Because this blog is dedicated to Mother Mary, I decided to write my first ever post about her! The title is “Our Lady,” simple and to the point. But the meaning is anything but simple. Firstly I want to point out the significance of the two words. “Our” she is ours, Jesus gave her to the world as its Holy Mother right before He died, even as He suffered in agony on the Cross, He was thinking of us. Or, more specifically, you personally. With the words; “Woman, behold, your son! Then He said to the disciple (John) “Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26-27), He gave His own Mother to us to guide us and lead us closer to Jesus. “Lady” a lady is exactly what she is. The term, broadly speaking, is defined as a refined, polite, dignified woman. But Mary is so much more than that. She possess graces which we only begin to dream about. Let us go through the prayer, the Hail Mary, and see how much we miss when we say the Rosary really fast, like we have something better to do. “Hail Mary!” hail, meaning to greet someone or to praise them. The Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation knew how special this young girl was in God’s plan for salvation. With his greeting, he announces to the world her irreplaceable role as the Mother of God. “Full of grace” Our Lady is filled with God’s graces, she was born without the stain of Original Sin. Although she was human and could have sinned, but she would not and did not because her soul was filled with God’s grace and she responded to His grace every second of her life. From the moment of her Immaculate Conception her soul was full of grace. (note: the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s conception, not Our Lord’s. We know this because it was revealed to Bernadette by her at Lourdes, France when she said “I am the Immaculate Conception.”) “The Lord is with thee,” this ties into her soul being filled with God’s graces. God dwells in her whose soul is pure and without sin. “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus” the words of Our Lady’s cousin Elizabeth who was the mother of John the Baptist. The Bible tells us that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, “the infant leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit...” (Luke 1:41) That is how Elizabeth knew that the Mother of her Lord had come to visit her. Our Lady truly was blessed among women, she has found favor with God, and the fruit of her womb Jesus was blessed because He was God’s own Son. “Holy Mary” sacred, blessed, righteous, saintly, all of these words synonymous with her title of being holy. She is certainly all this and more, she is the Queen of Heaven and Earth, angels and saints, and of us. “Mother of God” She was chosen to bear the Son of God, she faced persecution, misunderstanding, even the treat of death. In those days, if Joseph her most chaste spouse had pressed charges against her for infidelity she could have been stoned to death. Thankfully, as we know, the Angel Gabriel came to St. Joseph in a dream telling him not to be afraid and that Mary was indeed carrying the Son of God. We do not always realize what she went through during those nine months before the birth of Jesus. “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death” by these words we acknowledge our sinful natures and beg for her to intercede for us to her Son, now as we say the prayer, and always; till the very hour we are to die. “Amen” from Hebrew aman, to confirm. With this word we confirm our belief in Mary as our intercessor to Christ, we confirm our belief that she is full of grace, blessed among women, and that she is our Mother. There is so much more to Our Lady than this, she is a beautiful mystery, one we should never tire of learning about. For now however, I leave you with the words of St. Paul; may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. +JMJ+
