Mary, Mother of Mercy

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

       The mother, our mother, is the icon and model of mercy and tenderness. Saint John Vianney, a lovely soul, says that the Blessed Virgin is better than the best of mothers. Hence, Mary is the Mother of Mercy, Mater Misericordiae.

       Mary is the Mother of God, of Jesus who is the Son of God and her Son: Mary’s “entire life was patterned after the presence of mercy made flesh” (Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus). Mary, Our Lady, is also our Mother, the Mother of Mercy.

       St John the Evangelist speaks of Mary twice in his Gospel: Mary at Cana, and Mary at Calvary, and in both cases, the Evangelist presents Mary as the Mother of Jesus (Jn 2:1-3; Jn 19:25-27; cf. Lk 1:31-32). In a deep sense, the expression Mother of God tells us everything about Mary. The motherhood of Mary is the source of all her privileges and graces: she was conceived without original sin (she is the Immaculate Conception); she was taken up to heaven in body and soul (the Assumption of Mary); she is the Virgin Mary and the Mother of God.

       Mary, the Mother of God! This is how she is called through the first centuries of Christianity. She was dogmatically declared Mother of God in the Council of Ephesus in 431: “Theotokos,” that is, God’s Mother. Vatican II says that “Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Redeemer, and, therefore, she surpasses all other creatures in heaven and on earth.” In the Church, “she is the highest after Christ and yet very close to us” (LG, 54), and she is the Mother of the Church. Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God: “She conceived, brought forth and nourished Christ; Presented Him to the Father in the temple, and was united with Him in suffering as He died on the cross” (Vatican II, LG, 61).How can Mary, a creature, be the Mother of God, the Creator? Mary is the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, not only of the body of Jesus, but of Him who took flesh in her and who existed before her.

       Mary, the Mother of the Son of God, is our Mother. Jesus from the cross looked at Mary and John and pronounced the third word from the cross. Jesus says to Mary: “Woman, behold your son,” and to John: “Behold your Mother” (Jn 19:25-27). Jesus then and there gives to John, and to each one of us, what was dearest to him – his Mother Mary. From now on, Mary is our Mother too

       What kind of motherhood is the Motherhood of Mary? Mary does not replace our own mother. She is our Mother in a different dimension: Mother in the Spirit, Mother of those reborn in the grace of the Spirit, Mother of the Redeemer and of the redeemed. In the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, Mary is our spiritual Mother under Christ, who is our Head, “because she cooperated with her charity in the birth of the faithful of the Church that are members of the head” (St. Augustine). Mary’s maternity is a maternity of grace – she is the “full of grace.”

       The life of Mary is “a rule of life for all” (St. Ambrose). As the disciple of disciples, Mary is “a model of the virtues” (LG 65). She is an example, in particular, of the following virtues: of faith (“Blessed are you because you have believed”- Lk 1:19); of prayer  (she treasured everything that happened around Jesus in her heart and ponder upon it – Lk 1:19), of obedience (“Let it be, Fiat” – Lk 1:37-38); of missionary zeal (she visited Elizabeth and proclaimed Jesus to her – Lk 1:39-45), of solidarity with the poor neighbor (Lk 1:46-55), and her compassion for all the needy, that is her mercy (Lk 1:45-55).

       Mary is called the Mother of Mercy, our Lady of Mercy, and Mother of Divine Mercy. Mary received mercy from God in “an exceptional way” and in “an equally exceptional way” ‘merits’ God’s mercy through her earthly life by sharing in Jesus’s messianic mission and merciful love. Mary is the Mother of Mercy and, above all, the Mother of the Crucified and Risen Lord. Mary shared like no one else in the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross: “Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in revealing God’s mercy… No one has experienced, to the same degree as the Mother of the Crucified One, the mystery of the Cross, the overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with love: that ‘kiss’ given by mercy to justice” (John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia). “The Mother of the Crucified and Risen One has entered the sanctuary of divine mercy because she participated intimately in the mystery of his love” (Pope Francis, MV 23).

