In defence of Our Lady
IN DEFENCE OF OUR LADY
It
is interesting to note that while it is true that God selected the weak and the
forgotten for His purpose, it was not that He just chose them and said, “You are on your own, let’s see what you can
do.” He prepared them for His work. In the lives of the apostles, this is
very evident. Even from the passages of the Old Testament, we see this vividly
portrayed in the lives of His prophets: Gideon, Isaiah, Moses, Jeremiah and all
others who have served Him. If so much can be done in their lives, can it not
be done on a greater scale for the One who brought forth the Son of God into
the world in human form? In this regard, it is important to note that when we
use the phrase, “Mother of God”, we are referring to two things, namely, that He is
true man otherwise we would not be able to call Her as Mother
and that He is true God for otherwise we would not be able to call Her
as the Mother of God. Yet, it can still be objected that we cannot
call Our Lady as the Mother of Divinity for it was not She who created
divinity. In other words, Her maternity was only a temporal. However, I would
like to quote Cardinal James Gibbons who responds to this objection by asking a
question, “Did the mother who bore us have in any part in the production of our
souls? Was not this nobler part of our being the work of God done? And yet, who
would for a moment, dream of saying ‘the mother of my body’ and not ‘my
mother’?
This comparison is important as it
teaches us that when we use words like parent and child, mother and son, it is
referring to the person and not to the part of or elements of which the person
is composed. Hence it is not right to say or use a phrase like “the mother of
my body” or “the mother of my soul” but just “my mother”. This therefore
implies that the understanding of maternity has to be taken as a whole. It
cannot be broken down into concepts or theories.
This helps us to refute the
objection put forth by people such as Nestorius with regard to the denial of
Mary as the Mother of God. Here are some other objections and response to those
objections in reference to Our Lady. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, it is
written, “Joseph took unto him his wife
and he knew Her not till She brought forth Her first – born Son” (Matthew
1:24 – 25). This sentence suggests that there could be or that were other
children besides Jesus that were born to Mary. However, according to Jewish
tradition, the title of first – born was conferred irrespective of the fact
whether that particular child would have any siblings or not. It is a technical
term in the Jewish law, used to describe the one who ‘opened’ the mother’s womb – whether or not other children
followed.
Moving onto a more deeper
understanding of Our Lady and why it is important to venerate and honour Her as
Our Blessed Mother, it interesting to note that while in the account of the
fall of humankind, we find 3 characters, namely, Adam, Eve and the Serpent or
Satan, in the Gospels, we have Jesus (the New Adam), Our Lady (the New Eve) and
Angel Gabriel. The New Adam is immensely superior to the first, Angel Gabriel
is superior to the fallen angel and hence we are warranted by analogy to
conclude that Mary was and is superior to Eve. If She had been created in
original sin, then instead of being superior, She would be inferior to Eve. We
cannot conceive that the mother of Cain, was superior to the mother of Jesus.
It would have been unworthy of a God of infinite purity to have been born of a
woman that was even for an instant under the dominion of Satan. Thus, the
sanctity of Our Lady surpasses every living creature, even the angels and it is
for this reason that She has a greater influence on holiness. It is therefore
right that we invoke Her name.
But how can one be sure of this? If
God can listen to the prayers of the saints and other people will He not hear
the petitions of His chosen daughter of predilection? If the angels, in our
time of need, can have so much sympathy and empathy, how much more would it be
for Our Lady who is the Queen of Angels? Besides this, She is also the
archetype of sanctity and hence we can say that we should imitate Her.
Now does this mean to say that She
was exempt from salvation just because She was the Mother of God? No! She is
the most perfect disciple of Our Lord. There are 2 ways by which a person can
be saved, namely, intervention and prevention. For instance, some people are
saved after years of drug addiction by intervention and rehabilitation. Many
others, however, are saved from addiction because they are spared the
temptation: they are raised in good homes and kept out of harm’s way. In the
same way, Our Lady was uniquely saved from all sin by preservation, but it was
God who did the saving. So, to reinstate what was mentioned earlier, we don’t
honour and venerate Our Lady instead of God. Rather our honour and veneration
towards Our Lady is itself an expression of our love and devotion for Our Lord
and God. Besides, Our Lady would never do anything like that for Her constant
exhortation to each of us is just this, “Do
whatever He tells you” (John 2:5). She never takes any credit for Herself
rather She gives praise to God Almighty as we see in the Magnificat (Luke 1:
46-55).
This therefore brings us to 2
points,
Ø Our Lady was chosen much before (pre –
destined) to be the Mother of God.
Ø She is the most perfect disciple of our Lord.
Keep Mary in mind and Jesus will grow in your
heart!
God bless you.
