Virgin In Prayer by Giovanni Battista Salvi
The Church has for centuries dedicated the month of May and October to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  At first it might seem a little weird for the Church to dedicate a month to a person but dedicating a specific amount a time, a day, a month, a year is actually a very normal human thing to do.  In fact we do it all the time, when we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  We use this idea of setting aside time as a reminder of sorts to celebrate our relationship with a person or in some cases like Independence Day an institution.  It is kind of a fool proof way (unless one forgets or ignores the dedication) to make sure that at least once a year we take the time not only to remember the person but also to celebrate that person. 

Continuing our tradition here at Sacred Heart of celebrating the month of October as a month dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, our parish has gathered together last Wednesday and as a faith community blessed four new images of the Blessed Virgin Mary to add to our growing collection.  These four images will therefore be the focus of my spiritual ponderings for the month of October.  May we give glory to God the Master Artist through the praise of His greatest masterpiece the Sinless Virgin Mary. 

The first image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a painting by Giovanni Battista Salvi entitled “The Virgin In Prayer.”  When one begins to explore the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary one does not find a life of easy.  She was found to be with a child, that was not her husband’s baby.  This action alone put her life in peril.  She saw an angel who gave her a great commission which seemed impossible to be the Mother of God.  In modern times we think of angels as cute, cuddly, deities that if we say we would probably think of them as cute.  This was not the idea of the Jewish people.  Angels were to be feared for their awesomeness.  Their vision of an angel was that of a heavenly warrior not naked little babies with wings.  When the angels came with a command from God, one better be afraid for God demanded much from people—just read the story of Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Isaiah, Jeremiah in the Old Testament.  When she was to give birth to her child who was the creator of the world, she had to do so in an inn without the connivance of medical technology.  When the child was still young, they had to flee their homeland to Egypt as refugees. Her family returned to Israel and sometime thereafter her husband died leaving her as a single parent whose total livelihood depended now upon her son who all of sudden ends his carpentry trade and goes about preaching the coming of God’s kingdom.  Let us not forget as we find out in the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus was not the only one going around preaching the coming of the kingdom and at least one other man named Judas the Galilean was executed for such talk at the time of Jesus’ birth.  Mary life continued as she traveled with Jesus presumably all the way to the cross and then to see her Son killed as an innocent victim must have shaken her faith also.  What was it that kept the Blessed Virgin Mary so grounded that she did not sin through all of this, that she in no way rejected or turned her back on God? For remember that just because we believe that God miraculously preserved her from the stain of original sin she had free will just like Adam and Eve and so therefore could still have sinned.  The answer that comes to me in my prayerful contemplation of all of this is her prayer life.

My most favorite verse in the Bible concerning Mary is Luke 19: “And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart,” because for me it shows that Mary was above all a person of prayer.  Mary did not have all the answer, she was not told the ending of the story before it happened, what she did have was an unshakable trust in God that can only come through a close intimate union with Him. 

Before we go any further with our reflection on Mary and the power of her prayer, I wish to give you my definition of prayer.  Prayer is simply “building a relationship” with God and surprisingly the divine plan is that we build this relationship with God in the same way that we build our relationship with others.  The flip side of this is that we also can destroy our relationship with God in a sense in the same way that we destroy our relationships with others.

Madonna & Baby by Sandro Botticelli
As I continue my reflections on the four blessed images of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I hope that it has become obvious that the unifying factor for these four images for me is prayer.  For example, the reason why I chose this painting is because it is of Mary and the baby Jesus praying over a book that I will just assume it is the Old Testament (since the New Testament would not have been written yet).  In all reality, I doubt that Mary ever read the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) herself since she was probably illiterate as most people were in her time period but I also have no doubt that Mary knew her Bible.  Mary and other devout Jews during her time period were experts at their Bible stories because of their oral tradition.  I am sure that Mary with her great prayer life would have taken every opportunity to hear and memorize the stories of YHWH interactions with her people. 