       As the disciple of disciples, Our Lady is the most merciful disciple of Christ. Romanus the Melodist (6^th century) writes: “Fittingly, the Merciful One has a merciful Mother.” As the closest to Jesus, Mary has, according to St. John Paul II, “the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy” (DM, 9).

       As true followers of Christ, the Merciful One, all the saints practiced merciful love after Mary, the Mother of Mercy.  Like the saints, the followers of Christ are asked to imitate Mary’s mercy: Mary is icon and model of mercy. In her Magnificat, Our Lady sings a great song of praise, gratitude and merciful love – a merciful love that “extends from age to age…” (Lk 1:50). God’s infinite merciful love extends to our age, a love which we are asked to respond with merciful love.

       We Christians believe that Mary is the Mother of God. Because she is the Mother of Jesus, Our Savior and Redeemer, and because she is our Mother, we are asked to have a special devotion to her – a devotion that is above our devotions to the saints. Our Marian devotion includes imitating Mary’s mercy.

       Special devotion to Mary means basically filial love to Mary as the Mother of Jesus and Our Mother. As our Mother, Mary wants us, above all, to follow Jesus. Our filial devotion to Mary is ordered to our devotion to Christ. Christ is the end of all devotions, including the devotion to Mary. Saint Bernard, a great devotee of Mary, said: “The reason for our love of Mary is the Lord Jesus; the measure of our love for her is to love her without measure.”

       As Mother of Mercy, Mary prays for us and we approach her to ask her to intercede for us. The Christian prays confidently: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…” At Cana, Mary shows her role for us as merciful intercessor: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). We often sing to her: “Salve Regina Mater Misericordiae.” The Marian devotion of the people to merciful Mary is expressed in the varied avocations naming the Virgin Mary, in particular Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sorrowful Mother and Mother of the Poor (cf. W. Kasper, Mercy).

       At the Immaculate Conception Shrine in Washington D.C., there is an altar presided over by a beautiful statue of Mother and Child, with the inscription: “More Mother than Queen.” I love it! Mary Queen of all creation, of course. Above all, Mary Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, and the Mother of the Church and our Mother, the Mother of Mercy.

       Mother Mary, Mother of Mercy, pray for us!

       With Saint Thomas Aquinas we pray:

O most blessed and sweet Virgin Mary, Mother of God… I entrust to your merciful heart…my entire life… Obtain for me as well, O most Sweet Lady, true charity with which from the depths of my heart I may love your most Holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and, after him, love you above all other things…and my neighbor, in God and for God

(In Benedict XVI, Great Christian Thinkers from Early Church through the Middle Ages).

(Originally published in O Clarim, Macau Catholic Weekly: July 8, 2016)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Pilgrim’s Summer Reflection: Does Every Moment Of Our Life Matter?

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP.

       Some time ago, a well-known Japanese Dominican, Fr. Shigeto Oshida, stayed at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), Manila for a few days. He had to give a series of lectures at the University’s Faculty of Theology. We knew each other much earlier and had become good friends. Before leaving UST, Fr. Oshida told me: “Fausto, where are you going? You seem to be always on the move, going somewhere! Enjoy the moment, smell the flowers …” I realized then that I was not giving sufficient importance to this moment because I was always looking to the next thing to do – to the next moment!

      A renewed understanding of hope – human as well as Christian – has helped me through the years to become increasingly aware of the unique significance of the moment, of every moment, of this very moment.

       When she was very young, St. Therese of the Child Jesus was worried about the future. After she became a Carmelite nun, she focused her life on the present moment: “I just keep concentrating on the present moment. I forget the past, and preserve myself from worries about the future… When one thinks of the past and the future one loses courage and falls into despair… Let us turn our single moment of suffering to profit; let us see each instant as if there were no other. An instant is a treasure.”

