Many businesses and organizations honor an employee or volunteer of the month. While our country honors mothers on the second Sunday of May each year, our Church honors Mary, the “Mother of the Month” for the entirety of May. What a treat for all who call her “mother”!
One might speculate that Pope Saint John Paul II relished the fact that his birthday fell in the month of May, the same month devoted to Mary who held such a special place in his heart and in his spirituality. Everything we love about May, be it graduations, weddings, spring rains or flowers, should take second place to the Church’s commitment of this month to its most treasured saint and disciple of Jesus—namely, Mary. From May crownings to Marian processions, we love to honor this mother.
At month’s end, we celebrate the famous Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, her cousin who, like her, was with child. It is one of many events that give credibility to perhaps her most recent new title: Mary, Star of Evangelization. Once Mary had received the unequaled gift of Jesus into her body and soul she was compelled to share that special God-given blessing with others. She began by sharing her divine son with a family member. Now she shares Him with the whole world.
A familiar Scriptural adage is: What you have received as a gift, give as a gift (see Mt.10:8). Mary fulfills this commission of our Lord in a perfect way and acts as a model for all Christians in this regard. Her renowned “fiat” was grounded in the most noteworthy “yes” ever uttered in God’s direction. At the Annunciation, she anticipated the words she would recite many times over in The Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done.”
Jesus desires that we imitate His holy mother, His most perfect disciple, in submitting our human will to the will of our Father in heaven. This receptive and loving action of Mary made the incarnation of Jesus possible. A similar welcoming of Jesus into our lives happens whenever we say yes to God’s plan for us. We daily are called to submit to the Father as Jesus did, even when it is neither convenient nor pleasurable to do so.
Mary’s most exalted title, “Mother of God,” mirrors one of the four dogmas associated with her. The early Church grappled with the idea that Jesus truly could be both God and man. The title Mother of God not only helped to solidify the teaching that Jesus is divine, but also added significance to Mary’s relationship to God and to His Church.
Mary has since received many other titles that help define her role in salvation history, but none will ever match her most fundamental identity as mother of our Lord.
As we honor our mothers this year, let us not forget to honor the mother of us all, Mary. In doing so, we imitate her son Jesus whose relationship with her made her “blessed among women.”
As we draw nearer to Jesus as His disciples, we come also into more intimate union with His mother. As her spiritual sons and daughters, it is incumbent upon us to honor Mary in a special way, most especially in our devotional lives.
Happy Mother’s Day to all moms… and to Mary, the greatest mother of all!
