by Kirsten Michele Fernandez
Revelations 11: 19, 12: 1-6, 10
God’s temple in heaven was opened,
and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in the sky;
it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns,
and on its heads were seven diadems.
Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky
and hurled them down to the earth.
Then the dragon stood before the woman about to give birth,
to devour her child when she gave birth.
She gave birth to a son, a male child,
destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod.
Her child was caught up to God and his throne.
The woman herself fled into the desert
where she had a place prepared by God.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed One.”
Have you ever been in the presence of someone who awed you to the point of speechlessness? Maybe at a concert, or a chance encounter with a famous person? This one time in my life I met Marina Mahathir three days in a row at different shopping malls. The first time I saw her I was too shy to even smile – I remember being frozen on the spot and nervously looking elsewhere to not appear too star-struck. The second time I met her I told myself that I would at least smile and acknowledge her presence, and maybe even thank her for the impact of her musings (pun intended) on my life and many other Malaysians. I could only manage a meek smile and the barest hint of a nod, which was returned! This made me determined to speak to her the third time I saw her, but alas, she was too far away and I didn’t want to seem like a mad stalker running after her. A part of me was relieved that I didn’t speak to her because I felt that I would sound like an idiotic fan. A larger part of me wished I did approach her, simply because.
That was my encounter with a glimpse of greatness.
But here is someone greater than Marina Mahathir (no offence, Marina, you’re amazing, but Mary is more amazing for being the Mother of God!). Here is the woman, whom the Beloved Disciple held so much in awe, that he described her as the woman clothed with the sun. We recall Moses, who after speaking to God, had to veil his face for the sake of the people who were afraid to approach him, as his face emanated rays of light[1]. What can we imagine of Mary, who was filled with the Holy Spirit from the time of her conception, and who bore the Son of God in her womb? While Moses could only speak to God in the cloud, he never saw the face of God[2].
Someone greater than Moses is here[3].
While everyone else looked to God in the heavens, here was someone who looked down to Heaven in her arms[4]. And how brightly must her face have shone, to hold the one whom the world cannot contain as a babe in her arms, and nurse Him who formed the earth and determined the boundary of the seas, who bound the stars and the constellations of the sky, and who is adorned with grandeur and majesty, clothed with glory and splendour[5].
Now imagine yourself in the presence of the one whom God preserved from violation of her virginal purity and integrity in conceiving and in childbirth.
It may seem a tad overkill to expect the same for our poor broken selves. But this reality is not so far from our grasp. In fact, it should be our reality each and every time we receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of our Lord, when He comes to dwell in our hearts. If only we chose to put the Light of the World on the lampstand that is ourselves!
Instead we crowd Him out because we despair of our own sinfulness.
In the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XXII decrees that Mary was assumed into heaven as “she, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.”
In a bleak world it is sometimes difficult for us to see God, and this in turn causes man to despair and lose hope in his own redemption and the redemption of humanity. But Christ comes in the name of that hope already implanted in the human heart since the Protoevangelium, so that man may look to the redemption of his body and of the world. Christ gives fulfillment to this hope, not only with the words of His teaching, but above all with the testimony of His death and resurrection. This redemption of the body “expresses itself not only in the final resurrection as a victory over death”, but also in the “hope of victory over sin”, which is the “hope of everyday”[6].
In his everyday life, man must draw from the mystery of the redemption of the body the inspiration and strength to overcome the evil that is dormant in him…the hope of everyday shows its power in human works and even in the movements of the human heart…”
(TOB 86: 7)
Like the disciples, we too ask, “This teaching is hard, who can accept it?”As mere man who is assailed on all sides by the Enemy, we constantly find ourselves unable to rise to the challenges that temptations present.
And yet we have the perfect model of faith and charity in Mary, whom the angel greeted as “Hail, kecharitomene!”, which means one who is perfected and transformed by grace[7].
And in her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to His Son’s redemptive work and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit[8], Mary stands before us as a sign of certain hope and comfort[9], urging us on to be completely obedient to the will of God, that we too will one day experience the redemption of our bodies after our earthly life is ended.
Let us ask God for the grace of victory over sin, that we may one day gaze upon His face in the company of the angels, saints and our Blessed Mother, as we beg her intercession, “Hail, kecharitomene, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus! Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen”
References:
[1] This reference is from Scott Hahn’s ‘Ignatius Catholic Study Bible’. It is an amazing resource for those seeking to understand scripture through the Catholic faith.
[2] Then Moses said, “Please let me see your glory!” The LORD answered: “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim my name, ‘LORD,’ before you; I who show favor to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will. But you cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.” “Here”, continued the LORD, “is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock. When my glory passes I will set you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face may not be seen.” (Ex 33: 18-23)
[3] Munificentissimus Deus, p.14 “God’s Mother and our own dearest Mother…God has lavished upon this loving associate of our Redeemer, privileges which reach such an exalted plane that, except for her, nothing created by God other than the human nature of Jesus Christ has ever reached this level.”
[4] Sheen, F. (1958). Life of Christ, p.27
[5] Job 38, 40
[6] TOB 86: 2-6
[7] Laurentine, R. (1986) The Truth of Christmas Beyond the Myths, 18-19
[8] CCC 967 “By her complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity. Thus she is a “preeminent and . . . wholly unique member of the Church”; indeed, she is the “exemplary realisation” (typus) of the Church.”
[9] Lumen Gentium, p.68 “In the interim just as the Mother of Jesus, glorified in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected is the world to come, so too does she shine forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come, as a sign of sure hope and solace to the people of God during its sojourn on earth.”