“Behold I am the
handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your
word”.
That was Mary who said that. Perhaps that was the most
beautifully spoken
“Yes” in the history of civilization. She said yes. She was
asked
to be the Mother of God. God did not force her to be the Mother
of God.
God makes us, in freedom, like him. God will never force us. We
are not
puppets. He did not force Mary. Mary could have said
no. Had
she, then we could not have been saved, for Christ would not have been
born. The world’s destiny, the destiny of eternity, rested on the
“yes”
of a young girl who didn’t understand all of the facts, but trusted in
God.
That is why we honor her. More than honor her, we love
her. Mary is
part of our Catholic Christian DNA. Personally, I grew up with
her.
She was in every room, in a statue, a picture, a painting. I
could hear
my Mother and Father’s Hail Mary’s every night. We prayed the
family
rosary for many years. Because we are Irish, it only took about 6
minutes. I had an uncle, John Morgan, may he rest in peace, who
lived in Monaghan, Ireland. He would
start the rosary at the bottom of the stair, and by the time he hit the
bed, he
was on the Hail, Holy Queen. But it counted. My mother used
to say,
“If you fall asleep praying the rosary, an angel will finish it for
you.”
I believe that is exactly right.
We love Mary, perhaps imperfectly and incomplete.
Perhaps, overly
sentimental at times, but we love her. I tried to study Mary,
Maryology
it’s called in theology, and I can’t understand half of what they’re
saying,
but I do know I love her and I think that’s more important than
understanding
Maryology. We love Mary because of her courage, her trust, her
acceptance, and her purity. We’re not perfect in any of those
things, but
she was. We want to be like her. We love her because of her daily
role in
being the Mother of the Christ child. She was always concerned
about
others. She ran to help her cousin Elizabeth, her
kinswoman. She
was concerned about the couple in Cana that ran out of wine.
She probably felt their embarrassment. She said, “Jesus, they ran
out of
wine.” He then said, “My time has not yet come. What do you want me to
do about
this?” Well, she was his mother. He did what she wanted. Why?
Because he
loved her.
Her concern for the poor is spoken in that wonderful
Magnificat, that fantastic
prayer in Luke’s Gospel. I think we love her mostly because of
her
constancy and fidelity, especially at the foot of the cross. At
that foot
of the cross, Jesus gave us Mary. When he said to the beloved
disciple,
"Woman behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold,
your mother!" That disciple represented you and me. That
was
the every man, every woman, every Christian. She is our
mother.
History knows all about Mary. If you’ve traveled at
all, especially in Europe, she’s everywhere. No
matter where you go, there she is. She is in Ireland, and even
in post Christian France. In many of the fields, you’ll see a
little
shrine that overlooks and blesses the fields. It’s very true in Italy, and in Germany,
especially the southern part, in Bavaria. It’s true
all throughout Europe, not to mention Poland.
The Polish think Mary was Polish. Don’t tell them otherwise.
The Holy Father, the Late Holy Father, John Paul II, said
“Toto tuus
Maria.” In effect, I’m all yours Mary. Use me as I can best
be
used. She’s loved by the Irish, the Italians, the French, and now
more
and more in Africa and Asia. As Christianity spreads
in those continents, largely because of the efforts of the Late Holy
Father,
the love and devotion and understanding of Our Lady is spreading with
it.
She is Our Lady of Lourdes. She is Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is Our Lady
of Lavang
in Vietnam.
Our Lady of Czestochowa. Our Lady of
Knock. Our Lady of Fatima. Our Lady of La
Salette. Our Lady of Mount Carmel and many other
places.
I was in Vietnam a couple
of months ago and right in the middle of Old Saigon is Notre Dame Cathedral. Our Lady. Notre
Dame. There
was no edifice there honoring Purdue or Michigan State or Ohio State. But
Notre Dame was there. She is our Lady of the Angels. Our
Lady of
the Holy Cross. Our Lady of Grace. Our Lady of Victory. She
is
especially Our Lady of Comfort, of Perpetual Help, of Consolation, of
Mercy, of
Sorrow and of Good Counsel.
She is honored by poets. Wordsworth called her “our
tainted nature’s
solitary boast.” “Our tainted nature’s solitary boast.” How
beautiful. Chaucer called her, “The glorious virgin of all
flowers.” If you appreciate art at all, there is not history of
Western
art, indeed there is not history of Western Civ at all
without Mary. She is the subject, probably next to her Son, the
greatest
subject of art in the world. Michelangelo, Caravaggio, DaVinci,
etc.,
etc. If any of you have seen the Pieta, you first marvel at the
wonderful
work of Michelangelo, then you realize where he got the gift; you
realize the
beauty of Mary.
She is the Patroness of the United
States, of the Americas, Australia, Poland, and many
other nations. Yes, we love Mary and we honor her.
Sometimes it’s
sad to think that in ecumenical dialogue, we Catholics go and leave her
home. I never feel comfortable with that. She is precious
to
us. It is lovely too, that many non-Catholic Christians are
rediscovering
Mary. Lutherans, many of them, are praying the rosary. The
Episcopalian church has always had a great honor to Our Lady and they
pray the
rosary as well. She is the mother of Jesus, and she is your
mother.
It is fitting that we come here on this cold night to think about her,
to ask
her help.
As we finish with the Hail Mary, it reminds me of a
story. I was
relatively newly ordained and I visited an elderly man in the
hospital. I
went to talk to him, and his family said that he hadn’t been conscious
in
days. “They say he’s not in a coma, but he’s not conscious. He’s
faded
away”. So, I knelt by his bed and said “Hail Mary, Full of Grace”
and his
lips began to move. He finished the Hail Mary. He died
shortly
thereafter.
Please join me in saying:
Hail Mary, Full of
Grace
The Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art thou among women and
Blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.