Mary, Our Mother

A beautiful scene will be presented to us in tomorrow’s gospel from Luke. It is a picture of two expectant mothers who are having unexpected pregnancies; one conceiving a child to be born of man and woman and the other has conceived through the holy Ghost, to be born of a woman. One carries the herald and the other the Host and Guest of the world.
Generally, the Gospel of Luke tells us how God’s promises were fulfilled with the birth of Jesus from beginning to end.
Tomorrow, two women, aged and young are brought together conversing and sharing with each other on how God has worked marvels for them, and for us.
Let me focus this Gospel meditation by highlighting 2 things: relationship and humility as we relate them the Feast of Mary’s Assumption.

Relationship
Sushmita Sen, Miss Universe 1994, before winning the title, was asked, “What is the essence of being a woman? Her famous answer was: "Just being a woman is God's gift. The origin of a child is a mother, a woman. She shows a man what sharing, caring, and loving is all about. That is the essence of a woman." Simple answer yet it rocked the world. Her answer’s veracity is exemplified by Mary and Elizabeth.
We commonly know Mary and Elizabeth’s encounter as the “Visitation.” Only in the gospel of Luke shall we find the story of the Visitation. Biblical scholars say that Luke’s intent in here is literary and theological. Visitation is about the meeting of two mothers-to-be, both praising God due to His apparent works in their lives.
Probably it has been quite a while since Mary visited her elderly relative but because of God’s angel, Gabriel, telling her that Elizabeth in her old age has conceived a child made Mary see her and share with her joy. On the one hand, Mary herself is most blessed among women to keep the Child who created and preserved her purity inside her womb.
The act of Mary visiting her relative shows us how God brings people together. Because of His gifts to these two women, they met and shared each other’s joy. A barren woman conceives the herald, a virgin the Judge.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child in her womb leaped for joy. This reminds us of the leaping of Esau and Jacob in Rebekah’s womb. The leaping of John tells us that he recognizes his Lord and God approaching him. And through the holy Spirit Elizabeth mysteriously knew why John leapt. John’s act is a salute to the Savior and reason for his existence. The leaping is an acknowledgement of his future relationship with the Savior. Now we see the relationships between two mothers-to-be and their sons though still in their wombs. All of them will be working towards one Goal, the salvific action of God to save humanity from the precipice of its sinful state. Yet Jesus does the greatest offering a man could ever give his Father, a genuine sacrificial act worship.

Humility liked to the Assumption
The second part of the gospel is obviously about the common canticle we always recite/chant during Vespers, the Magnificat. Magnificat is Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s question: “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” It was actually Elizabeth’s comment to Mary’s greeting of peace that discloses the reason for her arrival.
At this point of my sharing I wish to focus on the implicit message of Mary’s visitation. The very act of Mary implicitly communicates a message quite comprehensible to all but unfathomable at the same time. Comprehensible because we understand that a woman might want to see her barren relative conceiving a child and share with the joy she feels. However, what makes it unfathomable is the fact that the Mother of God is visiting a relative and remaining with her company for three months, perhaps to help her. Yet this same woman managed to keep herself from being proud of the fact that she is carrying with her the Son of the Most High.
Mary is such a humble handmaid of God. She indeed is a model of humility. Perchance this virtue she possesses in a magnificent way is the reason why the angel addressed her saying, “Highly Favored One,” “Full of Grace,” “Kecharitomene.” It is a name given to one who has been “thoroughly graced.” This same woman was chosen by the Most High even before she was fashioned to be the first ark of the everlasting Covenant of his Son on earth.
Aha! Now we have an idea about the kind of people that arouses God, that seduces God. He is pleased with the humble, and stern with the proud. Mary beautifully expressed this in her song of praise. As Augustine puts it: “Every valley shall be filled in all humility shall be exalted; and every mountain and hill shall be humbled, all pride shall be cast down.” The Magnificat centers on this.
The humble servant might have realized that to become God’s creature is to become “poor,” to have nothing which one might brag about before his Creator. Out of her great humility she clung to her faith and said her Fiat. In this sense, the Mother was the first to benefit from the merits of the Son. Her purity was preserved from her mother’s womb for she is to carry the God-Man for God to be incorporated into humanity. For him to be given a human nature she needed the humble “yes” of a woman. Thus, the dogma of Immaculate Conception is affirmed here. “Humility finds a place in the Virgin’s Fiat. And since Mary is “Kecharitomene,” we believe that she assumed into heaven.

Now how do we relate relationship with humility in our daily life as professed friars? This question can be easily answered. But putting it into practice in our daily encounters with our brothers will not always be that easy. Sometimes we are challenged. Though things remain tougher, we have a model and a Mother to guide us, she is the same Mother given to us at the foot of the Cross that even made our relationship with God intimate.