Mary’s Faith and the Consecrated Life – May 2013. 

By Sister Mary Ann Kirkland, IHM.

 

In his apostolic letter Porta Fidei, opening the Year of Faith, Benedict XVI wrote, “One thing that will be of decisive importance in this Year is retracing the history of our faith ….”  Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, Benedict invites us to look at the examples of faith throughout the two thousand years of Church history (PF, 13). The first person to consider after Jesus, is His Mother, Mary, who being so closely associated with the Incarnation and Mission of Her Son through her free and faith-filled yes to God, sums up in her life all the mysteries of Faith (cf. Lumen Gentium, 65). 

What then can we learn by looking at consecrated life through the prism of Marian faith? God does not deal with abstractions, but with persons. So even as we talk about “Israel”, “People of God” or “Church” we need to see these “corporate entities” as embodied in the individual member – matchlessly in Mary, individually in each of the baptized faithful, but distinctively in the consecrated religious who is called to live the life of faith in a more radical way, “following … the chaste, poor and obedient Christ” in order to give witness to the primacy of God and eternal life in the contemporary world(Vita Consecrata, 85).  

And so, let us look at the five events in Mary’s life of faith as outlined in paragraph thirteen of Porta Fidei and show how the consecrated religious mirrors these mysteries of Faith.  

“By faith, Mary accepted the Angel’s word and believed the message that she was to become the Mother of God in the obedience of her devotion (cf. Lk 1:38).” Mary is Mother of God and of the Church because she is humble and empty of self.  She is God’s ark and dwelling place, His habitation, because she does not cling to “what is hers,” but rather, gives herself unreservedly, opening herself wholly to God’s will for her. Thus, she becomes Mother of God and mother of Christ in baptized souls. The Religious vowing chastity, poverty and obedience, walks in this way of spiritual betrothal and motherhood. Through the radical living of these evangelical counsels, she empties herself and becomes entirely available to God, becoming His abiding place in the world. The more the Religious conforms herself to these counsels, the more she radiates and forms Christ in those touched by her life, prayer and apostolic works. 

“Visiting Elizabeth, she raised her hymn of praise to the Most High for the marvels he worked in those who trust him (cf. Lk 1:46-55).”  Mary is void of ego. Praising her only causes her to praise God. When she says that her soul magnifies God, she does not mean she is adding anything to God’s infinite greatness, but that she is transparent to the great graces and works that He is doing in and through her. She does not cling to her own fame or person, but lets herself be what she truly is, God’s image. Living and working in the common life and apostolate of their community protects Religious from carving out  little kingdoms for themselves. The Religious strives to be transparent, working to accomplish the common mission rather than her own venture; to give herself unreservedly to serve and image God through the service rendered to the Church in obedience to superior’s directives. This attitude is foreign to worldly thinking, but is necessary for showing God to the world that so desperately needs Him. 

“With joy and trepidation she gave birth to her only son, keeping her virginity intact (cf. Lk 2:6-7). Trusting in Joseph, her husband, she took Jesus to Egypt to save him from Herod’s persecution (cf. Mt 2:13-15).”  Benedict XVI has referred to Joseph as an icon of the bishop’s role in the Church: Mary is under his protection, but not at his disposal (cf. Mary the Church at the Source, Ignatius Press, p. 88.). Religious life is under the care and direction of the hierarchy precisely so that its charism and way of life can flourish to its full potential within the context of the larger community of the Church (cf. Lumen Gentium 7, 45; Christus Dominus 33-35).  

“With the same faith, she followed the Lord in his preaching and remained with him all the way to Golgotha (cf. Jn 19:25-27).”  Mary is the first disciple of Her Son, Jesus. After the intimacy of the hidden years, she appears to be demoted to just one of many disciples. Sometimes, Jesus seems even harsh to His Mother during His public life. However, Christ is preparing her to stand with Him at His ultimate sacrifice of the Cross. Consecrated religious too are called to stand in self-denial and sacrifice, in prayer and penance in union with Christ for the salvation of souls. “The apostolate of all religious consists first in the witness of their consecrated life which they are bound to foster by prayer and penance (can. 673) (Essential Elements, 29).” 

“By faith, Mary tasted the fruits of Jesus’ resurrection, and treasuring every memory in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19, 51), she passed them on to the Twelve assembled with her in the Upper Room to receive the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14; 2:1-4).” Between Pentecost and her assumption into heaven, Mary served the Church through her contemplation of the Word. In a world that is so much about doing and making, Religious like Mary are more about being than doing, about allowing things to grow at God’s pace in contemplation rather than about action. Apostolic activity is secondary to the consecration of Religious. Apostolate is the fruit of contemplation. What Mary is now we all hope to be. Consecrated Religious stand as eschatological witnesses and as reminders to the world that eternal life is real and is worth the sacrifice required to attain it. 

Thus, consecrated Religious through their radical living of Mary-like faith are signs to all the faithful that the promises the Lord has made to us will be fulfilled (cf. Lk  1:45). Religious life is not an outdated relic of the past, but a vital signpost of faith in a secularized and secularizing culture. The Church needs the faith-filled witness of the consecrated life, lest when Christ returns he might not find any faith on the earth (cf. Lk 18:8; Evangelica Testificatio 3; Vita Consecrata 105).