The Bible can be for us to a great way to get to know God better.  As some saints have said, the Bible is a “love letter from God” or in the words of a popular contemporary Christian song the Bible is Basic, Instructions Before Leaving Earth.  In today’s pondering, I would like to give you a step by step method of how to pray the Bible. 

1.)  Choose a section of the Bible that you would like to read.  I recommend choosing based on either a passage you have been thinking about (like the upcoming Sunday’s readings) or choose the beginning of one of the books of the Bible that you would like to read.  Bible roulette is definitely discouraged (opening the bible to a random page). 

2.)  Make the Sign of the Cross and ask God to send His Holy Spirit upon you and to open His word to you. 

3.)  As you begin to read, take time to go slowly, remember it is not a race.  If there is a passage that strikes you for whatever reason, pause, read the passage again and again.  (I like to take the time and write the verse down in my journal.)  You may also want to read any footnotes attached to the verse.

4.)  After you have mulled over the verse, you can do one of two things, a) try to apply it to your everyday life or b) begin reading the passage until you come to another verse.  (I find it helpful when trying to apply it to my everyday life to finish reading the passage so that I have the complete context. Sometimes though I will end up with two to three verses to meditate on

5)  Always remember that this is prayer and not a race.  While I have been told that if you read five chapters a day, you can read the entire Bible in a year, it is also important to realize that getting through the Bible is not your goal but rather entering into a deeper relationship with God is.  So savor every phrase as if it was a love letter from to your Romeo or Juliet for God is our true love.

            My personal reflection on the Bible over the summer has shown me that God calls us to do many amazing things as his people but he does not necessarily make it easy for us.  He is like the teacher who challenges us to constantly do better.  I have also had reinforced in me the idea of God’s unconditional love.  My prayer for you is that as you pray the Bible (and not just read it) that you will become more aware of the actions of God in your life today

Madonna dell’Uva by Pierre Mignard
This week’s painting is called Madonna dell’Uva by Pierre Mignard.  The two things that immediately caught my attention about this painting was the playful image of the child Jesus playing with Mary’s veil.  It brought to my mind images of my two-year old niece who loves to play peek-a-boo.  The second thing that caught my attention was the grapes.  For undoubtly the artist is trying to make a connection between Mary and the Eucharist. 

At first it might be hard for some of us to think of Mary as a Eucharistic person because there are no real direct references to Mary and the Eucharist.  While she was probably present at the Last Supper she is not mentioned by name.  If we take a closer look at both what the Eucharist was and the life of Mary we can truly see that Mary is the example extraordinaire of what a Eucharistic person should be.

As Catholics we believe that the bread and wine offered at Mass is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ.  We are not just receiving a symbol.  “Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life;” (John 6:35).  At this point in the Gospel this should not be any more shocking than the fact that the Word of God, the Eternal Son, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity came down from heaven and became man.  If God could become man (not just hide in or take the appearance of but literally become a human being) than why could he not choose to veil his eternal body behind the appearance of bread and wine. 

So therefore if the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, than Mary was the first person to receive the Eucharist.  She received the Body and Blood of Christ in her womb through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Her life is therefore an example for all people who receive the Eucharist.

We see right at the very beginning, that as soon as she receives Christ into her body she goes forth to be of service to someone in need.  She leaves her comfort zone and goes to help Elizabeth.  It is by no accident that once we receive the Eucharist at Mass we are sent forth to “love and serve the Lord” by loving and serving our brothers and sisters.  We are sent (the word Mass comes from the Latin “Missio” which means “to be sent on a mission.”  

Another aspect of Mary’s life is that we see that being close to Jesus does not necessarily take away pain and suffering but rather allows one to move through it with the hope of eternal life.  Mary, who is the closest human person to Christ, did not have an easy life but rather she was given the grace necessary to endure such a life.  Her suffering was not caused by God but rather by sin.  Mary’s closeness to Jesus resulted in much of her pain and suffering much in the same way we hurt when someone who we love is ill.  Mary love for God allowed her to feel in a way God’s pain when people rejected Him.  As we progress in our relationship with God we should see that this closeness will not prevent bad things from happening to us or love one but rather our closeness should be a source of joy and hope.  God chose not to remain untouchable, but rather He chose to become human knowing that He would suffer and die and He did this for you and me so that pain and suffering would not be the end of the story.  A Eucharistic person who truly understands that the Eucharist—the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—is in some mysterious way a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ has cause for hope because he or she sees what Christ has, is and will do (since His sacrifice is timeless) for us. 

