Blessed is she who believed Marys Growth in Faith By Norbert Litoing Considering the fact that Mary found

favour with God and was elected by him to be the mother of his son (cf. Lk 1:30,32), one might be tempted to think that she was granted a clear vision of the unfolding of Gods salvific plan in Christ Jesus, in all its phases, from the very moment of the Annunciation. But nothing in Sacred Scripture suggests such a thought. Instead, the meagre references we have on Mary (Luke 1-2; Matt. 1-2; John 2:1-2; Mark 3:3135; John 19:25-27; Acts 1:14) depict someone with a deep-seated attitude of willing acceptance of the impenetrable decrees of God.1 These references, as Schillebeeckx tells us, suggest that the whole of Marys earthly life was passed under the veil of a faith which neither saw nor comprehended, but continued to trust in the unfathomable dispensations of Gods providence.2 Marys faith had to grow and most likely attained maturity at the foot of the Cross where her fiat took on its full scope as she saw her son breath his last. In the lines that follow, we shall strive to follow Mary in her pilgrimage of faith, 3 considering the different stages through which her initial yes led her.

Be it done unto me according to your word (Lk 1:38) The Blessed is she who believed (Lk 1:45) of Elizabeth at the Visitation can be connected to the be it done unto me according to your word (Lk 1:38) of Mary at the Annunciation. These two passages reveal an essential truth about Mary. She has become truly present in the mystery of Christ precisely because she has believed. Dei Verbum tells us that The obedience of faith (Rom. 16:26; cf. Rom. 1:5; 2 Cor. 10:5-6) must be given to God who reveals, an obedience by which man entrusts his whole self freely to God. 4 For Mary, the decisive moment for this self-offering to God was the Annunciation and Elizabeths Blessed is she who believed is a clear reference to that. By her fiat, Mary committed herself whole-heartedly and impeded by no sin to Gods saving will, she devoted herself totally, as 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.5 Thus, Mary is not passively engaged by God, but freely cooperates in the work of mans salvation through faith and obedience. This act of faith does not mean that Mary understood clearly all the implications of her yes! John Paul II tells us that what Mary professed was above all the obedience of faith, abandoning herself to the meaning which was given to the words of the Annunciation by him from whom they proceeded: God himself.6 She was going to discover gradually the scope and meaning of her acceptance of Gods will.

1 2

Cf. Karl Rahner, Mary, Mother of the Lord (New York: Herder & Herder, 1963) 17. Edward Schillebeeckx, Mary, Mother of the Redemption (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1964) 6. 3 Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, n58. 4 Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, 5. 5 Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 56. 6 John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church, n15.

Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in their heart (Lk 2:19) Mary will give birth to her son in conditions of poverty. In fact, when she gave birth to her firstborn son, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Lk 2:7) Thus, she will learn that her special calling and that of her son does not exempt her from the vicissitudes of life. When the shepherds come to visit the newborn child and recount what the angels had said to them, Mary, we are told, kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart (Lk 2:19) probably pondering their meaning. At the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2:22-40), Simeon makes a prophecy which casts new light on the message of the angel at the Annunciation. Marys son is a light for revelation destined for the fall and rise of many and to be a sign that will be contradicted. (Lk 2:32, 34) Her own suffering is equally foretold. Simeons words sound like a second Annunciation to Mary. The concrete historical conditions in which her son is going to carry out his mission are outlined: misunderstanding and sorrow. On the one hand, this announcement confirms Marys faith in the fulfilment of the divine promises of salvation, on the other hand it equally unveils to her that she will have to live her obedience of faith in suffering, at the side of the suffering Saviour, and that her motherhood will be mysterious and sorrowful.7 When Jesus is twelve, his parents take him along to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage. He gets missing and when they finally find him in the Temple after three laborious days of search, Mary puts this question to him: Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety. (Lk 2:48) He answers: Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Fathers house? (Lk 2:49) We are told that they did not understand what he said to them (Lk 2:50). Thus, in contradiction with those who might think otherwise, this episode shows us that Mary did not grasp everything from the onset. She had to persevere in her pilgrimage of faith, in humble acceptance of Gods will which gradually unfolded through the events pertaining to her sons life. After this episode, we are told that Jesus went down with his parents to Nazareth and was obedient to them. Mary, on her part, kept all these things in her heart. (Lk 2:51). The occurrence of this phrase as some sort of leitmotiv suggests that Marys faith grew through meditation, pondering on the events of her sons life. Though nothing is said about Jesus hidden life, we can infer that it was equally a period of maturation for Marys faith. The fact that Jesus would later be referred to as the Carpenters son (Mt 13:55) suggests that he was obedient to Joseph and Mary as any other ordinary child would be to its parents. Amidst the routine of a simple and happy life in their home of Nazareth, Mary was most probably in contact with the truth of her son only in faith and through faith. Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my mother. (Mt 12:50). During his public ministry, Jesus would celebrate Marys faith even if he does not make explicit reference to her: Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Mt 12:50). This suggests that Marys beatitude resides not so much in being Jesus biological mother, but in her obedience to Gods will. Jesus words echo the Blessed is she who believed of Elizabeth. At the marriage feast of Cana, Marys faith in her
7

