Our Lady

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Jesus and Mary Their Journey

The beginning of Jesus Ministry did not mean that Mary's involvement lessened nor that she was cast aside, for Mary too was to play an integral part in her Son's Ministry.

It would have been Mary that provided a listening heart to his many friends and followers, as she welcomed them into her home and traveled with them as Jesus preached, taught, and healed the wounded and sick.

I am sure that Mary would have provided a keen insight into their home life to the Apostles, and shared her family joys and sorrows with them. But Mary also was a woman of quiet contemplation and of few words, so she would have listened to these friends of Jesus and provided comfort in their times of confusion and bewilderment.

Wherever they journeyed Mary and the women disciples would have provided care and comfort for not only Jesus but his friends and followers. This meant cooking traditional meals such as bread, the vegetables that were in season, fish, served with olives and goats cheese and meals such as Labaneh and other dishes, spiced with the herbs of the area.

Mary would have also provided a good example for the women followers of Jesus and they would have helped Mary in keeping what ever home they stayed in clean and tidy. They also would have helped Mary in the cooking; one can imagine the men gathered around Jesus listening to him as he spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, whilst Mary and the other women prepared the meals. But what Mary would have shown these women disciples of Jesus, is that though one may be busy at their tasks, still one listens to the voice of God, in a spirit of humble obedience, even in the midst of preparing and cleaning.

So though Mary occupied herself with the daily ritual of cooking, cleaning, knitting and darning the clothes of her Son and his friends, with the help of the other women, she would have incorporated prayer into every activity. This would have been a wonderful example for the other women to follow and is central to the Mission of Jesus, that women were not second class citizens but were an essential part to his Ministry!

But there also would have been occasions of humour and fun amidst the seriousness, and Mary would have shared stories of the infant Jesus and her beloved but deceased husband Joseph, as they conversed together in a spirit of fellowship.

And through the love that Jesus had for his mother, it would have also allowed the other Apostles to see the value which Jesus placed on the importance of women in his Ministry and for women in general.

One only has to look at the woman caught in the act of adultery, when the men were ready to stone her, it was Jesus who whilst writing in the sand asked the question of the mob, "if any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her". For Jesus did not break the Law of Moses but fulfilled it by recognising the inequality and injustice which would have been perpetrated against the woman in question! But neither did Jesus condone the womans act and told her to "go now and leave your life of sin".

So throughout Jesus Ministry, Mary too had her role, which was to provide an example of Holy obedience with true meekness of heart and soul, and to ennoble the role of women in the life of Jesus, and in what was to come.

Peace of Christ to you ALL

Friday, August 19, 2005

Mary Ponders All Things

Mary would have lived a life typical of others in her region, in that she too had housework to do, food to prepare and clothes to mend. The difference is that Mary united all she did with God acknowledging His Awesome Majesty; she is a woman of quiet contemplation, who pondered all things in her heart.

Even in the midst of confusion and with great anxiety when she finally found her Son Jesus in the Temple, she questioned how her Son could bring this trouble to both her and Joseph. And though Jesus explained to her why He had done this, Mary simply pondered the meaning of her son’s words in the depths of her heart.

There must have been many times when Mary leaned on her chaste spouse Joseph, to help her and also lead her in their most Holy of Marriages. For upon their union it was to Joseph as head of the house that the Angels appeared and instructed him to flee and when it was safe to return to their homeland. This tells us the order in which God provides for us all to follow, in that the man IS the head of the household and God dignified Joseph's role as head of this most Holy family.

So it truly must have brought great grief to Mary when she lost her beloved spouse, who had helped protect and provide for her and their son Jesus. So upon the death of Joseph, Mary would have relied deeply on her beloved Son Jesus, for comfort but also for company.

So upon the commencement of his Ministry, Jesus also would have brought many new people into Mary's life, for she was not just a follower but was instrumental in Jesus' Completion of His Mission. Mary would have made all those who Jesus called friends a part of her growing family. This also afforded an opportunity for Mary to show other women how to live their lives in perfect conformity to the Will of God.

For Mary's role in the Ministry of her Son was not a passive one, but one of strength through prayer. She laid the ground work of what true contemplation is, and was an example to all those around her of quiet submission, humility and meekness, whilst living a daily round of her regular duties.

Mary would have helped develop Jesus as he grew strong under the reassuring presence of Joseph and both would have inculcated the young Jesus with a love of the land and the varying seasons from which they lived. Their lives would have been the lives of simple country folk, yet their Faith sets them apart from other families. This would have provided Jesus with a great asset of knowing how men lived and what moved their hearts, and was probably the instigator in his parables when teaching the Disciples and all those who followed him.

But before Jesus could commence his Ministry, he as most mature adults do, left home where he met his cousin John in order to be baptized in the Jordan River. After this Jesus left to spend 40 days and nights in the desert, where he overcame the tempter.

This must have been a difficult and perhaps lonely time for Mary, as she was without her husband or her son, but it also would have provided her an opportunity to pray and prepare herself for what lay ahead.

Their lives must have been so ordinary and normal in that when Jesus returned to Nazareth the words that greeted him were, "Where did this man get all this?" they said when he spoke in their synagogue. "Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?" Jesus was to be rejected in the very place that formed his childhood, never to return. This must have grieved Mary deeply, as I am sure many of those who had rejected her Son, were a part of her life. She would have formed friendships with many of them, only to see them reject her beloved Son, and even family members accuse Jesus of instability.

One can also imagine what Mary would have felt upon hearing of the arrest of her cousins son, John the Baptist, as she pondered this and many more things in her heart. No longer was Mary at the centre of the young Jesus' life, nor was she abandoned as her life unfolded as her son's Ministry began.