It is along those these lines that we see Mary as a person of hope.  If God who is beyond all understanding, creator of the universe, giver of life, etc could become human and die for us then there truly is nothing that can separate us from God who is love.  In a similar way if God is willing to not only die for us but allow us to participate in His death and resurrection in a similar way, and become our very nourishment.  How can we fail if our God loves us so much?

The Madonna in Sorrow by Giovanni Battista Salvi
            One of the saddest moments of my life was when I watching a young wife and mother of three pass away because of cancer.  What made this situation so sad was that the husband would have done anything for his wife including I believe take her place so much did he love her but in the end he was powerless.  The wife was in so much pain from the cancer but everyone could see what really bothered her was that she was causing the family she loved so much so much pain and suffering and there was nothing she could do about it.  I don’t think there is anything sadder than watching a love one in pain and knowing there is nothing you can do about it.  I think about this often when I think of Mary at the foot of the cross of her Son.  How her hurt must have been crushed with anguish?  How his heart must have gone out to her? 

            The last of our four Marian images for the month of October is the Madonna in Sorrows by Giovanni Battista Salvi.  This image of Mary speaks to me of the need to pray in times of sorrow.  From examining my own life I see that I often pray to God more when I am sad or sick but prayer is not always the first on my list of things to do. 

            Despite being sinless, Mary experienced the effects of sin as her husband Joseph died when he was probably still young and then she had to watch her son be crucified as a common criminal.  What got her through all of this?  The only answer that comes to my mind is prayer.  As I move through life, I see that prayer helps me to accept situations that are out of my control.  Not to understand and “know why” but rather to accept and trust. 

            Most of my problems in life is when I try to play God instead of trusting.  There is a strange comfort in “letting go and letting God.”  God’s ways are beyond our ways.  Mary was able to remain close to Jesus while he suffered because she prayed and trusted.  There are many times that I witness people run from the sufferings of others because they are afraid and they know that they do not have all the answers.  This is truly sad because most of the time the person who is suffering doesn’t want answers but rather companionship.  Someone to talk to and someone to treat them as a human being.  To rephrase an old saying “Love the sinner hate the sinner” into “love the patient hate the illness.”   One of the greatest Christian acts of mercy and friendship that we can do is to spend time with a love one, family member or even a complete stranger when they are sick and suffering.  Where do we get the strength  to do this?  Prayer

The Catholic Church sets aside the month of October each year as a special time of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I believe that this is because of the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on October 7th. Growing up, I used to wonder why we Catholics put such an emphasis on Mary. I also wondered if our putting so much emphasis on devotion to Mary was somehow taking away the praise and devotion that we should be giving to Jesus. Somewhere though someone helped me understand that God is not in competition with any human being much less with the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is no Promethean competition between God and human beings. For one thing, if we were in some competition with God we would simply lose. All God has to do to eliminate us is to stop thinking about us. There simply cannot be any competition between Creator and creation. Rather I was taught to think of God as an artist and the Blessed Virgin Mary as His masterpiece and so by praising His artwork we are praising Him the artist. For example every word of praise said about Leonardo Divinci’s “Last Supper,” actually increases Leonardo Divinci’s praise and fame. In much the same way when we honor the Blessed Virgin Mary we are honoring the Blessed Trinity. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Doctor of the Church, put it this way: “Let us not imagine that we obscure the glory of the Son by the great praise we lavish on the Mother; for the more she is honored, the greater is the glory of her Son. There can be no doubt that whatever we say in praise of the Mother gives equal praise to the Son.

