Reflection - The similarities of Mary

The Gospel shows her to be a woman of faith, a caring woman, a woman unafraid to take risks, a woman strong in love, courageous in suffering. 

The words Elizabeth first cried out have been said for thousands of years by people in thousands of languages fulfilling the prophecy Mary herself spoke, "All generations will call me blessed" 
(Lk 1:48). Her blessedness is recalled and celebrated by the whole Church every day when we say the Mag­nificat, that great prayer of Mary found in Luke's gospel.

We live in an age vastly different from anything that has gone before and light years removed from Mary's own time. "I wonder what she'd do if she were around today?" we ask, looking at our world sick with famine and drugs, AIDS and the threat of nuclear war.

Our traditional images of a woman in long robes, and in various postures of prayer seem to have little to say to us. Mystical Rose, Tower of Ivory, House of Gold are not titles that fall easily from our lips. In an era when women are undergoing such radical change in society and in the Church what has Mary of Nazareth to say to us?

If we stand and aggressively demand an answer to the world's woes, all we'll hear is the empty echo of our own voice. But if, like Mary, we do some "treasuring and pondering" we will begin to see a way. So before we read any devotional books on our Lady we should first of all read and treasure and ponder with care all the Gospel says of her. If, like Elizabeth her cousin, we too greet her with great joy or at least want to do this, she will as readily help us as she did her elderly relative.

All Mary's blessedness comes from this, that she is the Mother of God. In her "everything is relative to Christ and dependent on him" (Pope Paul VI), she is the true and faithful disciple of the Lord, our best teacher and sure guide.

The Gospel shows her to be a woman of faith, a caring woman, a woman unafraid to take risks, a woman strong in love, courageous in suffering. That she had more than her share of suffering is readily seen, but we can also see that she was a woman of deep joy. She celebrated God's love of her. "The Almighty has done great things for me" (Lk 1:49).

"They have no wine," she said to her Son at Cana, and she waited with the quiet certainty of being heard. It was his first miracle, water changed into wine. Face-saving for a young couple; gallons and gallons of wine for their wedding. Think about it, ponder it. Treasure it. What kind of a woman is she to have such gentle and effective awareness? Worth getting to know, wouldn't you say?

Sr Redempta Twomey is the assistant editor of the Far East, Ireland

Read another reflection written by Sr Redempta Twomey