DAY ONE, TALK THREE - MARY OUR MODEL IN FAITH

BROTHER CYRIL JOHN

FAITH is our BELIEF IN GOD AND ALL HIS PROMISES.  IT IS A TOTAL SURRENDER / SUBMISSION TO GOD'S WILL.

Three  Scripture passages dealing with MARY'S FAITH

OUR FAITH IN MARY

Mary is our model of faith.

Faith is not an intellectual conviction but it is a total surrender, submission to God's will.

Abraham is the father of faith, Mary is the woman of faith, and she is the woman of faith.  We must not only affirm this but we must imitate her and honor her for her faith.

1)      ANNUNCIATION:  Mary was a teenage girl of about 15, living as a virgin who was betrothed to Joseph.  Betrothal at that time was not the kind of engagement that we have now it was a commitment to married life.  She lived with her parents and would join her husband after a year. It was at that point of time that something unexpected happens in her life and that is what we find in Luke 1:26-38.

The angel Gabriel comes to her and says, "Hail favored one the Lord is with you."  She had no way of foreseeing what would happen to her. She is a young teenage girl being greeted by and angel who address her as highly favored one the angel continued saying, "Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus."   Now Mary is understandably disturbed and she poses this question to the angel, how can this be since I have no relations with a man? The angel says, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you." The angel does not give her too many details. Mary wonders how God can become a man. The angel does not say what will happen about her betrothal to Joseph, he does not tell her how Joseph will react or how society will react. At that time, the punishment for conceiving outside of marriage was death by stoning. There is so much uncertainty surrounding this announcement by the angel and she has to give her response.

The Gospel does not record how much time it took Mary make her decision.  She does not say I want to consult my parents.  We know that she did not ask for time to consult Joseph.  She did not ask for a week or a month to think about it.  What Mary does is simply submit to the will of God and says, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word." This is faith. 

When God chose Mary and gave her a special mission, it was difficult.  It was challenging, it was humanly impossible for her to understand. She did not understand in fact it as a challenge.  Even today for a girl of her age such a message would be very disturbing.  We cannot comprehend such a thing happening even in this day and age, and yet Mary says, "I am the handmaid of the Lord let it be done to me according to your word."  God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son and through his obedience and his faith in God's promises to him; he became the father of faith just as Mary by her total submission to God's will becomes the mother of faith.

When the Lord calls us for a special mission what is our response.  Are we going to delay our response by a month, by a week or like Mary are we going to say yes to the Lord, here I am I am the handmaid of the Lord, I am the servant of the Lord, let what you will be done in my life.  She becomes the first believer.  Elizabeth calls her blessed three times because she believed and we too will be blessed if we believe. 

2)      MARY AT THE WEDDING AT CANA:

       UNTIL THIS TIME JESUS HAD NOT PERFORMED A MIRACLE

JOHN 2:11

Let us situate ourselves in the right context. Until then Jesus had not performed a miracle. Mary, Jesus and the disciples were present at the wedding when they ran short of wine. Mary approached Jesus and said, "They have no wine."  Jesus responds saying, "How does it matter to you and to me, my time has not yet come." Jesus had not discerned that the time for performing miracles had arrived. It was only through his mother that he was able to discern that His Father was asking him to perform a miracle. Mary does not answer Jesus she just turns to the servants and says, "Do whatever he tells you," and she leaves.  She approached her Son and interceded with faith and confidence and Jesus performs the miracle.  What we learn from Mary is the faith with which she prayed and interceded and it was with faith that she acted.

Through this miracle, Mary gave birth to Jesus a second time when through her intercession he began his public ministry with the performance of this first miracle.

As Catholics with what kind of faith, do we pray?  Do we pray with an expectant faith like Mary?   She approached her Son with faith and confidence and Jesus performed a miracle.  From Mary we learn to approach Jesus with a faith that is certain that whatever we ask for with faith He will grant us.   

Believe in faith that whatever you ask for in prayer it will be done.  Matthew 21:21-22

3)    MARY AT CALVARY

  

 LUKE 2:35

JOHN 19:25

When Mary said yes at the annunciation she did not know what was going to happen, she did not understand but when she offered the child in the temple Simeon foretold that a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul. (Luke 2:35.) Right from the moment, she said yes the sword of sorrow pressed against her heart. Heavily pregnant with the Child Jesus she had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, she had to flee to Egypt with Joseph and her Son. Her Son was lost in the temple; there was a great deal of controversies surrounding his public ministry. There were constant threats to His life and finally in the sufferings of His terrible death on the Cross. 

The word of God simply says, in John 19:25 "There stood by the Cross of Jesus was Mary His Mother."  That was Mary's response.  What were her thoughts at that time.  She would have offered by all her sorrows, tears, mental torture, suffering mental torture anxiety tension pain tears along with the sufferings of her son.  Just offering it up.  She must have said let it be done to me according to your will a hundred times.  Not only when the angel made the announcement but right from that time anytime she was faced with pain anxiety and suffering and especially standing beside the Cross she would have said again Let it be done to me according to Your will offering it all up to the Father along with her Son. Mary's faith was exceptional and is without equal.  There were no conditions attached to her faith. She never asked any questions she just pondered, she just accepted that is the faith we learn from Mary.  Her faith is much higher than the faith of the saints and the angels that is why she is the Mother of faith, the Woman of faith. Let us ask Mary to pray for us to receive the same faith that she had.  Let us ask for an  increase of  faith.

Let us make the prayer of Pope Francis our own as he closes his first Encyclical Lumen Fidei: Para 60 with these words:

Let us turn in prayer to Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of our faith.

Mother, help our faith! 
Open our ears to hear God’s word and to recognize his voice and call. 
Awaken in us a desire to follow in his footsteps, to go forth from our own land and to receive his promise. 
Help us to be touched by his love, that we may touch him in faith. 
Help us to entrust ourselves fully to him and to believe in his love, especially at times of trial, beneath the shadow of the cross, when our faith is called to mature. 
Sow in our faith the joy of the Risen One. 
Remind us that those who believe are never alone. 
Teach us to see all things with the eyes of Jesus, that he may be light for our path. And may this light of faith always increase in us, until the dawn of that undying day which is Christ himself, your Son, our Lord!

What is our faith in Mary? When Christians of different denominations accuse us of worshiping Mary,of idol worship, our practice of the recitation of the Holy Rosary what is our response?  As Catholics, we must know about the rich heritage that we Catholics have in the Catholic Church of Mary's role in the Church as our Mother.  We ought to know of the many times she has intervened in history when her children have called on and implored her help.  It is then that we will increase our faith in Mary as our Mother and Mother of the Universal Church.

Every Hail Mary prayed in faith is so powerful that Satan has admitted that each one is a blow on his head. The Rosary is such a powerful prayer that if everyone prayed it in faith it would be the end of Satan's hold in the world.

The literal meaning of the word Rosary is a crown of roses.

When the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, eight Jesuit priests living eight blocks from the epicenter testified that because they were living the message of Fatima they were saved. Scientists conducted tests on each of the eight priests but could not explain how these eight priests were unaffected by any health problems despite being in the same area that killed everyone or left them with terrible health problems for years after the explosion of the atomic bomb.

Each time Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta needed urgent help she prayed an express Novena of Nine Memorares to Mother Mary and she was never disappointed.

A single sigh from Mary is worth more before God than all the prayers of all the saints and angels.

Mary because you are God's mother,

So you can't say you can't,

Because you are my mother,

So You won't say you won't,

So you will won't you?  Amen