a year of prayer: 365 Rosaries

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.



In our last Marian Monday post, we began an exploration of the term “Theotokos,” meaning God-bearer, or Mother of God. We read the words of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, who proclaimed that Mary was Theotokos—both the Mother of Jesus, and the Mother of God. As you may recall, at that time, there was a schism within the Church, with some insisting that Mary was the Mother of Jesus (that is, the mother of His human nature), but not the Mother of God (that is, the mother of His Divine nature). Saint Cyril wrote: “Mary, Mother of God, we salute you. Precious vessel, worthy of the whole world’s reverence, you are an ever-shining light, the crown of virginity, the symbol of orthodoxy, an indestructible temple, the place that held him whom no place can contain, mother and virgin. Because of you the holy gospels could say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”


Throughout the history of the Church, saints, writers, apologists, and theologians have referred to Our Blessed Mother as Theotokos:

Saint Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, described Jesus, as "having taken in truth and not in appearance a body from the Theotokos, Mary."

St. Basil stated: "I believe in one God the Father Almighty; God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost; I adore and worship one God, the Three. I confess to the economy of the Son in the flesh and that the holy Mary, who gave birth to Him according to the flesh, was Mother of God (Theotokos)."

Saint Gregory Nazianzen used the expression Theotokos in an effort to bring out Jesus' divinity:

“If anyone does not believe that Holy Mary is the Theotokos, he is severed from the Godhead. If anyone should assert that He passed through the Virgin as through a channel, and was not at once divinely and humanly formed in her (divinely, because without the intervention of a man; humanly, because in accordance with the laws of gestation), he is in like manner godless. If any assert that the Manhood was formed and afterward was clothed with the Godhead, he too is to be condemned....If any introduce the notion of two Sons, one of God the Father, the other of the Mother, and discredits the Unity and the Identity, may he lose his part in the adoption promised to those who believe aright. For God and Man are two natures, as also soul and body are, but there are, not two Sons or two Gods.”


Saint Cyril detailed the orthodoxy of the Church in a letters written and approved by the Council of Ephesus. In these letters, he specifically addressed the “oneness of Jesus” as made manifest through the Blessed Virgin. That is, the two natures of Christ—human and divine—find concrete expression in the term, Theotokos. The letter stated: "For in the first place no common man was born of the holy Virgin; then the Word thus descended upon him; but being united from the womb itself he is said to have endured a generation in the flesh in order to appropriate the producing of his own body. Thus (the holy Fathers) did not hesitate to speak of the holy Virgin as the Mother of God.” Continuing, “If anyone does not confess that God is truly Emmanuel, and that on this account the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Theotokos), for according to the flesh she gave birth to the Word of God by birth, let him be anathema… The Fathers did not hesitate to call the blessed Virgin the Theotokos and this was certainly not because of the nature of the Word or the divinity had its origin in her but because it was from her that the sacred body was born, endowed with a rational soul to which the Word is united to the point of forming one only person."


The Council of Esphesus focus on Our Blessed Mother, and establishment of Marian doctrine in the cementation of the Church’s position on the oneness of Christ promoted devotion to the Blessed Virgin throughout the Church. Since that time, papal letters and proclamations have continued to proclaim this great truth about Mary: she is the Mother of God.

"The glorious and holy Mary, ever a virgin, is in a real and true sense Mother of God." (Pope John II)

"If the son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is God, certainly she who bore Him should rightly and deservedly be called Mother of God. if the person of Jesus Christ is one and divine, surely Mary is not only mother of Christ, but should be called Deipara, Theotokos." (Pope Paul IV, 1931).


In our next post, we will look at why denying that Mary is the Mother of God, is denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ. That is why calling Mary the "Mother of Jesus" and refusing to call her "Mother of God" is to diminish Jesus as well as Mary, for it is a denial that Jesus is truly or fully God.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.



In our last column, we offered an Act of Reparation to Our Blessed Mother, for the insults and blasphemies she has suffered. Today, we begin to look at one of those insults—the claim by some that Mary is not the Mother of God. In preparation for that exploration, we read an excerpt from a homily written by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church, who presided over the 3rd great Ecumenical Council. This council, which met in 431 AD in Ephesus proclaimed Mary as the Theotokos, the "God-bearer" or "Mother of God.” At that time, a great schism existed in the Church, with some claiming that Mary was the “Mother of Jesus” but not the “Mother of God.” Saint Cyril proclaimed Mary to be the Mother of God (something we will look at in more depth next week).



I see here a joyful company of Christian men met together in ready response to the call of Mary, the holy and ever-virgin Mother of God. The great grief that weighed upon me is changed into joy by your presence, venerable Fathers. Now the beautiful saying of David the psalmist: How good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity (Psalm 133) has come true for us.


Therefore, holy and incomprehensible Trinity, we salute you at whose summons we have come together to this church of Mary, the Mother of God.


