Spirit Matters: Mary fearlessly voices God’s love for those on the fringes

Because I attended Catholic grade school, the blessed virgin Mary is an intricate part of my life.

She has guided me, interceded for me and offered her maternal wisdom and love in good times, dark times and every time in between.

Scott and I purposely got married on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that God had chosen her to be the mother of his son.

We wanted to honor Mary for who she is and for all she had been for both of us throughout our lives. And we also wanted to put our wedding day and our marriage under her protection.

She loves weddings, after all, as her intercession at the wedding feast in Cana was the catalyst for Jesus performing his first miracle of turning water into wine.

Some try to paint Mary as a mere “tool” God used to get his son into the world, and when that was done, God neither needed nor treasured her any longer. (This despite Gabriel’s greeting directly from God, “Hail, full of grace!”)

Seeing Mary as a disposable tool is not only disrespectful to the woman who bore Christ into the world – and, by extension, all mothers and women everywhere – but it also is disrespectful to Jesus himself.

Mary was Jesus’s mother. Jesus loved her and respected her. He learned from her and trusted her to have the strength to bear a sorrow no one should have to bear to watch – the crucifixion of her son, the one who grew in and was nourished in her womb.

Accepting the call to bear the messiah into the world, without knowing what the future held for her, takes a strong woman. It takes the faith of someone who has seen the work of the holy one in her own life and in the history of her people, and has come to know and to believe in the love God has for her.

Mary’s strength, grit, fierce faith and determination are recorded by Luke in the canticle she sang after meeting with her pregnant elder cousin, Elizabeth.

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;

behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.

The mighty one has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is from age to age

to those who fear him.

He has shown might with his arm,

dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.

He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones

but lifted up the lowly.

The hungry he has filled with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped Israel his servant,

remembering his mercy,

according to his promise to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Make no mistake.

Mary is the archetype for anyone – especially women – who shares the authentic word of God and speaks truth to power. Those with selfish or otherwise questionable intentions can try to manipulate God’s word all they want in order to justify their misguided beliefs and intentions.

But God’s word is clear. And it doesn’t change, no matter who is currently in power. It is the same yesterday, today and forever.

God has sung that word, simply and strongly, through the voice of she, who is full of grace:

• The mighty one does great things for those who seek his mercy in every age.
• He has and will continue to disperse the arrogant of mind and heart.
• He throws down wicked rulers from their thrones – but lifts up the lowly – the poor, outcast and downtrodden.
• He feeds the hungry but sends the rich away to feast on their false gods of money, power and greed.
• He helps those who, like their ancestors in the faith, demonstrate trust in the God who provides for those in righteous need – whatever those needs might be.

I don’t particularly care for cliches, but yes, God is good.

God is GOOD.

And if we call ourselves God’s children, followers of Jesus Christ, then we need to be GOOD too, in word and in deed.

And that means caring for the “least” among us, whomever they might be.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.