Theotokos

From the very moment you walk in the door of our house you can not escape but notice what is important to me. As you enter on your right is an icon of Our Lady and the Baby Jesus, a stoup portraying the same imagery and a plaque with the Hail Mary written out in French. To your left is a crucifix and cross and in front of you is a large portrait of our three children. Now while I accept for many of you reading this, veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary is tantamount to idolatry. However I would ask you to persevere with what I am going to say, as whether you venerate her as a saint or not, Our Lady should heavily influence your life as a Christian and as a parent.

For me Marian Piety can not be an optional extra, she is the Theotokos (Mother of God). From the Annunciation onwards she not only commits her spiritual life to God, she commits her entire physical being to God. She becomes a living breathing Tabernacle. Through this awesome gift to God she brings to the Divine a human frailty. Without Our Lady, God could not have become fully human, as he had to be born of a Woman. He placed his immense power into a tiny baby entirely at first dependent on this young innocent woman.

At this point we can begin to look at how Mary is relevant to us all and in particular to our Lenten reflections.  Mary's journey did not end here in this stable filled with all the joy and splendour of her sons birth. She was his Mother and so lived alongside him as he grew  up and therefore committed herself to his Ministry. She was there at the Passion too, standing at the foot of the cross consumed by grief unable to comprehend at that moment what was yet to come.Here is demonstrated the joy of new life, the uncertainties of Maternal love and finally the deep desolation of the grief of someone who loses a child before they themselves die. These are in part emotions all Mothers experience, the intense moments of joy, the fear of loss and the pain of their child's sadness. For some Mothers that true and total desolation of the loss of a child is also something they have to endure. For all of us who live a Christian life there is the same emotional roller-coaster within our Faith. The intense joys at the moments we know God is there, the lonely feeling of abandonment when  we feel he is not there. Here is where Mary becomes our intercessor with God, for she too has felt and lived these feelings as a Mother to Jesus. She understands the peaks and troughs of Christian life and can pray for us. She becomes our Spiritual Mother, a place of comfort and intercession.

There are so many pathways in which I could expand on how Mary should influence the way in which we live out our Faith. I am sure in time I will explore others with you, as the way in which Mary lived her life has had a great influence on the way I live mine. But for this Lenten period I have been considering whether I can commit my life to Christ so totally as Our Lady did, with all the the pain and joy that submission entails.

Finally, I would like to leave you with this prayer:-

Mary, teach me to say "Yes,
I am the handmaid of the Lord.
Let all he wills be done in me.
May his Spirit overshadow me, his love be fruitful in me,
his joy abound in my heart."
Let there be no "Yes,but..."
which is really a cover for "No."
Let it all be "Yes", plain and simple,
a "Yes" spoken in trust to the One who is eternally faithful.
Amen.