Mary, Mother of God, we salute you. Precious vessel, worthy of the whole world’s reverence, you are an ever-shining light, the crown of virginity, the symbol of orthodoxy, an indestructible temple, the place that held him whom no place can contain, mother and virgin. Because of you the holy gospels could say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.


We salute you, for in your holy womb was confined him who is beyond all limitation. Because of you the holy Trinity is glorified and adored; the cross is called precious and is venerated throughout the world; the heavens exult; the angels and archangels make merry; demons are put to flight; the devil, that tempter, is thrust down from heaven; the fallen race of man is taken up on high; all creatures possessed by the madness of idolatry have attained knowledge of the truth; believers receive holy baptism; the oil of gladness is poured out; the Church is established throughout the world; pagans are brought to repentance.


What more is there to say? Because of you the light of the only-begotten Son of God has shone upon those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death; prophets pronounced the word of God; the apostles preached salvation to the Gentiles; the dead are raised to life, and kings rule by the power of the holy Trinity.


Who can put Mary’s high honor into words? She is both mother and virgin. I am overwhelmed by the wonder of this miracle. Of course no one could be prevented from living in the house he had built for himself, yet who would invite mockery by asking his own servant to become his mother?


Behold then the joy of the whole universe. Let the union of God and man in the Son of the Virgin Mary fill us with awe and adoration. Let us fear and worship the undivided Trinity as we sing the praise of the ever-virgin Mary, the holy temple of God, and of God himself, her Son and spotless Bridegroom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


We take a slight "detour" from our weekly Marian Mondays column at the start of the Holy Month of May, dedicated to Our Blessed Mother. At this time, we instead, look to Mary, and offer an Act of Reparation for the insults and blasphemy committed against her.

An Act of Reparation is a prayer or devotion with the intent to repair the "sins of others.” For example, one might pray to repair the sins of blasphemy or insult committed by others, for the sufferings of Christ, or the attacks on the sanctity of Our Holy Mother. The sole aim of these prayers is to repair the sins of the world, as our Blessed Mother has encouraged us to do at each of her holy apparitions. At Lourdes, for example, she encouraged Saint Bernadette to pray for sinners, stating, “Penance. Penance. Penance for sinners.” To Sister Sasagawa, Our Lady of Akita stated, “Many men in this world afflict the Lord. I desire souls to console Him to soften the anger of the Heavenly Father." To the visionaries at Fatima, Our Blessed Mother urged prayer “in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended."

In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI defined reparation as follows: “The creature's love should be given in return for the love of the Creator, another thing follows from this at once, namely that to the same uncreated Love, if so be it has been neglected by forgetfulness or violated by offense, some sort of compensation must be rendered for the injury, and this debt is commonly called by the name of reparation.”

Similarly, Pope John Paul II referred to reparation as the "unceasing effort to stand beside the endless crosses on which the Son of God continues to be crucified.” As we consider the crucifixion, we remember Our Blessed Mother standing beneath her Son, a sword piercing her heart in His agony. In our effort to stand beside Jesus on His cross, we, too, stand beside the Blessed Virgin.

Throughout time, many have not simply downplayed or ignored devotion to Mary, but have actively attacked Marian doctrines (such as her perpetual virginity) that are attested from the earliest days of the Church. Further, critics of the Church call into question the sanctity of Our Blessed Mother, and the role in which she plays in the mediation of our sins and distribution of graces. In this prayer, we offer praise to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Holy Trinity in reparation for offenses against the Mother of God.

O blessed Virgin, Mother of God, look down in mercy from Heaven, where thou art enthroned as Queen, upon me, a miserable sinner, thine unworthy servant. Although I know full well my own unworthiness, yet in order to atone for the offenses that are done to thee by impious and blasphemous tongues, from the depths of my heart I praise and extol thee as the purest, the fairest, the holiest creature of all God's handiwork. I bless thy holy Name, I praise thine exalted privilege of being truly Mother of God, ever Virgin, conceived without stain of sin, Co-Redemptrix of the human race. I bless the Eternal Father who chose thee in an especial way for His daughter; I bless the Word Incarnate who took upon Himself our nature in thy bosom and so made thee His Mother; I bless the Holy Spirit who took thee as His bride. All honor, praise and thanksgiving to the ever-blessed Trinity who predestined thee and loved thee so exceedingly from all eternity as to exalt thee above all creatures to the most sublime heights. O Virgin, holy and merciful, obtain for all who offend thee the grace of repentance, and graciously accept this poor act of homage from me thy servant, obtaining likewise for me from thy Divine Son the pardon and remission of all my sins. Amen

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


Mary exemplifies the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity. She was chosen, and is, without a doubt, blessed. When we speak of Mary, we oftentimes use the word “fiat.” You hear people saying, “the fiat of Mary,” or “the ultimate fiat.” But what are we actually talking about? “Fiat” is Latin, translating as “let it be done.” In this way, we can understand the word fiat as more than a simple “yes.” Rather, it is the acknowledgement of one’s lack of control, of one's faith, of one's confidence in the face of the unknown.

