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Honouring Mary

It never fails to amaze me to see how some Christians treat Mary. Why do you Catholics look up so highly on Mary?, Mary is just another human being, like you and I, Mary is only the mother of Jesus. Have you heard about all these things? I do. It is statements/questions like these that really get to my nerves and make me sad and sometimes, mad. Sad because they have yet to understand who Mary really is and what she can do for them. And mad because they keep on repeating these silly words without ever bothering to find out why Mary can be so special. So why is Mary so special? Mary is special, first of all, because God the Almighty made her special. Just imagine, out of so many people in this world, billions and billions of them, God chose her, and her alone, to bring His Son, His only Son, into the world to save it. To me, this is the greatest honour that anyone can receive from God. To be the mother of His Son: to carry him in her womb, to nurse him as a baby, to attend to him in time need, to share all his joys and sorrows. And more importantly, to prepare him for the greatest mission ever to be the saviour of mankind. Blessed indeed is the womb that bore him and the breast that he sucked!(Luke 11:27). The angel Gabriel, a heavenly being, a messenger of God, also treated Mary special. During the Annunciation, how was the greeting done? Was it a casual Hi! or Hello! How are you? Long time no see. Was it like that? No! Then how? Luke 1:28, Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Or in another text, Rejoiced! O highly favoured daughter. The Lord is with you. This is how it was done - In great awe and respect! Because the angel knew this woman was no ordinary woman. That she was Gods chosen one, His highly favoured daughter, the mother to be of Gods only Son. In short , the angel knew Mary. Elizabeth, the mother of the prophet John the Baptist, too, greeted her in the same respectful manner when Mary visited her. Listen to this marvelous words of Luke 1:14, Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, saw the blessedness of Mary. And Mary herself was quick to acknowledge this. In Luke 1:48, Mary said: For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. All generations not one or two or some people. But all generations. From all people until the end of the world. That is what it means. Perhaps the most remarkable example come from the Lord Jesus himself. On two occasions, Jesus clearly showed deep respect for his mother by being obedient to her. One was after they came back from the temple after the Passover feast. Luke 1:51 recorded that, Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to

them(Mary and Joseph). This came about even after Mary failed to understand what Jesus meant when he said he had to be in his Fathers house. Another was at the wedding in Cana. When the host had run out of wine, Mary told Jesus about it. At first Jesus told her that his time has not come yet but because it was a request from his mother, he could not refuse and as a result, he changed water into wine. A mothers request is always hard to refuse. In the Old Testament, we are told that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathseba, the mother of King Solomon and said to her: I pray you, speak to Solomon for he cannot deny you anything.(1 Kings 2:16). And when Bathseba went to King Solomon, he said to her: My mother, make your request, for I cannot refuse you!(1 Kings 2:20). And here, we have a king who is far greater than Solomon Jesus, King of all Kings. And here we have a queen who is far greater than Bathseba Mary, Queen of All Ages. To underline the special role that Mary plays in our lives, the Gospel writers had purposely put Mary at all the important events in the life of Jesus, from birth right up to death and even beyond it. When Jesus was first born into the world, Mary was right there. Mary had to be there for she was the one who bore Jesus. In fact, do you know that when the innkeepers turned Mary away, they were actually turning Jesus away? You simply cannot separate the mother from the child. Then when Jesus was consecrated to God in the temple, Mary was there too. And Simeon took a special mention on the nature of Marys role in Gods saving plan. That she too would have much to suffer because of Jesus. That A sword will pierce through your own soul also.(Luke 2:34-35). When Jesus suffered his first persecution, Mary too was actively involved. She together with Joseph fled with the child to Egypt to escape from Herolds sword. Later when Jesus began to discover his true vocation at the temple in Jerusalem, Mary was pictured as a concerned mother worried about the safety of her child. And again when Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana, it was the mothers intervention that made it possible. Although Mary did not appear often in the public ministry of Jesus, it was evident that she followed the happenings closely, from the beginning till the very end. In fact, at the end of Jesus ministry, when Jesus was crucified, Mary was there too. At the foot of the cross, she gave unwavering support to her dying son. Marys presence at each of these critical events only goes to show how closely linked she was with the ministry of Jesus. Therefore it was no surprise to see Mary and the faithful disciples at the Upper Room on Pentecost Day, the day when the Church was officially born. And till today, the hands of Mary can still be seen working in places like Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorge. The Early Church indeed paid deep respect to Mary. Early Church Fathers such as the