       The Zen Master says: “The past is unreal; the future is unreal too; only the moment is real. Life is a series of moments, either lived or lost.”  Indeed, life is a series of moments either lived or lost! True freedom entails doing “what the present moment demands, what we owe to ourselves and to our neighbors” (Anselm Grun).

       As human beings, as believers we are asked to be faithful to the moment, to this moment, which is the only thing in our hands. To be faithful to the moment implies to live the moment in God’s presence. The “now” really matters. God is the eternal now, and is present in every moment. God says to Abraham: “Live in my presence, be perfect” (Gen 17:1). When the Virgin Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, she was deeply surprised by the visit of the most blessed of all women and said: “The moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy” (Lk 1:43-44). On that moment, the two women felt God’s presence.

       The moment for believers is the moment in God’s presence: “What essentially matters is the presence of God in every moment of our life once it becomes oriented towards God, just as a sunflower rotates in the direction of the sun throughout the day” (Y. Congar). The holy man and mystic Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection says that “Every moment permeated by God’s presence is a moment of grace and mercy.” Indeed, the path of life to happiness is “to live only for God and the duties of the present moment” (Jean-Pierre de Caussade).

       Life is a series of moments that form a chain that leads forward. Every moment matters. Some moments possess a special significance, such as, the moment of birth, the moment of commitment – to marriage, to a religious life, to a priestly ordination, to a profession – and the last moment.

       There is an essential use of the word moment when referring to life’s beginning and its end. The joy for a new life! Christians believe in the sacredness of human life and are guided by an ethical principle grounded on Sacred Scriptures and in Tradition: “Human life must be defended from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.” Each human being – born or unborn – has a right to life. Our life is sacred: God created us; God governs us; God adopted us in Jesus as his children, and destined us to eternal life with him. Our life, therefore, is sacred and ought to be defended and promoted from its first moment (against abortion) to its last (against suicide, homicide, euthanasia and the death penalty), and in the series of moments in-between its first and last moments (against violence, injustice, forced poverty, hypocrisy).

       In his book of essays Faith and Spiritual Life, Yves Congar  meditates on the intercessory prayer “Holy Mary, Mother of God,” and in particular on the words: “now and at the hour of our death.” What really matters, he explains, is “the vertical relationship of every moment of our life with God our End that makes these moments holy and acceptable to him.” He continues: “This immediate relationship with God which occurs in every day and every moment – and finally in the last moment – of our lives, is incorporated like grace and holiness in Christ.” To pray daily, to pray every moment means for believers to be aware of the continuing presence of God and of their own vulnerability and sinfulness.

       For Christ, the last moment is “the hour,” the moment of victory, of his triumphant death on the Cross – the Cross of Hope that points to his Resurrection (cf. Mk 14:35; Jn 2:4, 7:30, 12:27, 17:1, etc.). For us Christians, then “the hour” is the last moment of our earthly life, which as Yves Congar affirms, “is essentially relative to another life, the true everlasting life”: the last moment ushers in death, that is, another life – eternal life. In Christian tradition, death is in friendly relationship with life. Death is the end of life, but “not in the sense of its conclusion but of its fulfillment; death is the fusion of two lives.” He advises us: We should not be scared of death; what matters is that this moment is “lived in God’s presence,” as a moment of love and of union with the death of Christ. St. John of the Cross encourages us:  “Because before you die you will be sorry for not employing this time in God’s service, why don’t you use it well as you would have liked to when you were dying?”

       The quality of our moment is measured by our love. To be faithful to the moment signifies to do what we ought to do with love; to carry out our daily duties and obligations with love (Segundo Galilea). “God does not look at the grandeur of the work we do, but at the love we put into it” (St. Teresa of Avila).

       What matters most in life is love: “To be is to love” (E. Mounier).  In this life, love is “always ready to hope” (I Cor 13:7), because we are pilgrims to the house of our Father. True hope, however, is not “a pie in the sky” but fidelity to the present, to today, to ‘now’, to this moment, which is the only thing we actually possess. With the passing of time “one realizes that the best was not the future, but the moment you were living precisely at that instant!” ((José Luis Borges).

