Dear St. Rita Families,
During these last days of this month of May, I want to turn our attention to Our Lady. There are so many fruitful and meaningful devotions in the Church, and yet it seems that none are as popular (or as fruitful) as devotions to Our Lady. The Church calendar honors no one more than her, with the exception of Our Lord Himself, of course. And there *used* to be even more feasts! For example, on May 8, the day our new Holy Father Pope Leo XIV was elected, there were two possible Marian feasts on the Pre-Vatican II calendar: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, Mediatrix of All Graces. Many countries likewise have Our Lady as a patroness under certain titles. In the USA, it is Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of the Americas. In Honduras, it is Our Lady of Suyapa. In El Salvador, Our Lady Queen of Peace. And the list goes on!
It hardly suffices to say that the Church loves Our Lady a lot, and She recognizes the role Mary has in salvation history and in our daily lives. St. Maximilian Kolbe encourages us in this regard. He said, “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.” Certainly, Jesus’ love for His mother makes sense from a human perspective, but He Himself invites us to see it from a higher plane. When His mother and brothers are seeking to speak with Him during His ministry, He famously replies, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?…He who does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mt 12:48, 50). Far from being a condemnation of His mother, it is in fact an exaltation, because of Mary’s sinlessness from the first moment of her conception. She, who consents to be hidden in the eyes of others, apparently rejected, is actually the paradigm. In this way, Mary prefigures Christ’s own abandonment unto death by His Father on the Cross.
Our devotion to Mary, then, is not without reason, but it should be qualified. The saints are meant to be admired more than imitated. This does not mean that we should not desire to be like Our Lady at all, but rather that we are called to be saints according to God’s plan for us, not God’s plan for her. There will be points of confluence for sure! It also means that we go to Our Lady for help: “The fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful indeed” (James 5:16). Apart from Christ, there was and is no one more righteous than Mary, and so we should rely heavily on her prayers. As the prayer on the Miraculous Medal says, “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!”
And yet, there is something special about Mary that surpasses the other saints. They, too, preached devotion to Mary and relied on her motherly love and care. The Church names this surpassing devotion “hyperdulia”, meaning “higher than veneration”. It is not the same as “latria”, which is the worship due to God alone, but it is higher than “dulia”, which is the veneration accorded the saints. And with names like “Immaculate Conception”, “Queen of Heaven and Earth”, “Mother of God”, “Mediatrix of All Graces”, and “Co-Redemptrix”, it’s nearly impossible to miss the point that Mary has and has had a special role in our salvation.
In a world that misunderstands this language, it can be important to qualify again that Mary’s role does not eclipse or reduce Christ and His Salvation in the least. But, Christ was free to use whatever instrument He desired, as an artisan chooses his tool or a soldier chooses his weapon. Christ chose to associate Mary with Himself and His redemptive work, not by necessity, however, but by choice. It was supremely fitting that as the sinless virgin Eve was complicit in Adam’s sin at the tree, encouraged him in it, and even sinned first, so the sinless Virgin Mary was complicit in Christ’s Redemption won for us at the Tree of the Cross, supported Him in it, and even was sinless prior to His coming as man.
Is it not beautiful that God allows man to participate in his own redemption and in that of others? That is the meaning of doing penance for our sins, and the meaning of Paul’s words, “I make up in my own flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body, the Church” (Col 1:24). If it is true for Paul, why not for Mary, and why not for you and me? And while such a prospect can seem daunting in many ways, the saints not only intercede for us from Heaven, they also make their presence known to us throughout life. When, at the foot of the Cross, Christ gives His mother to the Beloved Disciple (and him to her, cf. Jn 19:26-27), He makes her the Mother of the Church and us Mary’s sons and daughters. The Church understands John’s literary device of never referring to himself directly, but only as the Beloved Disciple, to be not just an act of humility, but a reference and invitation to all Christians to stand in his place at Christ’s side (cf. Jn 13:23) as Christ is at the Father’s side (Jn 1:18). Interestingly, the Greek work for “side” in Jn 13:23 and Jn 1:18 is also translated “bosom”, and both the Beloved Disciple and Jesus, having Mary as mother, can be spoken of as being born from her bosom! In this way, Mary in her motherhood reflects an aspect of God’s Fatherhood, both for Christ and for us.
At this point it should be obvious that if every other Christian is given to Mary as her son or daughter, then clearly the role of Mary herself is something particularly special, even while remaining similar to the rest, since all are saved by Christ (including Mary!) and are at the foot of the Cross with Christ! Therefore, do not be afraid to love her and to be devoted to her. She who desires that all her sons and daughters be united in her Divine Son will mother you in such a way as to conform you more fully to Christ. I will conclude with a favorite prayer of mine, which is the oldest extant prayer to Our Lady (from the 3rd century), the “Sub Tuum Praesidium”: “We fly to thy patronage O Holy Mother of God. Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever Glorious and Blessed Virgin! Amen.”
In Christ,
Fr. Christensen