When we speak of the fiat of Mary, we are, of course, generally referring to the Annunciation, when she bravely proclaims, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord; Let it be done to me according to your word.” Mary, as previously written here, has no idea what lies in store for her. She stands poised on the brink of the great unknown, and yet, she manages to give up her control, to put her faith in the Lord, and accept the unknown. In doing so, the unknown becomes known through her faith in the Lord.

As Adreinne von Speyr wrote: "The `fiat' of the Mother of the Lord is the most humble thing that the maiden can say or accomplish . . . Since she binds herself entirely to God, she becomes entirely free in God . . . She is infinitely at the disposal of the Infinite. She is absolutely ready for everything, for a great deal more, therefore, than she can know, imagine or begin to suspect. Coming from God, this yes is the highest grace; but, coming from us, it is also the highest achievement made possible by grace: unconditional, definitive self-surrender. It is at once faith, hope and love. It is also the original vow, out of which arises every form of definitive Christian commitment to God and in God. It is the synthesis of love and obedience.”

In consideration of what was being asked of her, Mary’s fiat is not only brave, it is eloquent and virtuous. All too often, we answer the Lord with hesitation, half-heartedness, begrudging acceptance—an “I guess so,” or “If I have to” type response. Our own plans, our fears and anxieties, our competing priorities, our sinfulness betray us in these moments. Our selfishness keeps us from embracing our weakness, gazing into the unknown, and accepting the Lord’s will for us.

Our Blessed Mother had ample opportunity for selfishness, both at the first fiat, and later. At the Wedding in Cana, for example, Mary offers another fiat—this one as selfless as the first. We can imagine the happiness of Mary—of any mother—having her child, her son, return home for this joyous event. We can imagine that many of us would want to keep that child with us, for as long as we could. Mary likely felt the same way about her child, the Christ child. But she chose to let Him go, to start His mission on earth, with the fiat, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5). Mary begins the ministry of Jesus, not knowing what lay in store, but trusting in the Lord. When we meditate upon the Mysteries of the Rosary, we are not only contemplating the life of Jesus, we are relishing the repeated fiat of Mary, and we are learning from both. To what will we say “Let it be done” today? How will we respond to our Lord’s call?




An excerpt from a Homily of Praise to the Virgin’s Fiat
Written by St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)

You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.


The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.


Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.


Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.


Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. We feel confident in the truth of her existence. We realize that she is unique, chosen for a special purpose by the Lord. We recognize the importance of her name. We have preliminarily explored her Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity. But why do we Catholics insist on calling her Blessed? Was Mary, the Mother of God, blessed?

It seems a somewhat ridiculous question to those of us raised in the Catholic faith tradition. We rarely even mention Mary without referring to her as blessed. But what does that actually mean? Let’s take a quick look.

Reference to the Virgin Mary as being blessed can be found throughout the Holy Scriptures, at the important moments of her life—moments we meditate on joyfully while we pray the Holy Rosary. We first hear Mary called blessed during the Annunciation, the visitation from the Archangel Gabriel in which Mary submits graciously to the will of the Lord.

And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. (Luke 1:28)

Subsequently, Mary leaves home and travels to visit Elizabeth, also pregnant, and full of the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth recognizes the sanctity and obedience of Mary, and the Son of God she carries. When Mary is still at a distance, she runs to her and pronounces her blessed.

And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. (Luke 1:42)

It is during her three month visit with Elizabeth that Mary sings the Magnificat, proclaiming herself both unworthy in the eyes of the Lord, and also blessed in the eyes of the Lord:

46And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers." (Luke 1: 46-55)

Mary, full of love and the Holy Spirit, graciously proclaims, "Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." She does so with grace and humility, lowering herself before the Lord, and exalting His great works. In this moment, she asserts, perhaps without conscious knowledge, the fact that she has been chosen by the Lord, that she alone would bring forth the Savior of the World, that she has been witness to the overwhelming love of God. This blessing she received is so wonderful, so awe-inspiring, that future generations will be rendered speechless.

Some scholars expand upon this, offering a second interpretation, which builds upon the first. That is, this reference to calling Mary "blessed" moves beyond the Incarnation of God and the motherhood of Jesus—tremendous blessings we cannot even begin to fathom—and taken quite literally can mean that the Blessed Mother would continue to interact and appear with the faithful for generations. History suggests this to be true, with the apparitions and miraculous intercessions of Mary around the world—at Lourdes, Banneux, Fatima, Beuraing, Pontmain, New Orleans, and many others!

But what does Blessed mean? Jesus, during the Sermon on the Mount, provides us with a definition—blessed are those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted because of righteousness and faith in Christ. Later, as recounted by Luke, Jesus declares that those who hear and keep God’s Word are blessed.

