Mary Obedient and faithful mother
Mary Obedient and faithful mother
I have been asked to speak about Mary obedient and faithful mother. So I went to the gospel and read all the episodes which speak about her and these are the things that came to my mind while I was reflecting about what I was reading.
Mary has been obedient to God at the annunciation when the Angel asked her to become the mother of the Savior.
She has been obedient to her conscience when she heard about the pregnancy of Elizabeth and she felt the need to go down to help her.
She has been obedient to Joseph when he told her that because of the census they had to go down to Bethlehem and when because of King Herod they had to escape to Egypt, though both were dangerous journeys.
She has been obedient to her Son when he told her that his hour had come to leave home and start his wandering mission.
She has been again obedient to Jesus when, from the cross, He asked her to accept John and the humanity as her responsibility.
Why has she been so obedient? Because of the mystical union with God that made her feel the desire to do anything to participate to His plan of salvation. Mary, from the very beginning of her life, developed a deep union with God through her prayer and meditation, through a simple life made of silence, work, humble chores in the house, and prayerful meditation of whatever was happening in her life.
This union with God has been also the key for her faithfulness whenever she would face any difficulty.
In any single one of the episodes mentioned above, she could have refused to participate to the event for a thousand good human reasons, call them the risks, the danger, the age, her family situation as widow, etc.
She could have said “no” to the angel, because she did not want a full family life, she could have said no to the desire of going to help Elizabeth because such long and uncomfortable journey was dangerous for the son she was carrying in her womb; she could have said to Joseph: “ You just go alone to Bethlehem, after all you are the descendant of David, and then come back”; She could have said to Jesus not to leave her alone at home but continue to work as a carpenter to provide her with a dignified life; at the feet of the Cross she could have said to Jesus that John was an adult and could provide for himself while she was now old and tired and would prefer to return to Nazareth and, over there, do the mourning for the loss of her only child.
If in any of those occasions Mary would have withdrawn her support and contribution to the plan of God, the plan would have fallen through, and maybe today we would not have been here together to celebrate the greatness of the Lord.
While we reflect on these things, we must also reflect on the reason of our being here today because the plan of salvation of the world is not yet accomplished. Of course Jesus has already done everything necessary, but in the world there are still too many people that are not aware of this salvation, or maybe that refuse to welcome it in their life. God needs our help, the help of each one of us. What are we willing to answer to this proposal of the Lord? Do you think that you are too poor, too young, or too old, too weak or sick, too ignorant or hopeless? You are wrong. God does not need any of those human skills from us, he gives the skills that we need to use in performing our task at his service, but He needs our availability to let Him work on us.
Mary had said to Elisabeth: “The Lord has done great things for me and holy is His name”. Mary was always conscious of the graces she was receiving from God, in each moment, because of her mystical union with Him; she recognized that she was nothing without Him and could not afford to stay away from Him. This is the secret of her fidelity and can be the key of success in our response to the call of God.
Today, during this Mass, let us ask Mother Mary to instill in us the desire to know better God and to feel his presence in our heart.