk 1:43).

Only the heart, "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Lk 1:41), can recognize these images, because it becomes a womb giving birth to prayers, praise, dogmatic truths and ecclesial feasts. But Mary herself was, and remains, the living temple, the temple of silence where the Word is born. The Word became flesh, not only at the words of the angel, but also in the silence of the Holy Spirit. And indeed, Mary carries within herself the silence of the Holy Spirit. And in silence she comes to live with us, in our hearts, near the fountain of faith in Christ. Silence is another voice of revelation. God sends his Son who also becomes manifest in the care, in the tenderness, in the prayerfulness, and in the presence of his Mother according to the flesh. Martyrdom, that is, the victory over the world and its prince and the last Eucharist of faith, allows the martyr to discover the Virgin Mary. And there is more: Mary's virginity as a sign of the great silence of God is united to humankind in order to save it.

The Grain That Grows

"Silence is the sacrament of the coming century," St. Seraphim of Sarov used to say, in remembering the words of the ancient Fathers. 8

In the silence of the Spirit, listening carefully to the future century, St. Ignatius was able to hear the mystery of Mary that St. Gregory of Nyssa called "the limit between creation and non-creation." Ignatius spontaneously found within himself the seed of the presence of Mary. But in reality this seed had been sown in him from the beginning, by his baptism in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This seed was already hidden in the Most Holy Trinity, and Mary's presence in the ecclesial faith derives from the mystery of Christ. The Word became flesh, and consequently Mary's flesh, and all human flesh, is filled and consecrated with the presence of the Word.

The same mystery will become clear, and the same silence will speak, to the heart of each individual and also to all the generations that will call Mary "blessed," and that with her and through her will enter in communion with her Son. But, to use the language of the Gospel, let us remember, as Jesus says while speaking about the reign of God, that "it is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth" (Mk 4:31). Also the "little seed" of Mary's mystery is so small, that it is not even clearly visible in the Gospel. But no sooner is the "Marian seed" sown in genuinely lived faith that it begins to grow. The seed continues to grow in the Church and with the Church who reflects within herself the growth of the Kingdom of God. It is the very Church that, by growing together with the "Marian seed" in its bosom, recognizes the gentle presence of Mary everywhere the Church herself is present: in her past, transformed in the Sacred Tradition; in her eschatological future, in her eternal evangelical present; but above all in the heart of humankind, in the heart of every person.

"Being mediatrix between God and mankind, she made God the Son of man, but she made every human creature a child of God" (St. Gregory Palamas). 9

Tradition:

The Memory of Mary One can say that the heart of Mary is the heart of the very Church; the Gospel points this out very clearly: "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them" (Lk 2:19-51). The meditation of Mary is, in fact, her mediation. God sends his message, and the "Good News" that once more becomes flesh in the heart of Mary, is transformed in the chamber of the memory of what God reveals. It is like the seed of silence transformed into words. By means of the silent words held in the heart of Mary, we can also hear the same message from God; the message about the Mother of God as well as the message given by the Mother. The root of tradition develops, not so much from the voices of the people, but above all by the great silence of the heart of Mary who gives life to the Word.

Thus, the "remembrance" of Mary becomes the beginning and the deposit of ecclesial memory. To the extent in which the memory of the Church is developed and manifested in our consciousness, we will begin to hear the words of Jesus, the words that Mary preserved and kept in her heart. Every generation of the faithful possesses all the richness of the past, of the revelation of Christ which is repeated, not only in his Word, but in continuing growth, while remaining faithful to its original identity. The preservation of this identity, the Tradition of the Church, is the "remembrance," but a remembering filled by the same Spirit that filled Mary. Vladimir Lossky, in his essay called "Panaghia," dedicated to Mary, finds the foundation of the very principle of the Church, the Tradition of the Church, in the Marian heart, in the "remembrance" of Mary.

If Christ is preached on the rooftop, if he is proclaimed so that everyone may come to know him in the teaching presented to the whole world, then the mystery of the Mother of God opens itself to the inner core of the Church, to the faithful who receive the Word of God. ... This is not only the object of our faith, but it is something more; it is the fruit of faith, matured into Tradition. 10

The fruit grown by the seed of Marian silence, sown in the memory of the Church, is, above all, the "remembering," the "recognition" of the very person of Mary. We carry inside of us this "remembering" like a seal, a fingerprint of the Word, of the same Word that Mary utters as Mother of Christ and of all the living-Mary prefiguring the Church, Mary like the image of the soul that gives birth to the Lord. The fruit of silence becomes the voice of the Church, the voice of a "remembering" Church, a Church that recognizes, and a Church that transforms her silence into the word of faith.

