Mother And Matrix

I had three older brothers when I was growing up and so our house was always filled first with boys and later young men. My Mom was central to our house and central to them when they were there. She was Mom to them. She fed them! Even after my brothers left home and the others moved on, she remained Mom to them and some are close to my family to this day.

It must have been something like that in Mary's home. She probably knew many of the Apostles as they were growing up. Some of them were relatives and several showed up at the wedding to which Jesus and Mary were invited. John probably considered her Mom, long before Jesus entrusted her to him when He was dying on the cross to be his mother. By that time they probably all considered her mother.

Unlike my Mom however, who could only feed my brothers' friends physically, Mary had a special task to perform with this fledgling church. She was to be Mother of their spirits and form them into her Son. Mary was present with them in the upper room when the Holy Spirit overshadowed them, as the Spirit had overshadowed her at the Incarnation, and the Mystical Body of Christ was formed of which she is the Mother.

This is the first and basic spirituality of the Church, devotion to the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church. It is the matrix spirituality from which all other spiritualities flow. I am sure that all the disciples turned to her after Jesus death, after His Resurrection and again after His Ascension,, to learn from this Woman so intimately connected with their Lord, how to respond to God and how to follow her Son. John learns from her the depths of His Love and how to contemplate His Divinity. Peter learns from her forgiveness and how to shepherd and feed the lambs and the sheep, the Church of God. Paul, who probably was most eager to meet and come to know her after his conversion, learned from her the essence of Christianity, “It is now, no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” If we examine the lives of the saints we will find Mary hidden there bringing forth her Son in their life. Devotion to her is the surest and quickest way to holiness.

This month we celebrate Mary in two of her Mysteries, the Assumption into Heaven on August 15th and her Queenship on August 22. Neither of these are explicitly stated in Scripture but have long been part of the living tradition of the Church. Ancient paintings in the Vatican depict Mary in heaven with the Trinity while below a group of astounded Apostles look at an empty tomb. Legend says that Thomas was not present when Mary died. When he came later, they went to open the tomb and found it empty. They and we believe she now reigns as our Queen in heaven with her Son, the King of all hearts. Pray to her: “ O Mary, you are my Mother and My Queen. I am all yours and all that I have is yours. Form your Son Jesus in me.” Amen