       For a pilgrim to eternal life, to be faithful to the moment implies putting love in everything we do. In everything! Big or small, public or secret; in prayer, in work, in walking, in a smile, in a failure – in suffering.

        With love in the heart, we pilgrims journey forward joyful in hope with steps of love (Rom 12:12), “striving towards the goal of resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:11), “racing towards the finishing-point” (Phil 3:14). A Christian with many other brothers and sisters  journeys forward by putting love in every moment, by making of every moment a step of love towards the embrace of Jesus the Lord.

       Does every moment of our life matter? Yes, it does. It matters much. “Life is a series of moments either lived or lost.”

(Published in O Clarim, Macau Catholic Weekly, July 1, 2016 – www.oclarim/com.mo )

Pope Francis’ The Joy of Love: Some Initial Comments

FAUSTO GOMEZ OP

       I wish to offer to our dear readers another appetizer before the main course, which is the reading of Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia (AL), or The Joy of Love. I invite you to read this wonderful papal Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family. This papal document represents the magisterial conclusion of the two synods on the family: the extraordinary of 2014 and the ordinary of 2015. Signed by Pope Francis on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, and presented at the Vatican on April 8, 2016, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation is a long text of 261 pages, 325 paragraphs and 391 footnotes. In all, we are told, nearly 60,000.00 words. The language of the text is not speculative or idealistic but doctrinal and practical, which makes this document of the ordinary magisterium of the Church quite readable.

       The main sources of Amoris Laetitia are the Sacred Scriptures, the teachings of Vatican II and of popes Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and particularly of Pope Francis himself and of the Final Reports of the two Synods on the Family. Pope Francis also quotes from the teachings on the family of Episcopal Conferences from different countries. He also quotes the great theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (quoted 13 times), and some modern authors and figures including Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, Mario Benedetti, Erich Fromm and Martin Luther King Jr.  According to Antonio Pelayo, the documents most quoted by Pope Francis, after his own papal writings, are the two synods’ Final Reports (quoted 98 times), and John Paul II 1981 Apostolic Exhortation on the Role of the Family in the Modern World Familiaris Consortio (34 times).

       AL is divided into nine chapters which develop with clarity the fundamental teachings of the Church on marriage and family mixed with the existential reality of married couples and Christian families. It might be helpful to put the titles of the nine chapters: (1) In the Light of the Word; (2) The Experiences and Challenges of Families; (3) Looking to Jesus: The Vocation of the Family; (4) Love and Marriage; (5) Love Made Fruitful; (6) Some Pastoral Perspectives; (7) Towards a Better Education of Children; (8) Accomanying, Discerning and Integrating Weakness; (9) Spirituality of Marriage and the Family.  Pope Francis has said that the central chapters of the document are chapter 4 on love in marriage (the longest chapter: 52 pages), and chapter 5 on fruitful love. The secular press centers its comments particularly on chapter six (second longest) and chapter eight that deal with problematic cases such as the divorced re-married, the civilly married, single parents, and same sex unions. The shortest, and a lovely chapter, is the last on spirituality of marriage and family (21 pages).

       Amoris Laetitia is a unique papal document: doctrinally traditional and practically pastoral. It is permeated by what I would call “Pope Francis mode,” which is faithful to the classical teachings on marriage and the family, joyful in love of the family, and open to all, especially to families in different and difficult situations. Through his pontificate and in particular in the Apostolic Exhortation on love and family, Pope Francis offers understanding, help and mercy to all. The papal exhortation is, as Cardinal Schonborn says, “positive and realistic.” It is, according to Vida Nueva, “a document which does not pretend to break with the previous documents, but a healthy and necessary evolution.”