Certainly in the Gospel Mary does not always remain silent. She talks to the angel who comes to her with his announcement, "she 'magnifies' the Lord within her soul," she asks Jesus to help the poor family at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. But she talks little and keeps quiet a lot. At the foot of her Son's Cross she doesn't utter a word. She is also silent at the hour of Jesus' death and after the news of his Resurrection. She continues to keep quiet at the moment of the Holy Spirit's descent, when everybody else begins to talk. Therefore, if the gift given to the others was the gift of tongues, the gift of Mary, the greatest of all, was the gift of "prayerful silence." 11

In the silence of the Cross, Jesus speaks his last words to his Mother and to John, the beloved disciple: "Son, here is your Mother," "Woman, here is your son. And from that hour the disciple took her into his home" (Jn 19:27). And in his very home, in the habitation of Mary's silence, immersed in the maternal mystery, after many years of the invisible work that was being done in his heart, John says, with perhaps the most beautiful words about God that man could have ever said: "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the word of life" (1 Jn 1:1). Yes, this witnessing of Mary is silent, but her silence speaks, her silence carries and touches the Word of life. Her presence is hidden here, but who can make a statement like this, who can pronounce these words with a heart fuller than that of John's, "Life made itself visible" and "we have seen"? The testimony of John is like a transmutation into the hidden words in the heart of Mary. Wasn't it Mary herself who made visible this life? Wasn't she the instrument for which this Word was made audible?

"And from that hour the disciple took her into his home." But John isn't only the beloved disciple who gives his testimony. John stays always in the same house; this is another image of the Church in communion with Mary, in the silence of Mary, in the love of Mary. And it was John himself who, from his Marian silence, spoke these other piercing words about God, "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him" (1 Jn 4:16).

Footnotes

by Bishop Paul S. Loverde

Each year, as Mother's Day approaches, it is likely that each of us can recall several moments when we did not behave in the way that our mothers desired. It is certainly not always easy to be a mother, especially when her dreams for her children may not work out as planned. We are, in a particular way during this month, reminded of how much our mothers have sacrificed for us and we should take the opportunity to let our own mothers know that we cherish and value them.

For us, it is the Blessed Mother to whom we should look for a true model of motherhood, and also in a personal and real way as our Mother in the spiritual life. On those difficult days when things do not go as we intended, we remember that Mary's life also had great difficulties and hardships that she could not have foreseen at the Annunciation. Mary certainly could not have anticipated the full totality into which her "yes" - her fiat - would lead her. Mary's joyful acceptance led to the birth of Christ and ultimately to the gift of our salvation through her Son's death and resurrection. Yet, this was not her only gift to us. It is at the Crucifixion that the true meaning of motherhood is revealed: it is there at the Cross that a mother is called not only to accept God's will in her own life, but also to embrace it in the lives of her children, as did Mary.

Pope Benedict tells us that "Mary's motherhood, which began with her fiat in Nazareth, is fulfilled at the foot of the Cross" (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily at Mass in Ephesus, November 29, 2006). Standing there as her only Son died, her grace-filled faith, hope and charity were not only strong enough to sustain her in suffering through the horror of the Crucifixion, but also granted her the deep union with her Son that allowed her to participate in a full, true and uniquely maternal way in her Son's saving sacrifice.

It is also here at the Cross that Christ gives Mary to each of us as our Mother. The Holy Father echoes the words of Saint Anselm, "‘from the moment of her fiat Mary began to carry all of us in her womb" (Ibid). With her complete and open fiat at the Annunciation she said yes, not only to the physical conception of Jesus in her womb, but to any role God wanted her to play in the plan of salvation. Thus, she allowed the Holy Spirit to conceive in her the whole Christ, Head and members. At the moment of the completion of His redeeming mission, Christ revealed the fullness of Mary's maternal vocation to her, John and the world when Jesus said to her: 'Woman, behold your son!' (John 19:26). Blessed John Paul II reminds us that with these words Christ not only tells John that Mary is his mother, but also invites us to accept her as our mother. At this moment, Christ gives Mary to us as one to whom we may come in prayer, asking for her intercession and guidance. She is also offered to us a model so that we may imitate her willingness to accept the Lord's plan not only for herself, but also for her Son.

While most mothers desire that the Lord's will be accomplished in their child's life, the truth is that unifying one's desires with God's on a daily basis can be a challenge. The moment a woman knows she is pregnant, she starts dreaming of her child's future - anticipating the laugh of an infant or the first steps of a toddler. As the child grows, the mother's dreams grow as well, and she prays that the child entrusted to her will have a joyful, healthy and successful life, a stable job and children of his or her own.

As a mother, Mary would have desired a pain-free and peaceful life for Jesus. Yet, how must she have felt when she heard the words of Simeon, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35).

Yet as fearful as these words were, Mary knew them to be the revelation of God's will for her Son and accepted them wholeheartedly. Embracing God's will for her child was not easy - He would be ridiculed, falsely accused, beaten and crucified. We know that for most mothers, and especially for Mary, wounds inflicted on a child are far more painful than any wounds directly received. What mother could endure such pain unless she had the grace to recognize and accept the Lord's ways for her child? Mary knew by faith at the foot of the Cross that God willed it, and repeated her fiat with increased love and surrender. Amazingly, she not only accepted what was happening but joined with her Son in willing the Passion.

The path God has chosen for a child may be very different than the dreams of a mother, yet it is a path that will always bring true fulfillment. It is a powerful and beautiful prayer when a mother asks God for the grace to conform completely and joyfully her will for her children with His will for them. A mother of an only child realizes that she will never have grandchildren if her son says "yes" to God's call to be a priest. Yet, this becomes an opportunity for the mother not only to support his vocation to the priesthood, but also to see each child he baptizes as her spiritual grandchild. What a beautiful witness of being open to God's plan!

There are other times, as well, where God's plan for a woman's motherhood is different than what is anticipated. It is with a grateful heart that I think of the many mothers and fathers who have welcomed children into their homes and their hearts through the gift of adoption. In other households, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and even neighbors may be called to nurture the children in their lives. Certainly many religious sisters, teachers and other lay women educate and support young people in our community. Yes, the Lord calls women in a variety of ways to imitate Our Lady in her selfless devotion, asking that God's will be accomplished in the life of her Son.

On Mother's Day, let us thank Our Lord for the gift of our mothers, including all natural mothers, adoptive mothers and spiritual mothers. Let us pray always for them, particularly by asking for Our Lady's intercession in the Rosary. May God's will be done in their lives and in the lives of their children as they seek to live out the vocation to which He has called them.

by Carl E. Olson

Scripture:

. Mi 5:1-4a
. Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
. Heb 10:5-10
. Lk 1:39-45

St. Augustine, in his treatise, "On Holy Virginity," made this profound, even startling, statement:

"Thus also her nearness as a Mother would have been of no profit to Mary, had she not borne Christ in her heart after a more blessed manner than in her flesh."

In that single line, the great Doctor anticipated the objections voiced by many Protestants while also explaining the honor and love shown by Catholics (and Eastern Orthodox) for the Theotokos, the Mother of God. I heard and repeated, while growing up in a .... home of ..... persuasion, many of those objections:

"Mary was just an ordinary woman,"
"Mary was not sinless," and, of course,
"Catholics worship Mary!"

People would sometimes go to extremes to avoid any appearance of praise for Mary. A close relative once told me that Mary had merely been a "biological vessel" for the baby Jesus!

Two things changed my mind: reading actual Catholic teaching about Mary and re-reading Scripture. The first came from a sense of fairness toward what I didn’t know; the second came from a growing (and hardly characteristic) humility about what I thought I knew. Sure, I had read the opening chapters of the Gospel of Luke many times. But I must have read it dozens of times before I began to slowly comprehend the astonishment of the Annunciation, the wonder of Elizabeth's ecstatic greeting, the magnitude of the Magnificat.

Today's Gospel reading follows the Annunciation and immediately precedes the Canticle of Mary. The young Mary, told by Gabriel that she had found favor with God and would bear a son, eventually sets out to see Elizabeth, also pregnant with a son. Having already been confirmed by a heavenly messenger of God, Mary was then confirmed by her own flesh and blood in words heard and repeated by countless faithful through the centuries:

"Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."

To be blessed is to have found favor with God, to be filled with the grace -- the supernatural life - of God. It is to possess the kingdom by belonging to the King (cf. Matt 5:3, 10). As mother of the King of kings, Mary bore the kingdom within her. As mother of the Messiah, she is also the mother of the Church. Pope John Paul II, in Redemptoris Mater (1987), wrote that "in her new motherhood in the Spirit, Mary embraces each and every one in the Church, and embraces each and every one through the Church" (par. 47).

