Knowledge of Mary: Day Seven

Coronation of the Virgin by Diego Velázquez, downloaded from Wikipedia

Day twenty six at Fish Eaters.

Day twenty six at The Catholic Company. *note: no mention is made here of praying the Rosary at the completion of prayers as is done in the older book by Montfort Publications*

Today's reading is from True Devotion. Even in St. Louis de Montfort's day, there were Christians (both Catholic and not Catholic) who thought the veneration of Mary went over the top. De Montfort acknowledges here, that Mary is a creature:

With the whole Church I acknowledge that Mary, being a mere creature fashioned by the hands of God is, compared to his infinite majesty, less than an atom, or rather is simply nothing, since he alone can say, "I am he who is". Consequently, this great Lord, who is ever independent and self-sufficient, never had and does not now have any absolute need of the Blessed Virgin for the accomplishment of his will and the manifestation of his glory. To do all things he has only to will them.

 And yet, he continues, 

Nevertheless I say that, things being supposed as they are now, God having willed to commence and to complete His greatest works by the most holy Virgin, since He created her, we may well think He will not change His conduct in the eternal ages; for He is God, and He changes not either in His sentiments or in His conduct.

De Montfort claims that Jesus is not known as he should be, because "Mary has been up to this time unknown, and that this is one of the reasons that Jesus Christ is not known as He ought to be." This might be hard to comprehend, since Mary seems to be barely mentioned in Scripture. And it is true, that the humble Mary would rather point to Jesus, than to have attention focused on her, except if it were necessary for people to know Jesus better. A good example is the Marian dogma that she is the Mother of God, which makes some people upset. The claim is not that she is the mother of the Father, but that she is the mother of the Son. She is the mother not of a nature, but of a person, in this case, a divine person. Additionally, as the mother of the Son, she emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, who has a human mother, just like the rest of us. The title is not a claim that she is a god, an additional person alongside the Trinity, but that she has special relationship with Jesus. The title, Theotokos, tells us literally that she gave birth to the Son of God. And here is a clue, the knowledge of Mary is not one of merely knowing facts about Mary, but a knowing in the sense of being in a relationship with Mary. In his humanity, Jesus would have a special relationship with Mary, just as most human beings have with their mother. If Jesus were to appear in front of television cameras, it would not be unusual if he gave a shout out to his mom: "Hi Mom!" We fallen human beings can't love Mary more than Jesus loves Mary. We do need to keep in mind that she is a creature.

So, if we are in a relationship with Mary, there is no doubt that she would direct us into a relationship with her Son.

Finally, I'd like to pair a couple of verses from the Book of Revelation, which are not normally seen together because they are in different chapters. But one verse is immediately after the other:

11:19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. 12:1 And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Mary is the living ark of the New Covenant, the ark of the Word of God. God created her that she be a fitting vessel for his Son. She is not an ordinary human person. She is also the Queen of Heaven and Earth, not by her own merits, but because Christ is King (as Solomon was king and Bathsheba was queen). And it is Christ our King to whom we turn toward next week (starting tomorrow).