Monday, January 2, 2012

Behold: Mary the Mother of God

In the fifth mysteries of the Holy Rosary we have The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple;  the Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord, Jesus; and the Coronation of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth.

These mysteries are beautiful in their close correspondence to God pointing to His Mother and His Mother reflecting back and magnifying the Lord.

In the Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple, we find Jesus addressing His parents thus:  Luke 2: "49 And he said unto them How is it that ye sought me?  wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? 50 And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.  51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them: but his mother kept all these saying in her heart."




So at the face of it, we have a 12 year old boy who is at once demonstrating astonishing understanding and wisdom in his dealing with the doctors in the temple, and then seeming to brush off the anguish of his desperate parents who love Him.  Then He obediently goes with them to Nazareth. 

Jesus is telling us that it is His mother and father who should know best that he is the Son of God because they are His teachers.  He is pointing to His mother from whom He took His flesh and through whose Immaculate Heart we receive the Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist.  It is almost as if He asks her "Do you not remember who you are?"  Look at the great love here!  Would we not expect the opposite?  The modern mother might say "Who do you think you are doing this to your parents!?  I'm your mother!  Now get home with us now!"   Jesus, who later commands us to demonstrate our love for Him by keeping His commandments, demonstrates further his love of His mother and foster father by his quiet obedience to them.  His mother does not scold but magnifies His greatness pondering all these things in her heart.

In the mystery of the Crucifixion, Jesus again speaks to His mother:  John 19: "26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
27 The saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!  And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."


Perhaps once again it seems that Jesus is distant from his mother in addressing her as "Woman" rather than "Mother" or "Mama".  Yet at the same time he demonstrates His great desire to give his mother consolation and love by entrusting her to the care of the "disciple whom he loved" but not before first ensuring her continued motherhood.  Here is the great emcompassing of the Ark of the Covenant.  She holds all of us as her children by Jesus's command and we are heirs to everlasting life in the unfathomable brotherhood of the Word Made Flesh.  This flesh again is born of the pain and sorrow of the mother anguishing for her son.

In the mystery of the Coronation of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, we read:  REVELATION 11 & 12
"19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. 1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."


Here we see again the Blessed Mother, the Ark of the Covenant, refered to as "woman" and the mystery beneath the cross and in the temple is revealed.  This title is one of deep respect and reverence for that which the Father holds so dear.  His Ark which encompasses His people whom he loves is at once triumphantly victorious as a the crowned Queen of Heaven -through her unparalleled humility and purity of heart-, and still suffering in anguish over her militant earthly family.

As we read through the 12th chapter of Revelation about the dragon's hate for the woman, the Ark, we see clearly her motherhood to the followers of her Son : "17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

In these three mysteries of the Holy Rosary, we see clearly Jesus pointing to His Mother with love and respect, His great gift of her to us and thus His gift of Himself to us, and her magnification of the Saviour in humility, the Incarnate Saviour, her very flesh and now our brother!

 LUKE 1: "46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,  47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name." 

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