Mary and Elizabeth, bearing their sons - one a prophet, the other the Son of God - prefigure the Church that would later be born from the side of the crucified Lord and made manifest on Pentecost (see CCC 766, 1076). Blessed by the Father, impregnated by the power of the Holy Spirit, and filled with the Son, the Virgin brings joy and gladness into the dark, silent womb of man’s deepest longing.

Like St. Augustine, John Paul II provided a profound reflection on the belief and faith of Mary. In the expression "Blessed are you who believed," he wrote,

"we can therefore rightly find a kind of 'key' which unlocks for us the innermost reality of Mary, whom the angel hailed as 'full of grace.' If as 'full of grace' she has been eternally present in the mystery of Christ, through faith she became a sharer in that mystery in every extension of her earthly journey" (par. 19).

The miracle of Mary's pregnancy and Virgin birth go hand in hand with the mystery of faith.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Christ child while recognizing that Christ always remains in the heart of Mary. Having given birth to the Savior at one particular moment in time, Mary has continued to give the Savior to the world ever since. It is her one desire, her unending gift of joy and life to each of us. "And how does this happen to me," we ask ourselves, "that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

Documents illustrating that the Church Fathers believed
Mary was truly the Mother of God.

By Joseph Gallegos.

Theotokos

"After this, we receive the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, of which Jesus Christ our Lord became the first-fruits; Who bore a Body, in truth, not in semblance, derived from Mary the mother of God (59) in the fulness of time sojourning among the race, for the remission of sins: who was crucified and died, yet for all this suffered no diminution of His Godhead."
Alexander of Alexandria,Epistle to Alexander,12(A.D. 324),in NPNF2,III:40

"And the Angel on his appearance, himself confesses that he has been sent by his Lord; as Gabriel confessed in the case of Zacharias, and also in the case of Mary, bearer of God."
Athanasius,Orations III,14 (A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:401

"Many, my beloved, are the true testimonies concerning Christ. The Father bears witness from heaven of His Son: the Holy Ghost bears witness, descending bodily in likeness of a dove: the Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing good tidings to Mary: the Virgin Mother of God bears witness: the blessed place of the manger bears witness."
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, X:19 (c.A.D. 350), in NPNF2,VII:62

"If anyone does not believe that Holy Mary is the Mother of God, he is severed from the Godhead."
Gregory of Nazianzus, To Cledonius,101(A.D. 382),in NPNF2,VII:439

"Just as, in the age of Mary the mother of God, he who had reigned from Adam to her time found, when he came to her and dashed his forces against the fruit of her virginity as against a rock, that he was shattered to pieces upon her, so in every soul which passes through this life in the flesh under the protection of virginity, the strength of death is in a manner broken and annulled, for he does not find the places upon which he may fix his sting."
Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity,14 (A.D. 370),in NPNF2,V:359-360

"He reshaped man to perfection in Himself, from Mary the Mother of God through the Holy Spirit."
Epiphanius, The man well-anchored, 75 (A.D. 374), in JUR, II:70

"Let, then, the life of Mary be as it were virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected. From this you may take your pattern of life, showing, as an example, the clear rules of virtue: what you have to correct, to effect, and to hold fast. The first thing which kindles ardour in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God?"
Ambrose, Virginity,II:6 (c.A.D. 378), in NPNF2, X:374

"To the question: 'Is Mary the bearer of Man, or the bearer of God?' we must answer: 'Of Both' "
Theodore of Mopsuestia, The Incarnation, 15 (ante A.D. 428), in TLCF,168

"AND so you say, O heretic, whoever you may be, who deny that God was born of the Virgin, that Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ ought not to be called Theotocos, i.e., Mother of God, but Christotocos, i.e., only the Mother of Christ, not of God. For no one, you say, brings forth what is anterior in time. And of this utterly foolish argument whereby you think that the birth of God can be understood by carnal minds, and fancy that the mystery of His Majesty can be accounted for by human reasoning, we will, if God permits, say something later on. In the meanwhile we will now prove by Divine testimonies that Christ is God, and that Mary is the Mother of God."
John Cassian, The Incarnation of Christ, II:2 (A.D. 430),in NPNF2, XI:556

"But since the Holy Virgin brought forth after the flesh God personally united to the flesh, for this reason we say of her that she is Theotokos, not as though the nature of the Word had its beginning of being from the flesh, for he was in the beginning, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God....but, as we said before, because having personally united man's nature to himself..."
Cyril of Alexandria, To Nestorius, Epistle 17:11 (A.D. 430), in CCC,306

"If anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Theotokos), inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [as it is written, 'The Word was made flesh': let him be anathema."
Council of Ephesus, Anathemas Against Nestorius, I (A.D. 430),in NPNF2,XIV:206

