Funny story. We have a statue of Mary, our Blessed Mother, in our back garden. Several weeks ago one of my daughters had created chalk dust with which she was painting things. Among the recipients of her artistic revelry was Mary. In her innocence, she had added blush to Mary’s stone features. Half-horrified, half-amused, I considered what had just happened. Has anyone in history ever tried to give Mary a makeover? Is it sacrilegious or sweetly intimate to paint the face of Jesus’ mama? Or, is it indicative of a growing understanding of a woman who is foundational to who we are?
Maybe you are like me, and are a little late to the Marian gate. Growing up with a great deal of Protestant influence, I was content to go directly to Jesus in my prayer time. I reasoned, After all, what does Mary have that Jesus does not?
It’s the wrong question, of course. Jesus has everything and cannot be found lacking. That being said, there is a great deal to be gained in the company of His mother and perhaps I was the one lacking as a result of my unfamiliarity with her.
After all, Mary was entrusted to John, and given to us from the Cross (see John 19:27).
Mary Relates to Women in All Seasons
As I have grown older, I have found this to be more and more significant. I can appreciate how Mary’s presence, example, and witness mean different things to me (and others) in different seasons. I have come to a place of deep gratitude for the Lord’s wisdom in entrusting to us a woman who can so easily relate to our experience as human beings and as women specifically. It isn't easy to imagine a circumstance to which Mary could not relate.
Among the many ways she was blessed, including being chosen to carry the Word Incarnate within her womb, Mary was also a teenage mother. Mary was a refugee. Mary was a widow. Mary was a single mom. Mary was poor. Mary knew the persecution and loss of a child. Mary knew heartbreak.
Our Need for a Mother's Love
I have found myself seeking Mary’s consoling presence at various times in my own experience, and my need for her changes as my experience does.
Calling upon Mary as a model of faithfulness has changed from strictly being an inspiration as a mother, to modeling what it means to trust, to be humble, to be misunderstood, to be faithful, to endure trials, and to adopt those in need of a mother’s love.
Visiting Mary's Home
Can you imagine the consolation it would be to have the opportunity to drop in on Mary? How would she greet you? Where would you sit? Would you linger over tea? What might it be like to see the day-to-day normalcy of her anything-but-ordinary life?
In Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises, he called this way of praying with one’s imagination “contemplation.” Not in the sense of focusing on one idea with great concentration, but of allowing the freedom of ourselves to enter into the life of Christ (and His mother). So it is not only through seeking her intercession, but also through contemplation of her life, that we can acquaint ourselves with the mother of God.
Growing Closer to Mary
If you are interested in growing closer to Mary, spending time with Scripture, and being challenged to follow Mary’s example, Home: A Study on the Virtues of Mary could be a truly fruitful opportunity for you and/or a group of women to work through together.
Home is a twelve-week study on the virtues of Mary, which includes Scripture, reflections, and prayers to help readers imitate Mary’s virtue in our own lives, and is presented as though we find ourselves guests in her home. Each weekly focus on an individual virtue includes five sections:
- PREPARE // A teaching to prepare your heart to grow in this virtue.
- KNEAD // Meditate on the Word like you would work dough. Using imaginative
- prayer, learn the particular virtue beside Mary.
- RISE // Read the story of how the writer lived or received that virtue. Give it space to expand into your own story.
- BAKE // Here’s where the virtues get baked into your heart, mind, and life. Questions to discuss and pray with.
- RELISH // Savor a prayer from the tradition of the Church that highlights the virtue you’ve studied and sends you forth.
Whether you find yourself anxious about the unknowns of a career or education, in the throes of early motherhood, carrying deep grief, newly married, an empty-nester, retired, the lone Catholic holdout in your family, newly divorced, newly Catholic—wherever you are—God in His wisdom gave us Mary, who meets us in these places with the love of a mother.
Katie Cassady is a regular contributor to the BIS blog. She is a wife and mom to three little girls in Denver, CO. Steeped in theological reflection, beekeeping and motherhood, she is appreciative of any and all wisdom she can glean from those living intentional lives of faith. Find out more about her here. Read all of Katie's posts here.
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