Consider Your Mother

Lisandrea Wentland - Mother

\"Lisandrea

Jesus was a son. His mother was Mary. At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel announced that she was chosen to bear into the world the long-awaited and much-prophesied Messiah. Mary, a child of God, was given choice just like we are. Mary could have refused, but instead she said yes. We call this her “fiat,” or in Latin, “Let it be done.”  It’s her “amen,” which in Hebrew means the same, “So be it.” Yes, she would allow the world to be altered forever through her very womb.

Mothers, tell me, have you ever sat and marinated in that concept? She was a virgin, and her culture expected her to remain so until her wedding night (unlike today’s culture). She was engaged to Joseph, a well-respected member of the community and had made him a promise to be chaste. By saying yes to Gabriel, to God, to the Holy Spirit, she said yes to endangering her life, as she could have been stoned to death for perceived indecency (and would have been but for Joseph’s sheltering arm of protection). She didn’t just say yes to pregnancy, but she said yes to bearing. She bore Jesus—who was, and is, and is to come.

Yes, every Christian accepts the Holy Spirit to dwell within and to guide our beings, but our invitation is different from her acceptance.

Contemporary Protestant Christians tend to talk about the mother of Jesus Christ just once a year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Within the Protestant world it seems there is great shyness about going much deeper into the Virgin’s story so as not to seem too “Catholic.” But, I think it is important to open up our thoughts about Mary to span throughout the year, not only highlighting her testimony at Christmas.

Do you believe Jesus is the one and only very Son of God, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father? This expression is taken from the Nicene Creed, established by a council of Christian leaders in the early Christian church in year 325 AD so as to ward off heresies rampant in the early Church and clarify orthodox beliefs. It is memorized and spoken regularly by Christians of many denominations worldwide. If you believe that Jesus is of one being with the Father, that he actually is and always has been God, present at the beginning with the Father, present at the end when we see the heavens open up in victory, then you must think more deeply about Mary’s role.

She carried God within her womb. She gave birth to the One who is God. She is the Mother of God in the sense that she carried that boy within her womb, labored, and gave birth to him. She mothered God in the sense that she nursed him at her breast and held his tiny hand when he took his first steps.

Mother of God. But that’s uncomfortable! God doesn’t have, nor need a mother! He is the great “I Am!” Mother typically indicates one who came before a son, but Mary, though predetermined to be the one to carry and bear Jesus, didn’t come before him, since nothing can come before God. John the Baptist tried to sum up this before/after dilemma about Jesus in this statement, \”He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.\” (John 1:15)

Jesus is also called the Living Word, as seen most clearly in the Book of John, verses 1 and 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . .  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” By allowing God to be formed within her, Mary sacrificed more than any other human being in service to God.

When Moses was given the responsibility of bringing the Word of God to the wandering Israelites he had something physical in hand, two stone tablets with Ten Commandments etched by the hand of God himself. The Word of God was so sacred, so pure, so untouchable, that its contents remain sacred and unaltered today. We know those Ten Commandments as the foundation for a free society, a set of rules that follow two patterns, ways to love and serve God the Almighty Creator, and ways to love and serve our fellow man. Christ summarized them thus, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) The Word, in stone, had to be transported everywhere the Israelites walked, so it was encased in a beautiful and ornate box unique in appearance and purpose. The box itself was even sacred, and had to be carried by poles so no one could touch it. One man, Uzzah, who reached to steady it and prevent it from falling to the ground, died when his hand touched that ark. The ark held the Word of God.

Then the Word of God was made flesh and another ark held it. Mary! She, clean, virginal, untouchable and untouched, carried within her body salvation for the world like the ark carried the Ten Commandments. Mary carried that very living Word within her womb. And, as the ark Noah built based on God’s specifications carried a select group of humanity away from the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah into new life, Mary’s fiat brought new life to humanity.

She was a living ark, a living tabernacle.

A third thought about Mary, who mothered Jesus in the womb in his infancy and all the way throughout his life and who carried the Living Word, is that she righted what Eve wronged. Eve, the first woman, brought sin into the world through disobedience. She did not say “amen” to God (or fiat), but said, “Hmmmm, I wonder what will happen if I disobey . . .” Eve said, “My way,” while Mary said, “Yahweh!” So, as Eve birthed sin, Mary birthed the solution for sin, her son who would take on all the sin of the whole world. Mary redeems Eve.

This Mother’s Day, as American Christians muster up honor for mothers they might not daily honor, we ought to consider the Mother who mothered God. She is the Mother capable of mothering all of us. Mary, blessed among women and servant of the Lord, is the mother who most deserves our honor.

Consider Mary.

Lisandrea Wentland is an Anglican (former Evangelical) entering the Catholic Church, and she is excited about our Blessed Mother.

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4 thoughts on “Consider Your Mother”

  1. This is an awesome article! Being new to Catholicism myself, I really appreciate how you have presented our Blessed Mother. I love the concept of her being an ark, carrying the Word of God. Redeeming Eve is also important for us to remember. I look forward to reading your future articles Lisandrea. Thanks!

    1. David,

      Take it from a convert of over sixty years, the world and the Church would not be the same without Our Mother Mary. This is my tribute to her as our mother.
      My Mother Mary…….yes, that Mary….

      ….who was living a simple life dedicated to serving the God
      of Israel from her very early Immaculate childhood.

      …who was full of grace and awaiting the angel’s salutation
      to share a child with the Holy Spirit and cherish and carry our Lord in her
      womb for nine months that He might carry the Cross of Salvation for all of us.

      …who, in union with God’s plan, willfully in true charity
      and sacrifice accepted the prophecy, announced on her son’s first visit to the temple by Simeon, that because of this child her heart would be pierced like none before her.

      …who cared for and nourished that child sharing house, home,
      and daily family and personal exchanges of love and devotion with Him for
      thirty years as He grew to manhood.

      …whose mutual love
      had so entwined its trust in her young son that it would allow Him leave of her during the journey of faithful from Jerusalem for nearly two days in their
      humble land (a preview of his passion and burial) until she would become aware of His absence from friends and her own loving care.

      …who, as His closest companion over many years, knew exactly
      where to look for Him upon her return to Jerusalem.

      …who would accept His decision to “be about His Fathers
      work” but with a mothers love guided His youthful ambitions to a more proper time and place for fulfillment where at her wish and petition He initiated His ministry with the miracle at the wedding feast of Cana.

      …who faithful to words of God to Simeon had to watch with a
      bleeding heart the horrid brutality thrust upon her child during His powerful
      passion.

      …and finally that Mary, who though weeping in sorrow would
      be so willing to lovingly listened to and carry out her son’s dying request
      along side the disciple whom He loved well that she now take John under her wing in place of Him and that John in turn protect and defend her among men until she rejoined her son the Prince of Peace in heaven.

      This Mary, the world’s very first “Christian”, is my mother
      and should be recognized in faith as truly the mother of all Christians.

    2. BillinJax, thank you for this encouragement! Thanks for your kind words and this wonderful tribute to Our Blessed Mother. What a blessing.
      God has helped me to understand about her over time. I first read what she said in the Scriptures and realized that Protestants do not call her “blessed”. Yet she said all generations shall call her “blessed”. More came over a period of time.
      More recently I’ve come to understand the close connection of a mother carrying a child within her. Don’t they share the same blood? So Mary had to be a clean vessel to carry the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
      Thanks again, God bless.

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