For the month of October I would like to take a closer look at the Catholic Church teachings concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary because I know ultimately the more we learn about Mary the more we will learn about her divine Son Jesus. To provide sort of an outline for our exploration of the Church’s teachings on the Blessed Virgin Mary, I wish to reflect each week on a different image/title of Mary.

The first image I would like to reflect on is an image that I believe is called Our Lady of Apostles or Queen of Apostles. I first saw this image of Mary at the Daughters of St. Paul Catholic bookstore on Watson Road (Pauline Book and Media). What strikes me the most about this image of Mary is how she is holding the Christ-child up as if offering Him for us to hold. She is offering up to world. As I see Mary holding the Christ-child out for someone to hold, I cannot help but think of the great enthusiasm that I have developed for being able to hold my nieces and nephews. Everyone loves holding a baby and making goofy faces at a child. I wish everyone had the same energy and zeal when it came to embracing Christ in our everyday lives.

The second thing, I like about the image is that the Christ-child is holding his left hand (the hand without the scroll) up in blessing. This is a great reminder to me of two things. The first is that my faith is a gift from God. It is a blessing to receive Christ and His teaching into my life. I sometimes think that my life would be better if I remembered this more often. The world is pushing forth the message that faith is not a blessing but rather a curse. I think that people who push this idea often view themselves in conflict with God. I think that this would be the effects of Original Sin. John the Baptist though told us that we had to think in a new way. Jesus spoke about God not being a tyrant but rather a loving Father. If we see God as a loving Father then we see our faith is a blessing and God’s commandments as a way to happiness.

When I think of Mary as the Blessed Virgin Mary as Queen of Apostles, one may say that Mary was not an Apostle. All I have to do to answer this question in my mind is think of the following verse the Gospel of Luke: “Then his mother and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” (Luke 8:19-21). At first this passage may sound like Jesus is down playing the role of His Blessed Mother, but in all honesty He is telling us that Mary’s true glory does not come from simply being a blood relative. Her true glory does not come from simply being a blood relative but rather it comes from actually doing the will of God all the time. Mary truly is the one who heard the Word of God and acted on it by saying “yes” to the Father’s will. The Church therefore holds Mary up as a true role model for all believers.

In the left hand of the Christ child, Jesus is holding a scroll. I have no idea what is actually on the scroll but I assume it is a symbol of the Gospel. Mary once again shows us that we are to bring the Gospel of Christ into the world by doing the simple things like taking care of a child. Mary’s last words in the Gospel were: “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:5).

“Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly to you O Virgin of virgins, my mother, to you I come; before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.”

Let us continue our look at the Catholic Church’s teaching on Mary and how Mary is portrayed in art.  I wish to move from last week’s image of Our Lady of Grace to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.    In Mexico and in the year 1531 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to an Aztec peasant and recent convert to Catholicism Juan Diego.  Juan Diego was traveling home from Church when he encountered a young woman who told him that he needed to go to the bishop and tell the bishop to build a church on the spot where she was standing. 
 
Juan Diego went to the bishop and reported to him everything the young woman had told him.  The bishop told Juan Diego that he needed some sort of sign or proof before he would do anything.  Juan Diego went back to the lady and she told him to gather some of the beautiful roses that were blooming even though it was not their season.  Juan Diego went back to the bishop and as he emptied his tilma (a long bib like piece of clothing made of cactus fibers and used for carrying things) of the roses.  The bishop looked past the roses to see that there was an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary imprinted on the tilma itself.  One of the things that make this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe so special is that is an image that Mary herself gave us.
 
The tilma itself is an amazing relic that an ordinary tilma would only last about 20 years at the most because of the cactus fiber that it was made of but this tilma still exists today.  The Church has not just taken the word of Juan Diego when it comes to the tilma or even that of the bishop but rather has turned to science to see if there is any natural or synthetic way that the image could have been made.  For more information about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (and the tilma) I would suggest the following two books: A Handbook on Guadalupe by Francis Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness by Warren Carroll.
 
