Wrap-up of the Week of Mary
Posted by Sarah Reinhard in Faith on Sunday, May 31, 2009 3:00 PM
It’s been a lovely week of Mary, and today, on the last day of Mary’s month of May, I’d like to conclude my week of guest blogging by sharing some of your wisdom. If you are one of those people who won’t click through, I want to thank you all, right here at the beginning of this post, for being such a wonderful audience and for making this week truly beautiful for me. May Mary, our mother and sister and guide, hold you all as you pursue your vocations and seek God’s will in your life.
We started off talking about our struggles with devotion to Mary. Sr. Patricia replied with an image that I’ve enjoyed all week:
Sometimes I feel sort of afraid of Mary - like how in the heck can I ever measure up to her standards? And then I think of my younger brother who was a little slow and so got special attention from my mom. That is me with the Blessed Mother. The slower and dumber I am the more she cares and takes care of me!
And I loved Ginny’s comment on that post, which summed up exactly how I have felt:
Regarding Mary’s sinlessness: one thing that came through clearly in talking to women about Mary was realizing that “sinless” doesn’t mean “emotionless.” I really do believe that Mary understands all the challenges and frustrations of parenting and, well, life. It’s what makes her such a fabulous intercessor for moms.
In response to the discussion of what it must have been like to mother Jesus, Therese commented:
My four kids are now teens, and with that comes a whole new set of needs. I am sure Jesus never showed His mother “attitude” (not that my teens ever do…), but I wonder what it must have been like for her when at only 12 years old, He went off on His own to the temple, worrying His dear Mom! It really helps when our kids are trying to show independence and individuality to think of what Mary felt at the different stages of Jesus’ life.
When we brought up the image of Mary in an apron, Deacon Tom shared a beautiful reflection:
In some of my homilies and messages to parishioners—I’ve tried to share that the Blessed Virgin isn’t just Our Lady of Fatima… or Our Lady of Medjugorje… she’s Our Lady of the Kitchen… Our Lady of the Laundry… She’s Our Lady of (put in your town name)… Thanks for this post which helps remind us to bring Mary close—that’s where we can love her best!
Discussing Mary and chastity, Elena held class in the combox:
Technically, of course, Our Lady was formally betrothed when she conceived Jesus, which meant under the Jewish law of the time that she was a married women, although the wedding ceremony had not yet taken place. If she had been “unmarried” then there would have been no question of St. Joseph divorcing her, but because she was already considered a spouse then divorce was a real possibility. So was stoning.
In the original Greek text ( εἶπε δὲ Μαριὰμ πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον· Πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω) Mary’s reply to the angel “How can this be done for I know not man?” (Luke 1:34) implies a vow of virginity. It is the general consensus of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church that Mary had a vow of virginity when she became betrothed to St. Joseph. Virginity was something that Mary chose, in love; it was a privilege, not a burden. I suppose if her virginity had been common knowledge in her village, people would not have understood and would have ridiculed her. Did they know? I wonder.
By virtue of her Immaculate Conception she was freed from concupiscence. Yes, virginity was a sacrifice for her but it probably was not quite the same as being a perpetual virgin would be for the rest of us.
There was a lot of discussion about Mary as a married woman, but I was particularly struck by this little tidbit from Michele:
We can meditate on a marriage which is rich in sacrifice, in temptation, struggle, and the true joy of living in obedience to, and trusting in, the will of God. As Pope John Paul II said, though I cannot quote it exactly, it is the pilgrimage of Mary, in trust in spite of darkness, that makes her our model in our pilgrim life.
Mark really touched me when he shared this, in response to the conversation about Mary as our teacher:
I have been…neglectful of Mary as someone who is not relevant in my life for reasons dealing with my personal story. You have brought a lot to the table for me to feast on and in pondering your offerings I am beginning to see Mary as I do my own sisters and other women friends who are as important as my male friends in my life. The stress over and over about how she leads us to Christ is something I personally needed to hear and have seep into my soul.
Thanks again for a wonderful week of Mary, everyone! 
Print Blog
Email a FriendPost a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