       The Joy of Love develops engagingly the so-called pastoral cycle method: the social reality of marriage and the family in our world and in the Church in particular (sociological analysis), the theological discernment (the light of faith to discern lights and shadows in that reality), and the pastoral action (the concrete program to improve the situation of the family by diminishing the shadows and strengthening the lights).

       In general, AL seems to be well accepted by the secular world and the international press. As it happened in the Synods on the family there are basically – like in politics, in social life, among bishops and theologians in the Church – two groups of commentators: one group accepts AL and another criticizes it with more or less intensity – some for not being open enough and others for being too open and a bit confusing regarding some concrete problems. Where are we? The best approach, perhaps, is to reserve the personal opinions until after having read the full text. Catholics, of course, know that the official papal documents belong to the ordinary teaching or magisterium of the Church and therefore have to be given “religious assent” (Vatican II, GS, 25).

       The Apostolic Exhortation presents the traditional teachings of the Church on marriage and the family. According to Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, AL summarizes faithfully the great tradition of the Church on the family. This living tradition teaches unwaveringly that marriage is a natural and sacred reality; it is heterosexual and indissoluble. Furthermore: the end of marriage – covenantal sacrament – is the loving union of the spouses and the procreation and education of children; the marital acts are unitive (love-making) and procreative (life-making). Doctrinally and practically, “divorce is an evil and the increasing number of divorces is very troubling.” Hence, Pope Francis says, “our most important pastoral task with regard to families is to strengthen their love, helping to heal wounds and working to prevent the spread of this drama of our times” (AL 246).

       The family is “the basis of society,” a community love and life (Vatican II). In the family today there are shadows and lights. As Pope Francis writes, “We must be grateful that most people do value family relationships that are permanent and marked by mutual respect” (AL, 38). To couples and families in difficult and different situation, the Church offers a compassionate approach. The Pope writes: “Many people feel that the Church’s message on marriage and the family does not clearly reflect the preaching and attitudes of Jesus, who set forth a demanding ideal yet never failed to show compassion and closeness to the frailty of individuals like the Samaritan woman or the woman caught in adultery” (AL, 38).  Later on, he writes: “Such persons need to feel not as excommunicated members of the Church, but instead as living members, able to live and grow in the Church and experience her as a mother who welcomes them always, who takes care of them with affection and encourages them along the path of life and the Gospel” (AL, 299).

       Concerning different “irregular” situations, the Synod Fathers reached a general consensus, which  is supported by Pope Francis: “In considering a pastoral approach towards people who have contracted a civil marriage, who are divorced and remarried, or simply living together, the Church has the responsibility of helping them understand the divine pedagogy of grace in their lives and offering them assistance so they can reach the fullness of God’s plan for them, something which is always possible by the power of the Holy Spirit” (AL, 297).

       With regards to the particular situation of the divorced and remarried, Pope Francis makes his own the answer of the Ordinary Synod of 2015.  The Church affirms its teaching: a valid marriage is forever and therefore a second marriage is not truly a Catholic marriage.  However, there are different situations and distinct degrees of responsibility. Here comes the appeal to conscience, discernment, accompanying, and a pastoral care that integrates as much as possible these brothers and sisters in the faith (cf. AL, 299 and 300). Need, in particular, of “the formation of the conscience of the faithful: “We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them” (AL 37).Pope Francis writes: “It is true that general rules set forth a good which can never be disregarded or neglected, but in their formulation they cannot provide absolutely for all particular situations. At the same time, it must be said that, precisely for that reason, what is part of a practical discernment in particular circumstances cannot be elevated to the level of a rule” (AL, 304).

       Does AL have all the answers? The Pope’s answer: “Unity of teaching and practice is certainly necessary in the Church.” However, “not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium.” Indeed, for some concrete questions – following the traditional teaching -, “each country or region can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs” (AL 3).

       Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia is a marvelous song of love in the family.

       After this appetizer – one more! -, let us plunge into the main course: reading little by little Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of Love.

Happy reading!

(Published in O Clarim, June 17, 2016).