Jesus defines blessed for us. In applying it to the life of Mary, we see that she lives these commandments, she embodies these qualities, she suffers for her God. Our Mother’s faith in the Lord, her hope in the resurrection, her love for Jesus, and her following of the Word of God rightfully bestows upon her the title of Blessed. Jesus defines it. Her obedience to the Word of God verifies it. Her life confirms it.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. We feel confident in the truth of her existence. We realize that she is unique, chosen for a special purpose by the Lord. We recognize the importance of her name. But what of her Christian virtues? We hold Mary, the Mother of God, up as the first disciple of Christ, as in her agreeing to serve as the vessel of the Incarnation, she became the first Christian. She believed in her Son. And as we will see, she lived His teachings, even before He taught them, such was her connection to the Lord. She exhibited fully the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

Last week, we briefly looked at the great hope of Our Blessed Mother, Mary, and the week before that, we considered her unending faith. As we continue our preliminary exploration of the virtues of the Mother of God, we turn to charity, the greatest of the virtues, more commonly referred to as “love.”


Our Blessed Mother is the perfect example of Christian charity. In fact, she is the first to embody this virtue, as Christian charity began on earth when she accepted the mission of the Lord during the Annunciation. In that moment, Mary received the love of the Lord in her heart, herself becoming the vessel of Christian love on earth until the birth of Christ. She heard the call of the Lord, and she obeyed—obedience which led to her completion and sanctification.

We are all called to obedience to the Lord, and to His commandments. It is only through this obedience that love grows, becoming abundant and free, and living within us as Christ lives within us. The Blessed Mother, in her bowing to God, in her acceptance of her mission, in her obedience, made this possible. By becoming the vessel of the Incarnation, by literally having Christ living inside of her, so, too, may we welcome the love of God into our hearts.

The love and charity of Mary grew throughout her life, throughout the life of Christ, despite the fact that His ministry was a source of suffering and pain for her. Repeatedly, Mary lost her son—the center of her being, her reason for living—as He traveled from her, growing further and further and more distant each time. We imagine that each of these cases, and in each of the seeming rebukes she received (discussed briefly here), created a growing pain in her heart—the sword that Simeon foretold as she presented her newborn in the Temple. But without exception, Our Blessed Mother filled that part of her heart with love, with the charity of the Lord, and faithfully and hopefully journeyed alongside her Son to the cross.

It was there that she became the mother to us all, as Jesus linked her to the disciple He loved, just as He linked her to the people He loved so much that He gave His life. As He hung on the cross, bleeding for all of humanity, He gave us all the precious gift of her love.

26When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," 27and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. (John 19:26-27)

Just as the disciple Jesus loved took Mary into his home, so, too, do we take her into our homes, our hearts, as we meditate on her virtues. We feel confident in Mary’s living the Christian faith, modeling for all times the hope, faith, and charity of a universal mother.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. We feel confident in the truth of her existence. We realize that she is unique, chosen for a special purpose by the Lord. We recognize the importance of her name. But what of her Christian virtues? We hold Mary, the Mother of God, up as the first disciple of Christ, as in her agreeing to serve as the vessel of the Incarnation, she became the first Christian. She believed in her Son. And as we will see, she lived His teachings, even before He taught them, such was her connection to the Lord. She exhibited fully the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

Last week, we briefly looked at the great faith of Our Blessed Mother, Mary. As we continue our preliminary exploration of the virtues of the Mother of God, we turn to hope, the consummated will of the Lord.

For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, we wait for it with patience (Romans, 8:24-25).

Hope and faith are intrinsically connected-- Faith being the belief in the power and presence of God, and hope being the confidence that the Lord can accomplish all things. We can have faith, but lose hope. And similarly, we can hope without great belief or faith. The world tempts us to both of these options, and this is likely the case for Mary, as well. Throughout the New Testament, we see numerous opportunities for doubt on the part of Mary, as well as opportunities for her to lose hope in the promise of God that she was called to. In each of these moments we sense her human suffering, her confusions, and her lack of complete understanding of the words of her Son:


Upon finding the child Jesus in the temple:
48When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."
49"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" 50But they did not understand what he was saying to them. (Luke 2:48-50)

At the Wedding in Cana:
"Woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." (John 2:4)

During His ministry:
31Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."
33"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:33)

and

27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you."
28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." (Luke 11:28)


