614. December 1, Novena of the Immaculate Conception (II)

Meditations no. 541 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Holy Scripture foretells Mary’s role in salvation history.

Man’s history continually bears witness to the truth of St Paul’s words that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

After creating the world from nothing, God created man and, by a free decree of his Will, raised him to the order of grace. But man replied to his Creator’s generous, fatherly love by defiantly rejecting God’s will in the original sin, thereby losing, as a just punishment for his disobedience, the gift of sanctity and justice that had been bestowed on him. Nonetheless, the fatherly and holy conversation between God and man, interrupted by original sin, has been marvellously resumed in the course of history. The history of salvation narrates exactly this long and changing dialogue which begins with God and brings to man a many-splendored conversation.

Our Lady has a unique role to play in this history of mercy and salvation. Chosen from all eternity by God to be his Mother, Mary was gifted with her every grace and preserved from the stain of original sin. At the very moment of our first parents’ fall, when God chastised Adam and Eve for the sin committed in the Garden of Eden, the figure of the Mother of the Redeemer appears. God tells Satan, who in the guise of the serpent had tempted Adam and Eve to sin, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. No sooner does our fall take place than a light of hope is enkindled for mankind.

Over the centuries, the divine promise of salvation took shape in successive divine revelations. The prophets kept Israel’s messianic hope alive, foretelling the mystery of a virgin who shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. In his great love God shows himself disposed to forgive men and bestow his favours upon them. The Church finds another clear allusion to Mary in the Old Testament story of Judith. After she delivers Israel from the Assyrians, Judith is acclaimed by her people, You are the glory of Jerusalem. You are the joy of Israel. You are the honour of our people. … You shall be blessed by the Lord forever.

For many centuries the Jewish people awaited this woman from the house of David who would bring forth the Messiah. Vatican II teaches that Mary stands out among the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from him. After a long period of waiting the times are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion, and the new plan of salvation is established, when the Son of God has taken human nature from her, that he might in the mysteries of his flesh free man from sin.

From the moment of the Annunciation, Mary gave herself to the salvation of souls in perfect union with her Son.

Having entered deeply into the history of salvation, Mary, in a way, unites in her person and re-echoes the most important doctrines of the faith. By contemplating her life we are helped to know and love God more fully and to enter more intimately into the mysteries he has revealed for our salvation.

The Church teaches that, ever since God made his will known to Mary, she became the mother of Jesus. Committing herself whole-heartedly and impeded by no sin to God’s saving will, she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of redemption, by the grace of Almighty God. The unique event of the incarnation transfigures Mary’s entire existence. All her thoughts, concerns and desires are centred on the Son of God, her son, who will redeem men from their sins. Every corner of Mary’s heart is directed toward Jesus. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ. She presented him to the Father in the temple, shared her Son’s sufferings as he died on the cross. Thus, in a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the work of the Saviour in restoring supernatural life to souls.

By caring for and serving Christ, Mary also served all Christians, the members of her Son’s Mystical Body. The Fathers of the Church attest that the Mystical Body was born in the Blessed Virgin’s womb when she consented to the archangel’s message. O Mother, Mother! With that word of yours, Fiat-“Be it done”-you have made us brothers of God and heirs to his glory. Blessed art thou!

This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.

Mary is the spotless mirror in whom the entire Church sees reflected the sanctity all her members are called to attain. The Second Vatican Council said: As St Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ (cf In Ev. Luc. expos. 2, 1). For in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar both of virgin and mother.

The veneration we owe to Mary.

Mary is the holiest creature who has ever lived; she is the closest accomplice in her Son’s work of redemption; she is the model of the Church and the Mother of all Christians, to whom she constantly dispenses her Son’s graces. Therefore it is only natural that we honour Mary with special love and have recourse to her when we feel weak and needy.

The Church teaches that Mary is endowed with many prerogatives, which are the source for the special homage that we owe her. She is the Mother of God and of men, ever-virgin and immaculate, Mother of the Church, Co-redemptrix, Assumed into heaven, Queen and Mediatrix of all grace. The Second Vatican Council paints the following portrait of Mary: Exalted above all angels and men to a place second only to her Son, as the most holy mother of God who was involved in the mysteries of Christ, she is rightly honoured by a special cult in the Church… This cult, as it has always existed in the Church, for all its uniqueness, differs essentially from the cult of adoration, which is offered equally to the Incarnate Word and to the Father and the Holy Spirit. The cult owed to the Virgin Mary is called hyperdulia, that is, a very special homage far superior to the cult rendered to the angels and saints.

Our Father said that, in the Work, we have very many devotions to our Lady spread throughout the day, from morning to night! Like Jesus, we have always kept close to our mother holy Mary, the Mother of God, who has also been the mother of Opus Dei, the queen of Opus Dei, our most beautiful mother.

What son could be so mean as to hold back the homage and affection due to his mother? How men like to be reminded of their relationship with distinguished figures in literature, in politics, in the armed forces, in the Church!

Sing to Mary Immaculate, reminding her: Hail Mary, daughter of God the Father! Hail Mary, Mother of God the Son! Hail Mary, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit! Greater than you-no one but God!

We turn now to holy Mary and ask her to fulfill the redemption carried out by her son, so that all men and women may come to know Jesus and become his brothers and sisters. This is the prayer of the Church. The entire body of the faithful pours forth urgent supplications to the Mother of God and of men that she, who aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers, may now, exalted as she is above all the angels and saints, intercede before her Son in the fellowship of all the saints, until all families of people, whether they are honoured with the title of Christian or whether they still do not know the Saviour, may be happily gathered together in peace and harmony into one People of God, for the glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.