A Most Misunderstood Woman

Mary is the most misunderstood woman in all of creation. She has been maligned and disrespected and treated rather poorly. At the very least, she has often been ignored. I do not exclude myself from guilt, here. Before I became Catholic, I really did not think too much about Mary, other than at Christmas or when I was reading about the Wedding at Cana or some other passage of Scripture that mentioned her. I never disliked her. She was just some remote Biblical figure who lived a long time ago. When I was in the process of converting, I began to think a lot about Mary. I realized, with astonishment, that she is not just some remote Biblical figure who lived thousands of years ago, but she is a living being who is in Heaven doing whatever work God gives her to do to help her Son and to help us. Mary became someone real to me. As I thought of her, I realized that, just as all of us will be working for God in Heaven and not just sitting on clouds strumming harps, so, too, is Mary working. And I also realized that if God trusted her with the most important event to occur in all of His creation: the Incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, then He must trust her with an awful lot of responsibility now that she is in Heaven and fully experiencing the glory and majesty of being in the presence of God, not being bound by earthly things. I began to look at Mary in a new light. I know that my grandparents are undoubtedly praying for my family and I, and I began to believe that Mary, too, was up in Heaven praying for all humanity, including me. I also began to understand what the Catholics meant when they called Mary a mediator. At first that confused me, because, after all, "There is only one mediator between God and man," and that is Jesus Christ. However, Mary was and still is Jesus' mother. She obviously still talks with Him and listens to Him and supports Him, as any good mother would. Mary is a mediator in that she takes to Jesus our concerns and prayers and worries and troubles. She is a mediator in the way that all of our loved ones and relatives who are in Heaven are mediators. She is right there, in the very presence of God, as are our loved ones who have gone on before us. You can bet anything you want that your grandparents and cousins and friends and old Sunday School teachers and anyone else you loved who has passed on to Glory are praying for you and are interceding on your behalf. They are, believe me. If I were in Heaven right now, I would be on my face before God praying and praying for everyone I loved still here on earth. How can our families who have gone before us be any different? Mary had and still has a very personal relationship with Jesus. One doesn't stop being someone's mother just because you both are in Heaven. When I am in Heaven, I will not walk up to my mother and say "Hi, Joyce. How are you?" I'll still call her Mom. She will always and forever be my mom. Mary is still Jesus' mother. Who better to sit down with the Son of God, the very Second Person of the Trinity whom she carried in her womb, than His own mother? That is why Catholics call her a mediator, and she is not the only mediator. She is just the only one who gave birth to the Second Person of the Godhead. Mary is misunderstood. Many think that she is worshipped by the Catholic church, but that is just plain silly. It is condemned as a heresy, in fact, it really is. Mary was just a creature, a human being just like the rest of us. She is not a goddess. She is not above God, though we acknowledge that she is the mother of Jesus, who is God, when we call her the "Mother of God." Someday in a later post I will write my thoughts on the Rosary, which is a very beautiful and powerful prayer. It is often referred to as "Mary's Weapon," because Catholics believe that she is very, very involved in that great cosmic fight that takes place constantly in the spiritual realm all around us. The Rosary is a beautiful and contemplative prayer that focuses on the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus as seen through his mother's eyes. I'll write about that later, maybe tomorrow. I hope I helped you think of Mary in a new light. I know that when I completely realized how remarkable she really was/is, I felt really bad about not thinking about her all these years. I have come to love her. I hope you do, too.