These words directed from Son to mother, given a cursory glance, must seem harsh and even hurtful to Mary. We can imagine how we might respond if a family member of friend spoke to us in the same manner. And in those moments, that is when we look to Mary, as a model of virtue. Despite her human confusion at these events, at the words of Jesus, at the course her life had taken—Despite all of this, she never loses hope in the Lord. She comes back time and time again, placing her life, her meaning, and her purpose in the Lord, and doing so with confidence. Her hope never wanes—not during the childhood of Jesus, the start of His ministry, the Passion and crucifixion of Our Lord, not during the days He laid in the tomb. Mary’s continued journey with Jesus to His cross reveals a profound hope in the Resurrection, in the rebirth of all people through Jesus.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. We feel confident in the truth of her existence. We realize that she is unique, chosen for a special purpose by the Lord. We recognize the importance of her name. But what of her Christian virtues? We hold Mary, the Mother of God, up as the first disciple of Christ, as in her agreeing to serve as the vessel of the Incarnation, she became the first Christian. She believed in her Son. And as we will see, she lived His teachings, even before He taught them, such was her connection to the Lord. In the next three weeks, we will look at Mary, in light of her faith, hope, and charity—at first only small glimpses of these virtues contained in her visitation with Elizabeth, but necessary to set the stage for a further exploration of the virtue of the Mother of God.

Mary demonstrated a life of faith that few of us can even begin to understand. As we consider her life, given her unique role in the redemption of mankind, it would be easy to assume that her day to day experiences were those of angelic visitations and miracles. But these are just moments in the vastness of her approximately fifty years of life! The majority of her days were spent in ordinary tasks, tasks that we each undertake every day—but the extraordinary aspect of her life was the faith with which she undertook these tasks, the faith with which she heard and answered the call of the Lord.

When the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary, announcing the grand plan the Lord would reveal in her, she was disturbed and troubled. But her faith was stronger than her doubt, and she accepted the Lord’s will. We have to imagine that this acceptance, this leap of faith, was at once extremely gladdening but also distressing. She had no one to speak of such miracles with (not even Joseph!), and suffered humiliation and judgment at the hands of her family and neighbors. It was with this faith, the faith that the Lord would provide for her, that she set off on a treacherous journey over the mountains to visit Elizabeth, a woman she trusted.

Of course, we know that the same faith that filled Mary, also came to rest on Elizabeth—so much so that she knew the truth of the promise of the Lord long before Mary appeared on the horizon. “Blessed are thou among women, and blessed it the fruit of your womb!” she cried out, running to greet her.

Faith.

Mary lived the life of faith—faith in the Father in heaven, and faith in her yet unborn Son, Jesus Christ. For her entire life, she clung to her faith, following her Son-made-God on the road to his public ministry, his Passion, and his death, not fully understanding the message of God, but bowing before Him nonetheless. Only at Pentecost, where the grace of the Lord descends in tongues of fire and opens the eyes of those in the Upper Room, does the Blessed Virgin finally understand the Word of God fulfilled in her Son. Only then does her faith become the reality of the kingdom of heaven that we all long for.

Without faith, we are lost. We can’t possibly begin to navigate the struggles and trials of everyday life—we are like a toy boat being tossed about on the great waters of the ocean. With faith, by bowing before the Lord, by accepting His will and His call, by placing our simple, fragile, and flawed lives in His hands, are we able to continue our journey toward heaven. We look to Mary, the Mother of God, whose faith never wavered, as a model of virtuous living.

Marian Mondays is a weekly post focusing on Our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth. In this post, we explore her life, her special mission, her sanctity, and the Biblical bases for the beliefs of the Church.


We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. We feel confident in the truth of her existence. We realize that she is unique, chosen for a special purpose by the Lord. And as we will see in future posts, Holy Scripture tells us that Mary was chosen long before she accepted the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel. She was chosen long before her Immaculate Conception. She was chosen at the beginning.

If we suspend our possible disbelief at that last statement for just a moment, and agree that Mary was, indeed, predestined to fulfill her loving role as the Mother of God, the vessel of the Incarnation, and the Immaculate Conception, we consider the name bestowed upon her, and the meaning ascribed to that name in Biblical and anthropological study.  For her name was imporant.

Her name was Mary.

Of course, that is a translation of sorts, her likely original name in Hebrew being Miryam or Mariam. Now, as I have disclaimed in the past, I am neither a Biblical scholar nor an anthropologist. In these matters, I defer to those who are, and will attempt in some small way here to summarize the major theories of the origins and interpretation of the name of Mary.

The meaning of any name depends upon the languages and words from which is it derived, and so it is true with Mary. Depending on the language, the root words, and the order in which one studies any name, the meaning is likely to change, however slightly. And this, too, is true with study of Miryam or Miriam. For many years, theologians, historians, linguists, and anthropologists have labored over the various forms of the name Mary contained in both the Old and New Testaments. Such rigorous study has offered numerous theories on the origins and meanings, including Egyptian roots of the word, as the only Old Testament reference to the name Mary (Miryam) is Moses’ sister.

Examinations of translations of the Holy Scriptures by scholars further indicate that names were translated differently, during different periods of history, names evolving as they continue to do today. Miryam became Miriam, although alternately is also became Maria and Marian. Further, some translations appear to distinguish Mary, the Mother of God, from other women named Mary who appear in the New Testament by bestowing a slightly different variation of the name—suggesting her unique and elevated status.