The tilma itself is an amazing relic in that an ordinary tilma would only last about 20 years at the most because of the cactus fiber that they were made of but this tilma still exists today.  For more information about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe I would suggest the following two books: A Handbook on Guadalupe by Francis Mary and Our Lady of Guadalupe: And the Conquest of Darkness by Warren Carroll. 
 
Let us take a closer look at the image itself.  One of the most common misperception, I believe is about the little angel boy at the bottom of the image.  Many people who do not know anything about the image assume that the little angel is an angel of God holding the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The little angel boy though is actually a symbol for the Aztec serpent God.  So like the image of Our Lady of Grace the Blessed Virgin Mary in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is stomping on the head of the serpent  as mentioned in the proto-gospel. 
 
The most fascinating part of the image for me when it comes to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the stars on her mantle.  Scientists tried to match the stars from the mantle to the stars that appeared in the sky over Mexico on the night that the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego.  However there was no match until one of the scientists accidently flipped the star chart over and then the stars matched.  So the stars on her mantle match the stars in the sky the night the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego but only if one was looking at the world from outside the universe!  What a wonderful reminder that God is just not part of the universe or the universe as a whole but rather God is greater than the universe. 
 
Another unique thing about the image is that Mary appears to be pregnant in the image.  The sash that Mary is wearing was an Aztec symbol for pregnancy.  Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the patroness of the pro-life movement.  It is an awesome reminder that Jesus himself in the words of Christian song writer Michael Card was a “holy embryo.”  Besides the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing pregnant in the image, there is another reason for Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the patroness of the pro-life movement. 
 
When the Spanish made their way to the “new” world the Aztec religion was practicing human sacrifice and really was a culture of death.  The idea was that the Aztec gods needed human blood to live and so the Aztec priests would cut out the hearts of the human victims with a sacred knife.  The Catholic missionaries quickly explained to the Aztecs that the gods did not need to drink human blood but rather we needed God’s blood (the Eucharist).  While the Catholic religion was more appealing because it did not have human sacrifice not many converts came right away because of the harsh treatments the Aztecs received at the hands of the Spanish.  When Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared as an Aztec peasant and not a European lord or bishop helped convert an entire nation. 
 
Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me...”
 
O Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the true God and Mother of the Church!, who from this place reveal your clemency and your pity to all those who ask for your protection, hear the prayer that we address to you with filial trust, and present it to your Son Jesus, our sole Redeemer.

Mother of Mercy, Teacher of hidden and silent sacrifice, to you, who come to meet us sinners, we dedicate on this day all our being and all our love. We also dedicate to you our life, our work, our joys, our infirmities and our sorrows. Grant peace, justice and prosperity to our peoples; for we entrust to your care all that we have and all that we are, our Lady and Mother. We wish to be entirely yours and to walk with you along the way of complete faithfulness to Jesus Christ in His Church; hold us always with your loving hand.

Virgin of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, we pray to you for all the Bishops, that they may lead the faithful along paths of intense Christian life, of love and humble service of God and souls. Contemplate this immense harvest, and intercede with the Lord that He may instill a hunger for holiness in the whole people of God, and grant abundant vocations of priests and religious, strong in the faith and zealous dispensers of God’s mysteries.

Grant to our homes the grace of loving and respecting life in its beginnings, with the same love with which you conceived in your womb the life of the Son of God. Blessed Virgin Mary, protect our families, so that they may always be united, and bless the upbringing of our children.

Our hope, look upon us with compassion, teach us to go continually to Jesus and, if we fall, help us to rise again, to return to Him, by means of the confession of our faults and sins in the Sacrament of Penance, which gives peace to the soul.

We beg you to grant us a great love for all the holy Sacraments, which are, as it were, the signs that your Son left us on earth.

Thus, Most Holy Mother, with the peace of God in our conscience, with our hearts free from evil and hatred, we will be able to bring to all true joy and true peace, which come to us from your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
 
His Holiness John Paul II
Mexico, January 1979. Visiting Her Basilica during his first foreign trip as Pope.