famous St Augustine, St Ambrose, Origen, St Cyril and St Irenaeus all held Mary in high esteem. The Early Church saw Mary as the New Eve as opposed to the Old Eve. In the words of St Irenaeus, The knot of Eves disobedience was untied by Marys obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, Mary loosened by her faith. In the light of this comparison with Eve, the Fathers of the Church call Mary the Mother of the living and often speak of death through Eve, life through Mary. In recognizing and appreciating Marys role in the salvation of mankind, our Church, over the years, has given many titles to Mary. Titles like Mediatrix, Theotokos/Mother of God, The Immaculate Conception, Queen of the Sea and so on. However, this is not to say that we are putting her on par with God. God is God and Mary is Mary. Veneration to God is different from veneration to Mary. The Greek word for venerating God , which include worshipping Him, is latria whereas venerating Mary, which does not include worshipping her, is hyperdulia. So honouring Mary is not worshipping Mary. We only worship God. This is very important to bear in mind when we talked about this treasured devotion of ours. Yet we are not the only ones who honour Mary in this way. Devotion to Mary is not confines to the Catholic Church alone. Outside our Church, devotion to Mary can also be found in the Orthodox Churches, the second largest Christians group in the world, Their devotion is just as intense as ours, with an abundance of festival and hymns to our Lady. And our present pope, Pope John Paul II, would often quote, with much fondness, of the devotion in these Eastern Churches. And has recently even returned an old icon of Our Lady and the Child Jesus to the Russian Orthodox Church. Even among the Protestant Churches nowadays, the devotion to Mary is growing, especially among the Aglican/Episcopalian and Lutheran churches. As a result you can see people like Wayne Weible, a Lutheran, going around the world preaching the message of Our Lady in Medjugorje. In his own words, A Protestant encouraging other Protestants to pray to Mary. Still the story doesnt end here. What is even more fantastic is the fact that not only Christians are paying respect to Mary. The Muslims are doing it also. The Quran talks much about her. The Blessed Virgin Mary is mentioned 34 times in the Quran. In fact, one of the suras or chapters bears her name. Hers is the only personal name of a woman mentioned in the Quran. And would you believe me if I were to say that they also share our teaching on the Virgin Birth and of the Immaculate Conception. Yes, they do!!! Brothers and sisters, when Jesus uttered the words, Son, behold your mother, to his beloved disciple, John who was standing at the foot of the cross with Mary, it was not that he had nothing better to say. Those words were very meaningful and symbolic. It was an invitation from Jesus himself to make a home for Mary in our lives. Jesus knowing what a great job Mary has done for him in his life now wanted her to do the same for you and me. And Church understands this too and has given her the title Mother of the Church.

Never for once think that devotion to Mary will distract our attention from Jesus and make us less Christians. This is the Devils temptation. On the contrary, devotion to Mary can make us more Christian. I remember when I was studying in UKM, there was a group of old ladies in the nearby Kajang Church who would faithfully attend the Novena to Our Lady Saturday after Saturday. Quite often, I would join them. And you know something? They were very Christian and whenever the name of Jesus was being mentioned, I found that their faces would light up. You see, their devotion to Mary has not robbed them of Jesus. Rather, it enriches their faith in Jesus. If anyone cares more about the son, it must be the mother. Mary is the Mother and Jesus, the Son. Mary loves Jesus and knows what he can do for us. That is why whenever we turn to her for help, she cannot but turn our attention to her son, Jesus, telling us the same words as in Cana, Do whatever He tells you. In this month of October, I encourage you to give Mary a chance to bring Jesus more fully in your lives. And as you do, you will find Jesus being born again in a much more meaningful way in your hearts. And like the old women of Kajang Church, your face will light up too at the mention of the name Jesus! Because he or she who has the heart of the mother will surely loves her son too.

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