"For by the singular gift of Him who is our Lord and God, and withal, her own son, she is to be confessed most truly and most blessedly--The mother of God 'Theotocos,' but not in the sense in which it is imagined by a certain impious heresy which maintains, that she is to be called the Mother of God for no other reason than because she gave birth to that man who afterwards became God, just as we speak of a woman as the mother of a priest, or the mother of a bishop, meaning that she was such, not by giving birth to one already a priest or a bishop, but by giving birth to one who afterwards became a priest or a bishop. Not thus, I say, was the holy Mary 'Theotocos,' the mother of God, but rather, as was said before, because in her sacred womb was wrought that most sacred mystery whereby, on account of the singular and unique unity of Person, as the Word in flesh is flesh, so Man in God is God."
Vincent of Lerins, Commonitories,15 (A.D. 434), in NPNF2,XI:142-143

"So then He was both in all things and above all things and also dwelt in the womb of the holy Mother of God, but in it by the energy of the incarnation."
John Damascene, Source of Knowledge, III:7 (A.D. 743), in NPNF2,IX:51

by Pope Francis

In the first reading we find the ancient prayer of blessing which God gave to Moses to hand on to Aaron and his sons:

"The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
(Num 6:24-26)

There is no more meaningful time than the beginning of a new year to hear these words of blessing: they will accompany our journey through the year opening up before us. They are words of strength, courage and hope. Not an illusory hope, based on frail human promises, or a naïve hope which presumes that the future will be better simply because it is the future. Rather, it is a hope that has its foundation precisely in God's blessing, a blessing which contains the greatest message of good wishes there can be; and this is the message which the Church brings to each of us, filled with the Lord's loving care and providential help.

The message of hope contained in this blessing was fully realized in a woman, Mary, who was destined to become the Mother of God, and it was fulfilled in her before any other creature.

The Mother of God! This is the first and most important title of Our Lady. It refers to a quality, a role which the faith of the Christian people, in its tender and genuine devotion to our heavenly Mother, has understood from the beginning.

We recall that great moment in the history of the ancient Church, the Council of Ephesus, in which the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary was authoritatively defined. The truth of her divine maternity found an echo in Rome where, a little later, the Basilica of Saint Mary Major was built, the first Marian shrine in Rome and in the entire West, in which the image of the Mother of God – the Theotokos – is venerated under the title of Salus Populi Romani. It is said that the residents of Ephesus used to gather at the gates of the basilica where the bishops were meeting and shout, "Mother of God!". The faithful, by asking them to officially define this title of Our Lady, showed that they acknowledged her divine motherhood. Theirs was the spontaneous and sincere reaction of children who know their Mother well, for they love her with immense tenderness.

Mary has always been present in the hearts, the piety and above all the pilgrimage of faith of the Christian people. "The Church journeys through time… and on this journey she proceeds along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary" (Redemptoris Mater, 2). Our journey of faith is the same as that of Mary, and so we feel that she is particularly close to us. As far as faith, the hinge of the Christian life, is concerned, the Mother of God shared our condition. She had to take the same path as ourselves, a path which is sometimes difficult and obscure. She had to advance in the "pilgrimage of faith" (Lumen Gentium, 58).

Our pilgrimage of faith has been inseparably linked to Mary ever since Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave her to us as our Mother, saying: "Behold your Mother!" (Jn 19:27). These words serve as a testament, bequeathing to the world a Mother. From that moment on, the Mother of God also became our Mother! When the faith of the disciples was most tested by difficulties and uncertainties, Jesus entrusted them to Mary, who was the first to believe, and whose faith would never fail. The "woman" became our Mother when she lost her divine Son. Her sorrowing heart was enlarged to make room for all men and women, whether good or bad, and she loves them as she loved Jesus. The woman who at the wedding at Cana in Galilee gave her faith-filled cooperation so that the wonders of God could be displayed in the world, at Calvary kept alive the flame of faith in the resurrection of her Son, and she communicates this with maternal affection to each and every person. Mary becomes in this way a source of hope and true joy!

The Mother of the Redeemer goes before us and continually strengthens us in faith, in our vocation and in our mission. By her example of humility and openness to God's will she helps us to transmit our faith in a joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all, without reservation. In this way our mission will be fruitful, because it is modeled on the motherhood of Mary. To her let us entrust our journey of faith, the desires of our heart, our needs and the needs of the whole world, especially of those who hunger and thirst for justice and peace. Let us then together invoke her: Holy Mother of God!

Delivered at the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 1 January 2014