As we continue to reflect on the Church’s teaching on the Blessed Virgin Mary with the help of art, I would like to move onto what I believe will be another familiar image of the Blessed Virgin Mary called Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  Our Lady of Perpetual Help is an icon that depicts the Blessed Virgin Mary comforting Jesus after Jesus has had a nightmare in which two angels show Jesus the tools of the Crucifixion.  The dream has scared the Christ-child so much that He has almost lost His sandals because He was running so fast to be in His mother’s arm. 
 
Our Lady of Perpetual Help speaks to me of finding holiness at home and of Mother Teresa’s saying: “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”  Our Lady of Perpetual Help shows Mary taking care of Jesus and showing Him love by doing the very simple thing of comforting Him after a nightmare.  Often we think God wants us to love in some extraordinary way (like becoming a missionary and traveling to a far off land) but most of the time God wants us to simply love the people around us as He loves them.  I like to think of holiness as a kind of super spice that makes the ordinary tings of life into something special which reminds me of another Mother Teresa quote: Be faithful in small things because it is in them your strength lies.  Mary’s holiness is shown not in one moment of her life but rather through her continue “yes” to God every moment of her life.
 
This image of Mary also speaks to me of the what we sometimes refer to the “quiet or hidden” life of Jesus described in the Gospel of Luke:  “Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced [in] wisdom and age and favor before God and man. (Luke 2:41-55)
 
The image shows me that Mary saw Christ’s dignity even in their home life in Nazareth.  What must it have been like for her to encounter the divine in such an amazing way anytime she picked up her child?  There is a part of me that desires to be that close to Jesus.  I also desire to see God in the ordinary moments of life.  Many parents confess in the confessional how they had been impatient with their children or tell me that they pray often for patience when it comes to their relationship with their family.  I encourage them to take time each day to think of their family as a gift from God.  I find myself treating my family much better if I simply take the time to say a prayer of thanksgiving for them before I interact with them.
 
Hail Mary, poor and humble Woman, Blessed by the Most High! Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era, We join in your song of praise, to celebrate the Lord’s mercy, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom and the full liberation of humanity.

Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord, Glorious Mother of Christ! Faithful Virgin, holy dwelling-place of the Word, Teach us to persevere in listening to the Word, and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit, attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience and to his manifestations in the events of history.

Hail Mary, Woman of sorrows, Mother of the living! Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve, Be our guide along the paths of the world. Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ, to stand with you before the innumerable crosses on which your Son is still crucified.

Hail Mary, woman of faith, First of the disciples! Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always to account for the hope that is in us, with trust in human goodness and the Father’s love. Teach us to build up the world beginning from within: in the depths of silence and prayer, in the joy of fraternal love, in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.

Holy Mary, Mother of believers, pray for us. Amen.
By John Paul II

Our Last image of the Blessed Virgin Mary is called Our Lady of Czestochowa and is also known as the Black Madonna.  The image claims a long and rich history with some Catholics believing that the image was painted by St. Luke on the table where he interviewed the Blessed Virgin Mary for his Gospel.    Whether or not St. Luke actually painted this picture or not, I think it is good to remind ourselves that the Church does not simply make things up about Mary but rather all that the Church teaches us about Mary comes from Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
 
When I look at this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary the word “regal” comes to mind.  Mary and Jesus are all decked out with fine linens, jewels, and crowns invoking forth the idea of majesty.  This of course does not point to any event in the lives of Mary and Jesus.  The only crown Jesus wore in His life on earth was a crown of thorns.  The artist must therefore speaking of a spiritual reality.  The artist is seeing Mary and Jesus as God sees them because to God we are all priceless. 
 
 
St. Athanasius said something along the lines that “God became man so that man could become God.”  If we only knew of our royal dignity would we be so obsessed with material things?  Our riches though are not material but rather the divine love of God.   
 
Mary and Jesus though does not allow their knowledge of being divine (Jesus naturally and Mary through the merits of Christ her Son) to separate them for others.  In fact the more they know that they are loved by God the more they commit themselves to serving others. 
 
