The Blessed Virgin invites the church to meditate constantly on the
mystery of Christ and she witnesses to the significance of quiet
humility and loving obedience
"Our Lady's motherly smile, reproduced in so much Marian
iconography, expresses a fullness of grace and peace that seeks to be
shared. This expression of her serenity of spirit effectively
contributes to giving the Church a joyful face", the Holy Father
said at the General Audience on Wednesday, 22 November, as he continued
his reflections on the Virgin Mary, The Pope's catechesis on Mary's
influence on the Church's life was the sixth in the series on the
Blessed Mother and was given in Italian.
1. After reflecting on the Marian dimension of ecclesial life, we are
now going to cast light on the immense spiritual wealth Mary
communicates to the Church by her example and her intercession.
We would first like to pause and briefly reflect on some significant
aspects of Mary's personality, which offer all believers valuable
guidance in accepting and fulfilling their own vocation.
Mary has gone before us on the way of faith: believing the
angel's message, she was the first to welcome the mystery of the
Incarnation and did so perfectly (cf. Redemptoris Mater, n.
13). Her journey as a believer began even earlier than her divine
motherhood and developed more deeply throughout her earthly experience.
Hers was a daring faith. At the Annunciation she believed in what was
humanly impossible, and at Cana she urged Jesus to work his first
miracle, pressing him to manifest his messianic powers (cf. Jn 2:1-5).
Mary teaches Christians to live their faith as a demanding and
engaging journey, which, in every age and situation of life, requires
courage and constant perseverance.
Mary's was a humble and hidden life
2. Mary's docility to the divine will was linked to her faith.
Believing in God's word, she could accept it fully in her life and,
showing herself receptive to God's sovereign plan, she accepted all that
was asked of her from on high.
Our Lady's presence in the Church thus encourages Christians to
listen to the word of the Lord every day, to understand his loving plan
in various daily events, and to co-operate faithfully in bringing it
about.
3. This is how Mary teaches the community of believers to look to the
future with total abandonment to God. In the Virgin's personal
experience, hope is enriched with ever new reasons. Since
the Annunciation, Mary concentrates the expectations of ancient Israel
on the Son of God, incarnate in her virginal womb. Her hope was
strengthened during the successive stages of Jesus' hidden life in
Nazareth and his public ministry. Her great faith in the word of Christ,
who had announced his Resurrection on the third day, prevented her from
wavering, even when faced with the drama of the Cross. She retained her
hope in the fulfilment of the messianic work and steadfastly, after the
darkness of Good Friday, awaited the morning of the Resurrection.
On their difficult path through history, between the
"already" of salvation received and the "not yet" of
its fulfilment, the community of believers know they can count on the
help of the "Mother of Hope". After experiencing Christ's
victory over the powers of death, she communicates to them an ever new
capacity to await God's future and to abandon themselves to the Lord's
promises.
4. Mary's example enables the Church better to appreciate the value
of silence. Mary's silence is not only moderation in speech, but
it is especially a wise capacity for remembering and embracing in a
single gaze of faith the mystery of the Word made man and the events of
his earthly life.
It is this silence as acceptance of the Word, this ability to
meditate on the mystery of Christ, that Mary passes on to believers. In
a noisey world filled with messages of all kinds, her witness enables us
to appreciate a spiritually rich silence and fosters a contemplative
spirit.
Mary witnesses to the value of a humble and hidden life.
Everyone usually demands, and sometimes almost claims, to be able to
realize fully his own person and qualities. Everyone is sensitive to
esteem and honour. The Gospels frequently mention that the Apostles were
ambitious for the most important places in the kingdom and they argued
among themselves as to which of them was the greatest. In this matter
Jesus had to teach them the need for humility and service (cf. Mt
18:1-5; 20:20-28; Mk 9:33-37; 10:35-45; Lk 9:46-48; 22:24-27). Mary, on
the contrary, never sought honour or the advantages of a privileged
position; she always tried to fulfil God's will, leading a life
according to the Father's plan of salvation.
To all those who often feel the burden of a seemingly insignificant
life, Mary reveals how valuable life can be if it is lived for love of
Christ and one's brothers and sisters.
5. Mary, moreover, witnesses to the value of a life that is pure and
full of tenderness for all men. The beauty of her soul, totally
offered to the Lord, is an object of admiration for the Christian
people. In Mary, the Christian community has always seen the ideal
woman, full of love and tenderness because she lived in purity of mind
and body.
Faced with the cynicism of a certain contemporary culture, which too
often seems not to recognize the value of chastity and degrades
sexuality by separating it from personal dignity and God's plan, the
Virgin Mary holds up the witness of a purity that illumines the
conscience and leads to a greater love for creatures and for the Lord.
6. Furthermore, Mary appears to Christians of all times as the one
who feels deep compassion for the sufferings of humanity. This
compassion does not consist only in an emotional sympathy, but is
expressed in effective and concrete help when confronted with humanity's
material and moral misery.
In following Mary, the Church is called to take on the same attitude
towards all the earth's poor and suffering. The maternal attention of
the Lord's Mother to the tears, sorrows and hardships of the men and
women of all ages must spur Christians, particularly at the dawn of the
new millennium, to increase the concrete and visible signs of a love
that will enable today's humble and suffering people to share in the
promises and hopes of the new world which is born from Easter.
7. Human affection for and devotion to the Mother of Jesus surpasses
the Church's visible boundaries and fosters sentiments of reconciliation.
As a mother, Mary desires the union of all her children. Her presence in
the Church is an invitation to preserve the unanimity of heart which
reigned in the first community (cf. Acts 1:14) and, consequently, to
seek ways of unity and peace among all men and women of goodwill.
In interceding with her Son, Mary asks the grace of unity for all
humanity, in view of building a civilization of love, overcoming
tendencies to division, temptations to revenge and hatred, and the
perverse fascination of violence.
Mary is the cause of our joy
8. Our Lady's motherly smile, reproduced in so much Marian
iconography, expresses a fullness of grace and peace that seeks to be
shared. This expression of her serenity of spirit effectively
contributes to giving the Church a joyful face.
Welcoming, in the Annunciation, the angel's invitation to
"rejoice" (khaire = rejoice: Lk
1:28), Mary was the first to share in the messianic joy foretold by the
Prophets for the "daughter of Sion" (cf. Is 12:6; Zep 3:14-15;
Zec 9:9), and she passes it on to humanity in every age.
Invoking her as "causa nostrae laetitiae", the Christian
people find in her the capacity to communicate the joy that is born of
hope, even in the midst of life's trials, and to guide those who commend
themselves to her to the joy that knows no end.
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