Cf. John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater n16.

son appears to have grown. She tells the servants, Do whatever he tells you. (Jn 2:5) This depicts an act of trust in Jesus. This act of trust will bring about the first sign performed by Jesus in his public ministry, the changing of water into wine. The foot of the Cross appears to the locus of the full blossoming of Marys faith. Jesus hangs in agony on the cross, rejected by his people. How great, how heroic then is the obedience of faith shown by Mary in the face of God's unsearchable judgments! How completely she abandons herself to God without reserve, offering the full assent of the intellect and the will to him whose ways are inscrutable (cf. Rom. 11:33)!8 In fact, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of Gods almighty power.9 Through faith, Mary is perfectly united to Christs self-emptying on the Cross. According to John Paul II, this is probably the deepest kenosis of faith in human history.10 By faith, Mary, at the foot of the cross, partakes in her sons redeeming death. Her faith is more enlightened at this moment than that of the disciples who fled. At the foot of the Cross, Mary gets the confirmation of the prophecy of Simeon that her son was a sign of contradiction. Likewise, the words of Simeon concerning her are fulfilled: and a sword will pierce through your own soul also. At the foot of the Cross, the pertinence of the words of saint Irenaeus, quoted by Lumen Gentium, is manifest: the knot of Eves disobedience was untied by Marys obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.11

Far from having enjoyed a kind of intuitive vision of Gods will, Mary had to undertake her pilgrimage of faith like any other human being. The above survey of what Sacred Scripture tells us about her faith journey enables us to assert with Schillebeeckx that Mary spent the whole of her life in the severe ordeal of this faith not comprehending, but believing, with a faith which increased through meditation and through living in close contact with the growing child.12 This is a very consoling realization because it reveals to us the fact that Marys life of faith on this earth was very much like ours. She went through the same struggles which we face in life, but she submitted unwaveringly, in faith and in prayerful meditation, to the incomprehensible events of her life of which God was the author. In this, Mary offers a calm vision and a reassuring word to modern man, torn as he often is between anguish and hope... She shows forth the victory of hope over anguish of peace over anxiety of life over death.13

BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources

John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater n18. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n273. 10 John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater... n18. 11 St Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. III, 22, 4: PG 7, 959 A, arvey, 3, 124. Cited in Lumen Gentium, n56. 12 Edward Schillebeeckx, Mary, Mother of the Redemption6. 13 Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, For the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, n57.
9 8

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Revised Edition (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2008). John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, On the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Life of the Pilgrim Church. Available online at http://www.vatican.va/ Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, For the Right Ordering and Development of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Available online at http://www.vatican.va/ Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium. Secondary Sources Rahner, Karl. Mary, Mother of the Lord (New York: Herder & Herder, 1963). Schillebeeckx, Edward. Mary, Mother of the Redemption (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1964).