Based upon this, it is assumed that Miriam is a later version of the Hebrew name Miryam, derived from the root “Mara,” which roughly translated means “well nourished,” historically interpreted at that time as beautiful and perfect. This is the most widely agreed upon meaning of the name. Alternative meanings, drawing upon the integration of Egyptian and Hebrew linguistics suggest Miryam to be a composite of the Egyptian root “mar,” meaning to love, and the Hebrew root “yam” referring to Yahweh. This would be interpreted as “one loved by God” or “exalted.” Lastly, the Hebrew root “marrar,” of which Miriam is a potential modification, is translated as “great sorrow.”

That leaves us with a few different interpretations, depending on who we ask. But does that render any one of them incorrect? I would argue just the opposite! If we take these meanings together—“the exalted one,” “the beautiful one,” “the perfect one,” “one loved by God,” and even “great sorrow”—they hold together, they make theological sense. They make common sense in light of our faith. As we consider the Lord to be all-knowing, and that His every action has a divine purpose, so, too, must we acknowledge the name of the woman He chose to mother His Son as possessing deeper meaning. In assigning this name, the world was given a foretaste of the role Mary would play in the redemption of the world—the birth of Jesus Christ, even at the cost of great personal suffering. In this light, Mary truly experiences the “great sorrow” of the world, yet is “perfect” and “loved by God.”

We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. We feel confident in the truth of her existence. But there is so much more to think about, to say about the life of The Blessed Virgin. For whether one believes in her sanctity, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption into heaven, or even her glorious Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth, one must admit that historically speaking, Mary, the Mother of God, was unique. She was chosen to conceive, carry, and deliver Jesus Christ, Our Lord. She was chosen to raise Him as His mother for the first 30 years of His life. With Joseph, she was chosen to be the beginning of the earthly family of Christ.


And yet, there is still more. We will get to the Biblical foretelling of Queenship. We will eventually discuss the doctrine of her Assumption. But we are still setting the stage, so to speak, building the foundation of belief which is supported by the Word of God. And to do that, we must understand the personage of Mary. Who was she?

First and foremost, she was a mother. We can picture her bathing Jesus, cooking for Him, cleaning up after Him as our own mothers did for us. We can feel the love she felt for Him, the joys in His childhood successes, the pain when He was injured. We can imagine her pride in his accomplishments. And then, we consider those same emotions, that same connection, to the public ministry, Passion, and eventual crucifixion of Our Lord.

From the moment of Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel, Mary’s life changed from ordinary to unique, special, chosen. Her life as a mother was in reality the life of any mother, but also unlike any mother before or since. She knew, from the message of an angel, from her visitation with Elizabeth, from the prophesy of Simeon at the Presentation of Our Lord in the temple, that her child was special, that her child was destined for great things, and that in accomplishing those great things, she would suffer as no mother had ever suffered. Her heart would be pierced. A part of her would be lost.

And in that suffering, in that knowledge, in that all-consuming love for her son, we see the prototype for all mothers. Just as the reality of her motherhood was both traditional and supernatural, her emotions were both familiar and incomprehensible. Every joy, every moment of happiness in her life—a life centered on her son, Jesus Christ—was mingled with the foreshadowing of pain, sacrifice, and suffering, the extent of which we, at this moment in time, cannot begin to fathom. And yet within those moments, she experiences the hope of the Resurrection. This is why Biblical scholars believe that Mary did not accompany the other women to the tomb after the crucifixion. First, her heart was broken, the center of her life gone. But second, and more important, she likely knew that the tomb would be empty. She knew that a man, her son, whose coming is heralded by an angel could not be crucified by man. She had hope and confidence in the Resurrection.


For such a role, for such a weight to carry throughout life, for such suffering and anxiety, the Lord chose Mary. From all the women created in the course of human existence, it was Mary. From the moment of Annunciation, she suffered humiliation and hardship, and yet never wavered in her faith in God, her love for Jesus, and her hope in the future for all mankind. Her simple statement, “let it be done to me according to Your Word,” speaks volumes. Mary was undeniably unique. She was holy. She was chosen. And this tells us that there is much more to be said about Our Mother.

We pray with Mary. We experience her practically, emotionally, and rationally. But perhaps we’re still putting the cart before the horse. How do we know, for example, that Mary, as we understand her, even existed? Couldn’t she be a metaphor for a maternal figure in the life of Christ? Isn’t she the product of story-telling, folktale, or dramatic embellishment?


These are questions that I, and indeed many Catholics, have been asked, and for which there are answers. We might first ask, before answering these questions, how do we know what we know about Mary? The simple answer being that her life—a life intrinsically tied to the life of Christ whom she bore in virginity—is recorded in the Scriptures, in the Gospels of the Lord. Biblical historians assert that much of the information contained in the Scriptures, especially that of the early life and childhood of Jesus, likely came to the Gospel writers from the original source—that of his loving mother, who lived with the community following his death. How else might the story of the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Presentation, or the Finding of Jesus at the Temple, for example, have been included in the Gospels with such specific detail? Mary herself, the mother of God, mourning the loss of her purpose, her center, shared these stories with those who would later commit them to writing.

So, from this, we see two central arguments to the existence of she whom we recognize and adore as Mary, the Mother of God: 1) her story, centered in Christ, is part of the witness of the Scriptures—something that we believe has been rationally and extensively studied and proven, removing legend and folklore (after all, Mary is referenced in seven books of the New Testament, and in over 150 verses); and 2) the stories of Mary and her relationship with Christ do not feel invented.

Let me say more about that. Religious historians (who could definitely speak to this with more eloquence than I!) can point to those themes and literary devices common to invented religious writings of the time, whether they be of Jewish, pagan, or Christian faith traditions. Quite simply, the Gospels do not contain these tendencies. Rather, they are fairly straightforward accounts of a simple life. They have not been overly polished, nor have they been romanticized or infused with imagery and moral insinuation. Rather, the teaching comes in the form of spoken word, and the reality of relationship. When Jesus speaks sharply to his mother, or is seemingly dismissive of Mary at the Wedding at Cana, for example, (something we know not to be the case, but we’ll get to that in a future post!), we can imagine the heartache of a mother retelling that story. A writer on a mission to glorify a fictitious Mary would not include these details, but rather, would rather paint her as a purely celebrated figure, a hero.

Instead, we experience Mary as a humble and simple woman from poor circumstances, who opens herself to the call of the Lord, readily serves and sacrifices for God, and experiences each joy in her Christ-centered life as mingled with suffering in anticipation of what is to come. These things are not the stuff of legend. These things are the Word of God.

A few weeks ago, I began a new weekly post, which I entitled Marian Mondays. In this weekly “column,” I write about my growing devotion to Our Blessed Mother, contemplating the questions “Why pray to Mary?” and “Why pray the Holy Rosary?” along the way. Last week, I wrote about practical, emotional, and rational considerations in approaching this topic. This week, I take a step back and look at the first question mentioned above: “Why pray to Mary?”
Perhaps this question is inflammatory in and of itself. As Catholics—indeed, as Christians—we pray to the Lord alone. We pray to Jesus Christ, and we ask for the blessings of the Holy Spirit. But do we pray to Mary? Rather, might we better describe this spiritual act as praying with Mary? It is a small word, but an important distinction. Praying to Mary would deify her, place her on a level equivalent to the Lord, who alone rests in the holy place of our hearts. Praying with Mary recognizes her deep connection to Christ, her free will and choice in accepting the calling of the Lord, her continuous prayer on the behalf of mankind from her place in heaven, and her maternal love and care for her Son—and by extension, for all of us.

So, as Catholics, we do not pray to Mary. We ask for her intercession, as Mediatrix of grace, based upon her deep connection to our Lord resulting from her willingness to serve as the vessel of the Incarnation. Nor do we “worship” Mary, in the commonly understood sense of the word. Ask most people, and the word "worship" means the adoration given to God alone. According to this definition, Catholics don't worship Mary (or any other saints, for that matter). Not surprisingly, the Church forbids adoration to anyone or anything that is not God.

Historically, however, the definition of worship is a bit stickier. In original usage, and certainly in Biblical times, “worship” was used to describe anyone or anything deserving of honor, respect, or dignity. This is, of course, not to be confused with idolatry. Whereas worship is defined as ascribing honor to something, idolatry is defined as giving the honor of adoration reserved for God alone to something other than God.

Countless examples of the use of the word worship occur throughout the Old Testament, one of which can be found in Exodus 18:7: "Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and worshipped him and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare, and went into the tent." Moses was not offering his father-in-law the worship of adoration reserved for the Lord alone, but rather the respect and honor he deserved as an elder.

So what of Mary, then? This Scripture, as well as many other passages, suggests, if we look to the Biblical definition of worship, that we can ascribe honor, respect, and dignity to Mary the Mother of God, while not idolizing her as equivalent to God. And this is what we do. We recognize the graces obtained via the intercession of the Mother of God. We pray with her to her Son and Master for redemption and forgiveness. We honor and venerate the Blessed Virgin, but we worship the Lord alone.