 St. Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Philippians: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others.  Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,  Who, though he was in the form of God,  did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness;  and found human in appearance,  he humbled himself,  becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2)
 
Mother Teresa put it this way: “Intense love does not measure, it just gives.” Mother Teresa  speaks to me of how unconditional love Mary had for Jesus.  In the same way, we as Mary’s spiritual children can count on Mary to comfort us as we struggle to pick up our crosses and follow her Son.  A simple Hail Mary can help us resolve to trust in God and to overcome our sinfulness.  Mary shows us in this image of how we are to love.  We are to just love and not count the cost. 
 
I would like to end today’s reflection with the Salve Regina or Hail Holy Queen in English:
 
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy! Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us; and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement , O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.

" We never give more honor to Jesus than when we honor his Mother, and we honor her simply and solely to honor him all the more perfectly. We go to her only as a way leading to the goal we seek - Jesus, her Son." - Saint Louis Marie de Montfort.  While Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary has long been a confusing things for non-Catholics, the Church has vehemently insisted in the importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the life of Catholics.    For the longest time veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary confused me until I was taught to basic principles about Mariology.  The first is that the Church was forced to turn to Mary as it unfolded the mystery of the Incarnation.  The question “Is Jesus the Son of God?” could not be answered definitively by the Church until the question of “Could Mary be called the Mother of God?” had been answered.  When the Church affirmed that Mary could indeed be called the “Mother of God” then it could easily answer the question of Jesus’ divinity.  All throughout the development of the Creeds (Apostle and Nicene) the Church always maintain that Mary was a human being and that what could be said of her would help the Church understand the mystery of the Incarnation.  The second idea that helped me understand devotion to Mary was the idea of seeing her as a role model.  If I want to be a good baseball player it would serve me well to study the great hitters of history.  In the same way if I wish to be a saint, then I need to study the saints and especially Mary the greatest and only sinless saint.  Remembering that because Mary was sinless that did not mean she was not capable of sinning for after all Adam and Eve were sinless and they sinned. 

 
As we begin our look at the Blessed Virgin Mary, I would like to recommend a wonderful book that I came across called: The Other Faces of Mary: Stories, Devotions, and Pictures of the Holy Virgin Around the World by Ann Ball.  Ann, who is a great hagiographer (someone who writes biographies of saints), turned her attention to many different images and apparitions of Mary from around the world.   A lot of the information I will present comes from reading her book.
 
The first image of Mary that I would like to write about this month is called Maria Bambina (The Baby Mary).  This image of Mary and/or collection of images seems to trace its origin to a Poor Clare nun in Todi, Italy in 1735.  No one quite knows why the original artist, a Poor Clare Nun, created the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a baby.   The statue though would go in and out of hiding (from wars) and storage (I guess because people did not care for the image and stuck it in a closet) over the next few years.  On the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1884 the statue found its way into the infirmary of Sisters of Charity of Lovere where miraculous healings began to happen.  In 1909 devotion to Maria Bambina was recognized by Pope Pius X and devotion spread throughout Italy.   Ann Ball in her book points out that: “Today, numerous supplicants come to bring their petitions to Maria Bambina.  Young couples who want the gift of a child are among the most fervent of her devotees.  Many return, holding their newborns, to thank her for prayers answered.” 
 
When I first found out about this devotion, I was surprised that such a devotion should exist.   I never thought of Mary as a child.   It helped me to understand that the Blessed Virgin Mary a little more.  Mary was a girl in a very masculine culture who did not appreciate children.  Mary was therefore at one time a nobody in the eyes of the world but even before she was born she was special in God’s eyes.  Each one of us is special in God’s eye despite the world thinking most of us as nobodies.  We have an important role to play in God’s plans just as Mary did.  I believe that this devotion speaks to us also of the role of parents.  How could eventually grow up to say “yes” to God if she did not have good parents who taught her how to pray?  Tradition gives the name of Ann and Joachim to Mary’s parents.