Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Fr Frank Mihalik SVD
December 20 – Advent
Mary is one of the most central figures of the Bible. All the great Old Testament women hoped to be what she was – the mother of Jesus, the Redeemer. But she was his mother in a very special way: He chose her to be his mother. None of us could ever do that with our mother. God designed her to be Jesus’ mother but He also respected her. He had to get her consent.
Now just imagine that you had a chance to choose your own mother. Would you not give her all the best qualities you could find? She would be the most perfect, nicest person in the world. Remember that since Jesus had no human father, he inherited all his human qualities from her. He must have looked, spoke, and acted very much like her. Because Mary’s body was so very special to Jesus, our Catholic tradition tells us that understandably, He did not allow it to decay and turn back to earth. When she died, He took her to heaven, body and soul, because he wanted her to keep on being special.
The non-Catholic poet Wordsworth has written of her: “She is our tainted Nature’s solitary boast.” We think that it is completely natural and normal for any son to be honored and pleased if we honor his mother. We also believe that it is natural for any treasured mother to have a special influence with her devoted son. That is why we ask Mary to stand by us as we pray. We hardly ever say the Our Father without automatically adding the Hail Mary. As a little story has it, once a king invited a little child to take as many candies as it could fit his hand. The little child said to the king, “I would rather have my mommy take them for me; she has a bigger hand.”
Mary is surely the favorite person in Christ’s life, even now. Should she not also be the same in our life?
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