Last week, I began a new weekly post, which I have entitled Marian Mondays. In this weekly “column,” I plan to write about my growing devotion to Our Blessed Mother, contemplating the questions “Why pray to Mary?” and “Why pray the Holy Rosary?” along the way. Separating the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Catholic faith is no easy task, and as these weekly thoughts suggest, nor should it be. There are practical reasons, emotional reasons, and there are certainly rational Biblically-based reasons.
A few months ago, I was speaking with a colleague at work about this very topic. She was recounting that some of her Christian (but not Catholic) friends were giving her a hard time about Catholic devotion to Mary. Her response to these friends, as she recounted it, struck me as particularly practical. When asked, her friends readily acknowledged their practice of asking members of their families and churches to pray for them during difficult times or on an on-going basis. My colleague simply replied (and I’m paraphrasing), “If you ask your mother and your friends to pray for you, why wouldn’t you ask the Mother of God to pray for you as well?” I’m not sure what their answer was, but I think it raises a very practical point. In a world of prayer circles, lists, and phone trees, why wouldn’t we ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother, the one who knows Jesus best?

Emotionally, many Catholics feel a deep spiritual connection to the Blessed Virgin Mary—some of friends even call her “the BVM,” not out of disrespect, but due to the devotion and intimate relationship they share with her. I, myself, can’t say that I grew up with a wondrous sense of Our Holy Mother’s place in my life. But that all changed in the months leading up to my pilgrimage to Lourdes, and has certainly continued to grow since that time. I will be writing more about my personal experience in Lourdes, beginning on the feast day and anniversary of Our Lady of Lourdes’ first apparition, later this month on the eleventh. Suffice to say for the purposes of this post, it was for me an emotional and deep experience unrivaled by any other in my life. The call of the Blessed Mother was unmistakable.

Lastly (for today anyway!), we look to Scriptures, and that which has been recorded regarding the role of Mary throughout the New Testament. This will be something that I will focus on in future posts—for those of you eager to get to the “meat” of the issue, I encourage you to come back. I have all year, after all! Our Lady’s intercession has characterized Christian prayer since the Church began—from the Annunciation, to the Visitation; From the Nativity to Pentecost; From the Presentation at the Temple to the Passion and Death of our Lord; From the Miracle at the Wedding in Cana to the everyday moments depicted in the Gospels. The disciples of Jesus treated Mary, the Mother of God, with respect, and offered to her deep love beyond the ordinary. For Mary, the solitary meaning of her life became her Son, our Lord—a simple fact that many might attribute to all mothers, and indeed, in that way, she became a model of Christian motherhood. But Our Mother’s devotion to Jesus is far larger, all-encompassing, and impossible to understand. Having offered herself to the Lord, Mary is inextricablly tied to Christ, understanding him, giving her physical and emotioanl life to him, loving him, suffering with him.

Monsignor Romano Guardini, in his contemplations on the Holy Rosary, The Rosary of Our Lady (1955, originally published in German), offers this thought on the relationship between Mary and Jesus: “There are two possibilites of greatness. One is to be great oneself: a creator, a hero, a herald, a man of special destiny. The other is to love such a great person; and this possibility seems of equal value. In order to comprehend the life of someone else, one’s own heart should measure up to the image of the beloved. What do we mean, then, when we say that Jesus Christ was the substance of Mary’s life?”

We see then, as Monsignor Guardini puts it, that Christ was the “substance” of Our Blessed Mother’s life—the focus of attention and emotion, the meaning, the purpose—the inexplicable and unseverable connection which resulted from the Incarnation. What a joy for Mary, and what a sacrifice! What a joy for us to have such an advocate! Hail Holy Queen!

With a month of prayer behind me, and this blog beginning to take shape, I am pleased to introduce a new weekly posting, which I will refer to as “Marian Mondays”  (better than “Mondays with Mary,” I suppose…). As my devotion to Our Blessed Mother deepens through my communion with her in the Holy Rosary, I feel drawn to writing more about Mary’s role in my faith, in the faith of the Church, and in our lives. For many of my readers—especially those from faith traditions other than Catholicism—there are questions, and wonderings, and even concerns about what they might consider the Catholic “idolatry” of Mary. While it is not my intention to unequivocally refute these questions and concerns, I hope to promote greater understanding of the personal role of the Blessed Virgin in my life—one which involves logical and rational thought, study of the Scriptures, and Church doctrine—but also one that transcends these domains of the brain and reason and fills the heart, soul, and body. This, too, is important to consider, as we worship the Lord not just with our minds, but with our hearts, souls, and bodies—and contemplation of the Blessed Mother, always begins and ends with Christ. She is a model of His love and suffering. She is the holy vessel inherent to His Incarnation. She is a virgin of transforming virtue and quality. She is our Mother.

So, why pray the Rosary? Before I can even think to begin answering that question (which believe me, I have been asked a few times at this point!), the preliminary question might be, “So, why pray to Mary?” That’s where we will start, over the next few Mondays. While I am no expert scholar, no “Mariologist” if you will, I will try to do my best. Along the way, I will discuss my personal encounter with Mary in the grotto at Lourdes. In this, as in all things, I ask the Lord for guidance in thought and word, that this blog and these reflections may be pleasing to Him and beneficial to those who read.  And for those of you who do read this, I would love to hear your thoughts as we go along.  Feel free to leave comments and ask questions.  I look forward to hearing from you!