Kitabı oku: «Mater Christi: Meditations on Our Lady», sayfa 7
Who is my Mother?
"My mother and my brethren are they who hear the word of God and do it." (St Luke viii. 21.)
1st Prelude. Our Lady standing waiting on the outskirts of the crowd.
2nd Prelude. Grace to "hear the word of God and do it."
Point I.– His Mother Standing Without
This one incident in which Mary is mentioned between the time of the Marriage at Cana and Holy Week, happened during the second year of her Son's ministry. We do not know whether or not she had been near Him during this time. According to the opinion of some, she was one of the little band of women who followed Him about, to minister to His needs and those of His Apostles. But whether she followed Him actually or not, we know that her spirit was ever with Him, and that she followed Him with her prayers, and interest, and sympathy, knowing Him more as He manifested Himself more by His healing and miracles, and therefore loving Him and imitating Him more, and therefore, growing in grace, of which she was ever full. Such, we are quite sure, is a true picture of Mary, though this one instance at Capharnaum is the only occasion on which we are able to make an actual picture of her.
Her Son had probably come to Capharnaum for a rest after one of His missionary rounds; it may be that He had come to have a little time of refreshment with her. And she and His brethren – His relatives – went to meet Him, desiring to speak to Him. We are not told what it was that they were so anxious to tell Him. When they arrived He was already addressing a crowd which was sitting about Him, and which was so great that His Mother and His brethren could not get near Him; and so "they stood without" – on the outskirts – and thus attracted the notice of someone who attracted His notice; someone, in fact, who interrupted Him in the middle of His discourse, by telling Him that His Mother and His brethren wanted Him. Such is the simple incident, and by it Mary affords her Son the opportunity of giving two most important lessons to His Apostles, and also to those who would, during all time, have any kind of apostolic work to do.
Point II.– A Lesson on Interruptions
He is preaching, and He is interrupted. What does He do? Shows, as He had shown so clearly before, when He was only twelve years old, that His "Father's business" must come first – that He is perfectly indifferent to all natural ties when that is concerned, and that His followers have got to be the same. He is preaching to the people – that is His work, and not even for a desire of His Mother will He interrupt it. He preaches by example what He had already preached by word: "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that taketh not up his cross and followeth Me is not worthy of Me." (St Matt. x. 37.)
Incidentally, He shows us what we may do with our interruptions. We are so prone to let them worry us, to think that they spoil our work, to say: But for these endless interruptions, I could do so much more! What did our Lord do with His interruption, which was a very real one, and far more disturbing than are many of ours of which we complain so readily? He turned it into good use, so that His work was the gainer by it and not the loser. If we cannot always follow His example literally by making the interruption a direct help to our work, we can always make it help indirectly by taking it as a message from God, Who would give His Apostle an opportunity of practising patience, self-control, and self-repression. Our work will gain more by these divinely planned interruptions than by the smooth, easy, methods which we had planned for ourselves.
Point III.– A Lesson on Relationships
To the interrupter He said: "Who is My mother? and who are My brethren?" And, looking round on them who sat about Him, He saith: "Behold My mother and My brethren! For My mother and My brethren are they who hear the word of God and do it." It is the same lesson that He gave to the woman, who probably was one of the very crowd He was now addressing, and who could not refrain from proclaiming before everyone the blessedness of His Mother. To her He said: "Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it." (St Luke xi. 27, 28.) The lesson, then, is that He holds as His nearest and dearest those who do His Father's Will. His Mother was, it is true, dearer to Him than all besides, was, it is true, blessed above all women; but only because she did His Father's Will more perfectly than any other.
Who is My mother? Any of these in the crowd have as much right to Me as she has, if they do My Father's Will as she does it. This is the lesson that Mary is giving Him the opportunity of teaching.
Would I be dear to Him as His Mother was; would I have that close union of heart; would I see things from His point of view; would I be willing to be put in the background and kept standing there if it furthers the "Father's business"; would I be ready to suffer anything for the spread of His Kingdom? There is only one way – do as she did. "Whosoever shall do the will of My Father that is in Heaven, the same is My mother."
Colloquy with Mary standing in the background. Thou whose unique privilege it is to be the Mother of God, teach me to do His will in such a way that I may share in some degree thy spiritual maternity. This was thine by detachment– even from the visible presence of Jesus, by a perfect performance of the will of God, and by suffering. By thy ceaseless intercession help me to struggle ceaselessly till I know something of these three things.
Resolution. To prove my close relationship with Jesus and Mary to-day by the way I do God's will.
Spiritual Bouquet. "His Mother stood without."
The Fourth and Fifth Dolours
"And thy own soul a sword shall pierce." (St Luke ii. 35.)
1st Prelude. (1) Mary meeting Jesus with His Cross.
(2) Mary witnessing the Crucifixion of Her Son.
2nd Prelude. Grace to understand what a precious gift suffering is.
Point I.– Mary's Suffering
Mary, with the knowledge which she had all her life of her Son's Passion, must have known when the hour was approaching. She had noticed the ever-increasing envy and hatred of the Chief Priests. She knew of the various attempts on His life, and of the organised plot to kill Him. And when the Passion itself began, we may be quite sure that, even if she were not actually a witness of some of the scenes, the Apostles kept her informed of what was going on. She would hear of the Agony in the Garden, of Judas' betrayal, of the desertion of the Apostles; then of the trials, of the scourging and crowning with thorns, of Pilate's vain attempts to save Him; she knew that they would be vain. And when at length the death sentence was passed, she set out with the other ministering women to be as near to Him as she could while He carried His Cross to Calvary. Once, at any rate, on the Way of the Cross they caught sight of each other, and had that unspeakable consolation which no one could give to Jesus but Mary, and no one to Mary but Jesus. But though it was a consolation, it was also an anguish so great, that this meeting of Jesus with His Blessed Mother is counted as one of the seven swords that pierced her heart. It is the Fourth Dolour. Then, on Calvary's hill, she must have heard, even if she did not see, the nails being driven in; and heard, too, something that gave her strength and courage at that terrible moment – her Son speaking to His Father, the crowning point of Whose "business" He had now reached: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Who can measure what the pain of this Fifth Dolour was to Mary! What was it that gave her an almost superhuman courage? The firm belief that everything she saw and heard was God's will; and such was the intensity with which she had said her Fiat, that His will was nearer to her even than her own sufferings. In proportion as this is the case with us shall we get the good that God intends out of suffering, and join, as Mary did, our prayers with those of Jesus by asking God's forgiveness for all who cause us suffering.
Point II.– Mary's Sacrifice
Then, as soon as the darkness permitted her to draw near without observation, she allowed John to take her to the Foot of the Cross, and there took up her stand. Her sacrifice was very near to its completion now. This is what she meant when she said her Fiat to the Angel Gabriel thirty-three years ago. This is what she meant when she presented Him to the Lord when He was forty days old. The three days' loss, and the separation when He left His home at Nazareth, had been a foreshadowing of this. Now the consummation of her sacrifice had arrived: "And there stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother"! She had never flinched, had never looked back. It had been Fiat all along the line. She was a "valiant woman" to the end, bravely doing her part, and offering her Son to God.
This was Mary's sacrifice – but what is her part in the Sacrifice that her Son is offering to His Father for the world's redemption? Just this, that she provided the Victim. She did not withhold her Son – her only Son. (Gen. xxii. 16.) Jesus on Calvary offered Himself to the Father; and Mary assisted – not only by the perfect union of her will and intention with His, but actually, by providing Him with the Body which He was offering to His Father. Her position was that of the Deacon at High Mass. His part is not the offering of the Sacrifice – the Priest alone can do that – but He provides the Priest with the bread and wine which he is going to use for the Sacrifice, and without which there could be no Sacrifice. "A Body hast thou prepared Me"; and that Body came from Mary – it was with Blood drawn from her veins that He redeemed the world. But the Sacrificial Act was His, and His alone: "I have trodden the wine-press alone." (Isaias lxiii. 3.)
Point III.– Mary's Legacy
As she stood there taking her part, how her heart was enlarging! He was dying for the whole world – for the whole human race, past, present, and future – and she was His Mother; she was standing by and assisting; all His interests were hers. She had seen the conversions worked by Him on the Way of the Cross; she had seen the change in the dying thief; now Jesus addressed Himself to her, and by His Third Word from the Cross made her the Second Eve, the Mother of all living – of all for whom He was dying. "Woman, behold thy son!" Again He used the official title —Woman; He was not treating her now as His Mother, but rather as the Mother of all. Behold thy son; take John for thy son, and with him take the whole human race. He counted on her power of suffering, and it was through that suffering that she became the universal Mother. He knew how the sword would stab when she heard that she was to take John in His place, but He knew also that the wound made by that sword-thrust would enlarge her heart to take in her new family. He was dying, and His legacy to His Mother was the whole human race. The idea was not a new one to her, for He had been gradually training her up to it, as we have seen, ever since the Incarnation. He added another word to make all sure. He spoke now to John as the representative of the human race: "Behold thy Mother!" The immediate meaning of His words John very well understood – that he was to cherish, support, and take care of her; be a son to her now that her own Son was being taken from her. But He had an intention in that word for each one of us. To each and all He said: "Behold Thy Mother!" and from that moment all who will, have the right to take her to their own.
To what extent have I taken this word seriously? Have I really believed that Jesus had me in His mind as well as St John when He said: "Behold thy Mother!" that it was of me that He thought and to me that He spoke? Have I felt the responsibility as well as the honour of being a child of Mary, and that it is my bounden duty to love and cherish her, to support and take care of her – that is, to stand up for her and shield her from those who will not behold her as their Mother? O my Mother, I want more than ever to take thee to my own, as thy first adopted son did. Come home with me, live side by side with me, talk to me of Jesus, and thus help to pass the time when you see me getting weary; help me to imitate Him as thou didst, and to share His work by my prayer and sacrifice as thou didst. And then, Mother, thou wilt always be there to show me what sacrifice really means – how it enters into all the little details of everyday life – to show me what having my will united to thy Son's means. Thou wilt be there to put a restraining hand upon me and make me live as a child of Mary should; thou, to whom Jesus was subject, wilt teach me what real submission means. Yes, I am decided that to-day it shall be recorded of me in Heaven: "From that hour that disciple took her to his own."
Colloquy with Mary.
Resolution. To take Mary as the special gift of Jesus to me.
Spiritual Bouquet. "There stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother."
The Sixth and Seventh Dolours
"And Joseph, buying fine linen and taking Him down, wrapped Him in the fine linen, and laid Him in a sepulchre which was hewed out of a rock." (St Mark xv. 46.)
1st Prelude. A picture of the Thirteenth Station.
2nd Prelude. Grace to be unselfish in my grief.
Point I.– Mater Dolorosa
As Mary stands at her post, praying for her new family for whom her Son is dying, and uniting herself more closely than ever with His intentions, the sword never ceases to pierce afresh her wounded heart. She has to listen to the cry: "I thirst!" from the parched lips and throat of Him from Whom she had never heard a complaint; and she has to appear to be deaf to His needs. Again she hears a cry, more full of agony even than the last: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!" and she who once lost her Son for three days (the Third Dolour) can understand in some small degree the anguish of that cry. Then after His next words: "All is consummated," she hears Him commend His Soul to His Father, and she watches Him die. She is alone! And not only is she alone, but she has a sense of responsibility. Just as on the occasion of a death among us, the one next has to rise to the responsibility and act at once, so it was with Mary. She was the one next. She knew that it was to her that the Apostles and all His friends would turn to know what to do – what He would like done. He who had died on the Cross "was indeed the Son of God," and she was His Mother; she, if anyone did, must know all about Him. So, although all is over, there is no time for Mary to relax and give way to her grief. There is work to be done – work that He has left her. "It is finished" for Him, but she is only just beginning her work as Mother of the Church. And so she still stands at the Foot of the Cross, reverently worshipping the dead Body to which the Divinity is still united.
Her meditation was suddenly interrupted – "One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His Side"; and again Simeon's prophecy was fulfilled: "Thine own soul a sword shall pierce." Soon followed what is called her Sixth Dolour– the taking down of her Son from the Cross. He was in the hands of friends now, and all was done with the greatest reverence and loving tenderness. But nothing could stay the sword from piercing Mary's heart when she received into her hands the blood-stained Crown of Thorns and the rough nails. Nothing could stay it when she had her Jesus once more in her arms, and was able to see for herself the cruel wounds as she washed them and bound them up. Then when the precious Body had been wrapped in the winding sheet, she accompanied the little cortège which carried It to the tomb. And when, after a few minutes' adoration, she beckoned them all away, and the great stone was rolled to its place, the sword pierced her heart again – it was the Seventh Dolour– the burial of Jesus.
She allowed John to escort her past the three crosses, along the way which He had trodden, back to the Cenacle. "That disciple took her to his own." The next time we make the Way of the Cross, let us make it with Mary as John did. She will explain to us better than anyone else can, the meaning of each "station."
Mary has left Him now, but she is with Him still in spirit and in heart – hence her strength. What a lesson she gives us on how to act in times of bereavement! We are never to lose sight of the fact that this particular kind of suffering is intended for our sanctification. This will prevent us from allowing it to make us morbid, selfish, gloomy, inconsiderate, ungrateful, acting as though our suffering were greater than that of everybody else, being exacting and fastidious about things that remind us of our lost one – even of having the name mentioned in our presence! What about our sacrifice? Are not all such things as these a part of it? We have no business to add to the trials of others by our tyrannical selfishness. Sorrow ought to brace the soul up to greater heights of sanctity; if it depresses it to a lower level of spirituality, there is something very wrong with us. We are not copying Mary, neither are we uniting our sufferings to those of Jesus – the only way of making them meritorious. Let us see to it that our grief is a source of joy and blessing to everyone else in the house. This means self put on one side; it means a smiling face, a bright, cheery, voice in spite of a breaking heart. It means a great sympathy with the grief of others – and it often means that we shall get the credit of not really caring, of not having much depth of affection, not much heart! But this again is part of the sacrifice which we gladly offer if only it may aid suffering in doing its blessed work. There were those, no doubt, who were ready enough to say that Mary's calm courage was unnatural. But we know that it was supernatural: let us try to copy her in it.
Point II.– Mater Misericordiæ
What must have been the grief of the Apostles – their Friend, Teacher, and Lord dead, their hopes all dashed, and their consciences ill at ease as they thought of their base desertion of Him in His hour of need! They were scattered everyone to his own, but probably one by one they found their way back to the Cenacle. It was the last house where they had been all together with Him, and it seemed natural to go there again – and besides, His Mother was there. She was next to Him, and therefore more to them than anyone else could be. She had been faithful to the end. She could tell them more about Him than anyone else could. Her very voice and manner reminded them of Him. Somehow, they felt that she would look at things from His point of view, and that if she forgave them for the wrong they had done to her Son, He would. Then they would learn from John what Jesus had said about her with His dying lips – that they might now regard her in very deed as their Mother; that she was now in fact the Mother of the Church which He had founded; and that they could turn to her in their times of perplexity and difficulty. "Behold thy Mother" – the Mother of Good Counsel and the Mother of Mercy! Was it not just what they wanted? How well He knew! How thoughtful it was of Him to leave us Mary!
And so we may think of Mary on Holy Saturday rallying her new family round her, loving them for her Son's sake, making excuses for their weaknesses, as a mother ever does, and putting fresh heart and courage into them. And then we may think of her stealing away to ponder – to make the first Meditation on the Passion, presenting willingly her heart to the sword once more, that her compassion might fit her for her position as Mother of Mercy.
Colloquy with Mary, who says to me: For you, too, my child, "I am the Mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. He that hearkeneth unto me shall not be confounded; and they that work by me shall not sin." (Ecclus. xxiv. 24-30.)
Resolution. To take my troubles and difficulties to Mary to-day.
Spiritual Bouquet. "Mater Dolorosa, Mater misericordiæ, ora pro nobis."
