3.7 Commitment
STAGE 3: In Communion with Mary
MARY AND OUR HOLINESS
THE MIRRORING WAY
COMMITMENT
Aim: To commit ourselves to Marian virtues and attitudes fostering our sanctification.
Readings
All generations call her blessed (Lk 1:46-55): And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors,to Abraham and to his descendants forever”.
Cultivating the Tree of Life (SM 70): “If the Holy Spirit has planted in your soul the true Tree of Life, which is the devotion that I have explained, you should see carefully to its cultivation, so that it will yield its fruit in due season. This devotion is like the mustard seed of the Gospel, which is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but nevertheless it grows into a big plant, shooting up so high that the birds of the air, that is, the elect, come and make their nest in its branches. They repose there, shaded from the heat of the sun, and safely hidden from beasts of prey”.
Comment
Mary’s Magnificat is a summary of her life and reveals those attitudes that we need for our sanctification. Here is a list of evangelical virtues practiced by Mary and proposed to us for our spiritual edification.
Mary’s prompt obedience: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary celebrates her obedience when she sings: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour”.
Mary’s deep humility: She affirms it with the words, “God has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me”.
Mary’s purity: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34). Her inner integrity reflects the holiness of God: “Holy is God’s name”.
Mary’s committed faith in accepting the Word of God: “Yes, blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord” (Lk 1:45). Mary’s unwavering faith is grounded in the experience of God’s steadfast love: “God’s mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation”.
Mary’s courageous fortitude: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Lk 2:35). The fortitude of Mary’s soul makes her strong in challenging injustice: “God has shown strength with his arm[…]. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones […]. He has sent the rich away empty”.
Mary’s profound wisdom: “She treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Lk 2:19.33.51). Her wisdom confronts the proud and arrogant: “God has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts”.
Mary’s zealous charity in reaching out to others: “Mary set out at that time and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country” (Lk 1:39). Her charity is done in the style of God who “has lifted up the lowly and has filled the hungry with good things”.
Mary’s unwavering hope: “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). Mary knows that God never lets down: “God has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy […] forever”.
Blessed Paul VI, in his Marialis Cultus, dedicates one long paragraph (MC 37) to describe the qualities of Mary that mirror the expectations of today’s women and men, particularly of those people who consecrate themselves to her.
Woman of decision: “The modern woman (and man), anxious to participate with decision-making power in the affairs of the community, will contemplate with intimate joy Mary who, taken into dialogue with God, gives her active and responsible consent, not to the solution of a contingent problem, but to that ‘event of world importance’, as the Incarnation of the Word has been rightly called”.
Woman of courageous choices: “The modern woman (and man) will appreciate that Mary’s choice of the state of virginity, which in God’s plan prepared her for the mystery of the Incarnation, was not a rejection of any of the values of the married state but a courageous choice which she made in order to consecrate herself totally to the love of God”.
Spokesperson of the poor: “The modern woman (and man) will note with pleasant surprise that Mary of Nazareth, while completely devoted to the will of God, was far from being a timidly submissive woman or one whose piety was repellent to others; on the contrary, she was a woman who did not hesitate to proclaim that God vindicates the humble and the oppressed, and removes the powerful people of this world from their privileged positions (cf. Lk 1:51-53)”.
Woman of inner strength: “The modern woman (and man) will recognize in Mary, who ‘stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord’, a woman of strength, who experienced poverty and suffering, flight and exile (cf. Mt 2:13-23)”.
Woman transcending herself: “And Mary will appear not as a Mother exclusively concerned with her own divine Son, but rather as a woman whose action helped to strengthen the apostolic community’s faith in Christ (cf. Jn 2:1-12), and whose maternal role was extended and became universal on Calvary”.
“These are but examples, but examples which show clearly that the figure of the Blessed Virgin does not disillusion any of the profound expectations of the men and women of our time but offers them the perfect model of the disciple of the Lord: the disciple who builds up the earthly and temporal city while being a diligent pilgrim towards the heavenly and eternal city; the disciple who works for that justice which sets free the oppressed and for that charity which assists the needy; but above all, the disciple who is the active witness of that love which builds up Christ in people’s hearts”.
Personal Reflection and Sharing
At this point of my journey, how committed am I to translate into action the words that Jesus addressed to his disciples: “You are my mother”?
As I approach the day of the renewal of my Baptism through Mary, which of her virtues and attitudes do I affirm as already living in me? And which of her virtues and attitudes do I want to integrate more deeply in the coming days?
[3-7] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER