Mary was created only for God, and it is unthinkable that she should reserve even one soul for herself. On the contrary she leads every soul to God and to union with him. Mary is the wonderful echo of God. The more a person joins himself to her, the more effectively she unites him to God. When we say "Mary", she re-echoes "God". ~ St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of Mary
We should always be striving to become closer to God in our everyday lives. So, how do we become closer to God through Mary? Why should we seek to know Him more by going through her?
First of all, I want to go straight to Mary's words in the New Testament:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. ~ Luke 1:38
The first thing that she teaches us is humble submission to God's will.
My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. ~ Luke 1:46-52
In her "Magnificat" she shows us total glorification of God. That's entirely why she exists - for God's glory. In fact, that's the reason why we all exist. Mary gives us the picture of what God's glorious purpose is for us.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. ~ John 2:5
These are Mary's constant words to us. She stands and points right to Christ, leading us to Him through obedience to His Word. She's anything but an obstacle to Christ. Mary's whole purpose is to lead us to Him.
Mary is one of the most beautiful creations of God. Everything that she has comes from Him. Think of her as a painter's masterpiece. Is a painter upset when people gather around his artwork and admire it?
What about nature? Mountains, oceans, forests, deserts? Does God take offense when we stand in awe of His earthly creation?
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. ~ Psalm 19:1
If nature declares God's glory, how much more can Mary - Christ's own mother, declare His glory? If nature can lead us closer to Him, how much more can she, the closest person to Him, bring us to a more intimate relationship with Him?
Think about it. If you want to get to know someone better, do you think it'd be helpful to start up a good relationship with his or her mother? Of course! Why is that? Because a mother is the person who is knows her child the best. She has a very intimate bond with her child - one that no one else can claim to have. It's the same with Mary, except that not only is she Jesus' mother - she's also ours (I'll be writing an entry about that in the future).
God gave Himself completely to us. How? By coming in human form - through Mary (literally). Why should we not give ourselves completely to Him through Mary as well?
There are so many things to write about Mary. I've already posted an entry about how she is the Ark of the New Covenant. In the future, I'd like to write about her role as the Queen Mother of the Kingdom of God, mother of all Christians, and how she's affected the world through different apparitions.
Here are a couple of good online resources: Catholic Answers: Mary and the Saints, Defenders of the Catholic Faith (Steve Ray) - scroll down for the list of articles about Mary, and the Phatmass Catholic Defense Directory.
Pax Christi,
~the Catholic apologist
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earth-quake, and great hail. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. ~ Revelation 11:19-12:1
When you take the time to think about Christ's incarnation, it truly is amazing. God actually dwelled inside a woman's body for 9 months! Really, Mary was a tabernacle for God just as the Ark of the Covenant was in the Old Testament. We can see so many parallells between Mary and the Ark in the OT and the NT. I'd like to take the time today to outline some of those parallells.
First of all, what was it that the Ark of the Covenant held in the Old Testament?
At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. ~ Deuteronomy 10:1-2
The Ark held the written word of God that was given to the Israelites. Now what was it that Mary carried in her womb?
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14
The Ark of the Covenant held the God's word, and Mary held inside of her the ultimate Word of God who became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
We learn in Hebrews about two other items that were placed in the Ark.
...Which had the golden censor, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; ~ Hebrews 9:4
So, we know that the Ark contained the tablets with the 10 commandments inscribed on them, the jar of manna, and Aaron's rod. How is this a foreshadowing of what Mary would contain in her womb?
Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. ~ John 6:31-32
Jesus is the true Bread of Life sent from Heaven.
How does Aaron's rod represent Christ?
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; ~ Hebrews 3:1
The rod is the sign of the high priest in the OT, and Jesus, coming to fulfill the old covenant, becomes the Ultimate High Priest who sacrifices Himself for the pardon of our sins.
There's also another very interesting foreshadowing in the book of II Samuel that correlates to Mary's visit to her cousin Elisabeth in Luke.
And it was so, that when they had that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. ~ II Samuel 6:14
And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: ~ Luke 1:41
So, David danced before the LORD in the Ark, and John the Baptist leaped before the LORD in Mary's womb. It goes on:
And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? ~ II Samuel 6:9
And whence is this to me, that the mother of my LORD should come to me? ~ Luke 1:43
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And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household. ~ II Samuel 6:11And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. ~ Luke 1:56
There are more verses that parallell each other in these passages, but these are just three of them that stand out. (Steve Ray makes an excellent comparison between them on Catholic Answers which you can read here)
I'll end this entry with a quote from Gregory Thaumaturgus, c. 260 from his Homily on the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary:
"Let us chant the melody that has been taught us by the inspired harp of David, and say, 'Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy sanctuary.' For the Holy Virgin is in truth an ark, wrought with gold both within and without, that has received the whole treasury of the sanctuary."
Pax Christi,
~the Catholic apologist
