Knowledge of Mary – Introduction to the Week

From Pope Saint John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae #14:

Christ is the supreme Teacher, the revealer and the one revealed. It is not just a question of learning what he taught but of “learning him”. In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ (cf. Jn 14:26; 15:26; 16:13). But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother.

The first of the “signs” worked by Jesus – the changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana – clearly presents Mary in the guise of a teacher, as she urges the servants to do what Jesus commands (cf. Jn 2:5). We can imagine that she would have done likewise for the disciples after Jesus’ Ascension, when she joined them in awaiting the Holy Spirit and supported them in their first mission. Contemplating the scenes of the Rosary in union with Mary is a means of learning from her to “read” Christ, to discover his secrets and to understand his message.

This school of Mary is all the more effective if we consider that she teaches by obtaining for us in abundance the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even as she offers us the incomparable example of her own “pilgrimage of faith”. As we contemplate each mystery of her Son’s life, she invites us to do as she did at the Annunciation: to ask humbly the questions which open us to the light, in order to end with the obedience of faith: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).

Reflection:
As we set out on this next week of preparation, we shift our gaze to Mary, our Mother and Teacher and we learn from her, particularly by meditating with her and in her on the mysteries of the Rosary. Praying the Rosary is an essential part of this week of preparation and we will find it is an essential part of living in the womb of Mary, where we are formed into the full maturity of Christ. Likewise, as Pope Saint John Paul II teaches us, we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are essentially the qualities of Christ (His Wisdom, His Knowledge, His Fortitude, etc.) and they are woven into the heart and soul of the one who is formed in Mary’s womb. So we continue to ask the Holy Spirit each day for His sevenfold gift as He will allow Him to shape us into Christ in the womb of Mary.

Day 20 – The Rosary helps consecrate us to Mary

A Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians:

For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you! (Gal 4:18-19)

From Pope Saint John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on the Rosary (Rosarium Virginis Mariae #15):

Christian spirituality is distinguished by the disciple’s commitment to become conformed ever more fully to his Master (cf. Rom 8:29; Phil 3:10,12). The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Baptism grafts the believer like a branch onto the vine which is Christ (cf. Jn 15:5) and makes him a member of Christ’s mystical Body (cf.1Cor 12:12; Rom 12:5). This initial unity, however, calls for a growing assimilation which will increasingly shape the conduct of the disciple in accordance with the “mind” of Christ: “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). In the words of the Apostle, we are called “to put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (cf. Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27).

In the spiritual journey of the Rosary, based on the constant contemplation – in Mary’s company – of the face of Christ, this demanding ideal of being conformed to him is pursued through an association which could be described in terms of friendship. We are thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ’s life and as it were to share his deepest feelings. In this regard Blessed Bartolo Longo has written: “Just as two friends, frequently in each other’s company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding familiar converse with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living the same life in Holy Communion, we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection”.(I Quindici Sabati del Santissimo Rosario, 27th ed., Pompei, 1916, 27.)

In this process of being conformed to Christ in the Rosary, we entrust ourselves in a special way to the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin. She who is both the Mother of Christ and a member of the Church, indeed her “pre-eminent and altogether singular member”, (Lumen Gentium #53) is at the same time the “Mother of the Church”. As such, she continually brings to birth children for the mystical Body of her Son. She does so through her intercession, imploring upon them the inexhaustible outpouring of the Spirit. Mary is the perfect icon of the motherhood of the Church.

The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary’s side as she is busy watching over the human growth of Christ in the home of Nazareth. This enables her to train us and to mold us with the same care, until Christ is “fully formed” in us (cf. Gal 4:19). This role of Mary, totally grounded in that of Christ and radically subordinated to it, “in no way obscures or diminishes the unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power”.(Lumen Gentium #60) This is the luminous principle expressed by the Second Vatican Council which I have so powerfully experienced in my own life and have made the basis of my episcopal motto: Totus Tuus.(Cf. First Radio Address Urbi et Orbi (17 October 1978): AAS 70 (1978), 927) The motto is of course inspired by the teaching of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, who explained in the following words Mary’s role in the process of our configuration to Christ: “Our entire perfection consists in being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus Christ. Hence the most perfect of all devotions is undoubtedly that which conforms, unites and consecrates us most perfectly to Jesus Christ. Now, since Mary is of all creatures the one most conformed to Jesus Christ, it follows that among all devotions that which most consecrates and conforms a soul to our Lord is devotion to Mary, his Holy Mother, and that the more a soul is consecrated to her the more will it be consecrated to Jesus Christ”.(Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary) Never as in the Rosary do the life of Jesus and that of Mary appear so deeply joined. Mary lives only in Christ and for Christ!

Reflection:
“The Rosary mystically transports us to Mary’s side.” Is there ever a time that we do not need to be at Mary’s side? We are like babies in the womb who need constant support, nourishment, love and protection from our Mother. Is our life ever made better by being away from Mary? And as Pope Saint John Paul II taught us, when we are at Mary’s side she will always train us and mold us until Christ is fully formed in us. Even as we simply hold the beads of the Rosary, we can hold Mary’s hand. By contemplating Christ with Mary as we pray the Rosary, “we are thereby enabled to enter naturally into Christ’s life and as it were to share his deepest feelings.” Let us enter into this adventure of discovery then, exploring the interior life of Christ through contemplating His Mysteries with Mary in the Rosary.

Prayer:
Litany of the Holy Spirit or Veni Sancte Spiritus
Rosary (or at least one decade) followed by the Litany of Loreto
Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary