33 Days to Morning Glory (Part 2)

 Throne of Wisdom by Jan Van Eyck

Perhaps a question is begged in this discussion of Fr. Gaitley's 33 Days to Morning Glory, being, why consecrate ourselves to Mary at all? Why not go "straight to Jesus" as the Protestants declare? In traditional Catholicism one encounters the phrase, to Jesus through Mary. St. Louis de Montfort believed that Marian consecration is the quickest, easiest, and safest way to go to Jesus. Because Jesus came to us through the Blessed Mother, he wills that the faithful go to him through her. This is so simple and makes such logical sense!

One of Mary's traditional titles is Mediatrix of All Grace. This was St. Maximilian Kolbe's favorite title for her. The Father wills that Mary be the chief dispenser of divine grace. Kolbe seemed to believe that the Holy Spirit works only through the Immaculata. This, however, does not appear to be the model followed by the postconciliar Church, except in certain countries in which traditional Marian devotion and folk piety have been maintained. Leading the way for a revival of a mariology that is central to Catholic faith in the Americas are the peoples who venerate Our Lady of Guadalupe. In such a figure as Guadalupe, we can apprehend a theology and devotion to Mary as Temple of Wisdom, especially as the Virgin here is wearing a sash which symbolizes pregnancy. I propose this title as a more fitting desigantion for the Virgin than we find in either "spouse" or "quasi-incarnation" of the Holy Spirit, as I discussed in Part 1 of this article. Why "Temple of Wisdom"?

Another traditional title for Mary is Seat (or Throne) of Wisdom. Artwork representing Mary as Seat of Wisdom shows the Child Jesus sitting on her lap. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Mary is named the dwelling of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus is not only the Word, but Wisdom Incarnate, Mary is also the dwelling of Wisdom. Another biblical name for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom, so here we have an additional way in which Mary is the dwelling of Wisdom. As we can see, Kolbe's apprehension of Mary as a unique sanctuary of the Holy Spirit is quite on target. 

Let us consider that the word for Spirit in Hebrew is Ruah, which is of feminine gender; in Greek it is Pneuma, a neutral (genderless) word; and in Latin, it is Spiritus, of masculine gender. (These are the languages from which the Bible in English is translated.) It could be argued that either masculine or feminine pronouns used in reference to the Holy Spirit would be grammatically correct. Technically, the pronoun "it" would be most accurate in Greek, though this of course would not be a fitting way to refer to God.

Let us go on to consider that in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, the words for Wisdom are unanimously feminine in gender--Chokmah, Sophia, and Sapientia, respectivley. It may feel a bit odd, then, to refer to Jesus, a male person, as Wisdom Incarnate; especially considering that Wisdom is not only grammatically a "she" in the Old Testament books in which she is most prevalent--Proverbs, Wisdom, and Sirach--but she is clearly depicted as a bride and mother. Because Wisdom is a feminine "spirit" and personified as a woman in the Bible, and because Mary is the Seat of Wisdom, passages from the Wisdom books (including the Song of Songs) are accomodated to Mary both in the liturgy and in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The faithful are all called to be temples of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom. We receive the Holy Spirit at Baptism and are released then from the condition of original sin, and at Confirmation we again receive the Spirit and the associated seven gifts, one of which is wisdom. To be protected from inheriting original sin, Mary must have received the Holy Spirit and Wisdom at the moment of her conception. We will explore these themes surrounding Mary as Temple of Wisdom in greater detail in future installments of this article, so please stay tuned!

Maternal Intercession in a Chaotic World

Madonna and Child by Marianne Stokes

Have you noticed lately that the Catholic Church is loudly calling upon the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that even Protestants are beginning to remedy their neglect? It's hard to believe that there was a time not so long ago when Marian devotion was considered passe, sacrificed on the altar of ecumenism. But something must be done about the evils of abortion, euthanasia, the threat to religious freedom, war, mass shootings in schools and movie theaters, etc., etc., etc... And when the going gets tough, the Church calls on the Mother of God. Why? Because she hears the cries of the world, and she takes them to her Son, as He wills it to be. Jesus takes them to the Father, and then something gets done. Mary is powerful and permeated with divine grace. She is our life, our sweetness, and our hope. She knows what it is like to be pregnant under dangerous and uncertain circumstances, to give birth and to see your child die. She is the spiritual Mother of us all.

So on a day like this, the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion, we are horrified. 55 million children dead, murdered with the consent of their mothers. I think of Mary, whose fiat brought salvation to a world of sinners, and I know she must cry bitter, bitter tears. Every day. What irreplaceable souls are lost forever to this fallen world?

Novenas to Our Lady are coming back into fashion. Rosaries are being prayed in homes and churches, in cars and on buses and planes. Pilgrimages to Marian shrines continue to grow. It gives you some hope, doesn't it? Can you feel that a monumental, sea change is coming? Stella Maris, Star of the Sea, pray for us. Mother of Sorrows, pray for us. Mother of Consolation, hear the cries of the unborn and the mothers who regret their terrible choice. Help us to give a voice to the voiceless. Speak to the hearts of expectant mothers. Give us the courage to surrender all in our lives to your maternal care. May we give birth to the God of peace.

The Feminine Face of God

Woman of Revelation 12

It is apparent that the once common reference to Mary among Catholics as "the feminine face of God" has been suppressed since Vatican II.  Some modern, feminist theologians are perfectly happy with the status quo of a marginalized Mary.  Yet they are not satisfied with the lack of feminine names and imagery used for God and the excessively patriarchal language that has dominated Christianity.  Instead of focusing on Mary as Queen of Heaven, they seek to feminize the Holy Spirit. This seems to me to signify a failure to connect the theological dots.

The problem is solved if one follows the Marian teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who understood Mary as the "quasi incarnation" of the Holy Spirit.  The union of the Blessed Mother with the third person of the Trinity is not equivalent to the hypostatic union of the human Jesus with the divine Son of God.  He often clarified that Jesus' mother is completely human (though she partakes in the divine nature of her Son, as do all heavenly saints).  Yet the union between Mary and the Spirit is so profound as to make them function as one being, while each retains her own, personal nature.  Together they provide motherly intercession in the work of the salvation of humankind.  Both have traditionally been given the title, Advocate by the Church.  Kolbe saw Mary as bride of the Holy Spirit, but more specifically as divine Sanctuary. 

In my spiritual contemplation I have come to the same conclusion as Catholic writer Thomas Merton, that the spirit Sophia of the Wisdom Books of the Bible is the ousia of God, contained in each member of the Trinity.  In my own words, Sophia is the feminine nature of God at the heart of the Trinity, who is revealed most perfectly in the Holy Spirit and manifested personally in the Virgin Mary and cosmologically in Ecclesia, Holy Mother Church.  For this reason it is fitting to refer at times to the Holy Spirit as "she", the immanent Mother-Love of God who indwells all members of the body of Christ.  Now we can understand Mary as revealing the feminine face of God, in her role as Mother of God and Mother of the Church.  A choice does not need to be made between Mary in her full cosmological presence and the naming of the Holy Spirit, when appropriate, as the "feminine" member of the Godhead (always keeping in mind that God is pure spirit, neither male nor female).  The two concepts, in essence, are complementary, together revealing the mystery of the sacred feminine.

Hail, Holy Queen

Early on when I began to attend Mass at a Catholic church, there was a bookmark pinned to the bulletin board which said, "How to Pray the Rosary".  The concluding prayer was the Salve Regina:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping
in this vale of tears. Turn, then, most gracious Advocate
thine eyes of mercy toward us; and, after this our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, o pious, o sweet Virgin Mary;
Queen of the most Holy Rosary, pray for us,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.  

I have since learned from Charlene Spretnak's book, Missing Mary, that this prayer used to be said at the end of every Mass! At least where I live, this is no longer true, and from what Charlene says, it's generally not the case. Her book argues that since Vatican II, there has been a decline in Marian devotion, and the full spiritual presence and meaning of Mary was marginalized and removed from its once central place in Catholic theology. I was alarmed when I read this. Had I met Mary and found the Catholic Church too late? But no, she says, there is a strong, grassroots movement to restore Mary's honored place, not just based on her strictly biblical presence, but on the traditional, cosmological presence of what she calls Big Mary, the biblicalplus version that venerates both the Nazarene village woman of the Bible and the Queen of Heaven, divinized by virtue of her Son.

In this blog I will explore the theology of Mary as I understand it, the Christological and mystical dimensions, and her relationship to the Church. I wish to celebrate Mary, to allow her to lead me to Jesus, who is both the Word and Wisdom Incarnate, and to explore how she embodies the sacred feminine and enriches a living Catholicism. Marian devotion, I believe, is in fact indispensable to the practice of True Religion. I'm bringing Mary back! I hope you will join me on this journey.