Blessed Virgin Mary

THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

25 March is the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when we recall the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her that she was to bear a Son, to be called Jesus.

Let us look at the place of the Mary in the Anglican tradition and see her relevance for us today.

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Although Mary plays an important part in the life of Jesus, it is surprising how few references there are to her in the New Testament, outside the birth and childhood narratives of Matthew's and Luke's Gospels.

For instance, she appears as a guest at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and, on another occasion, together with her family, looking for Jesus. She is found at the foot of the Cross, and in the upper room with the disciples after the Ascension. And that, believe it or not, is all that the Bible tells us about her.

Yet, in spite of this, the Church has given her a particular place in its corporate worship and private devotional life.

The Book of Common Prayer of 1662, observes the feasts of her Purification on 2nd February and the Annunciation on 25th March. The Lectionary for Common Worship also provides additional Collects and readings for the Visit of Mary to Elizabeth on the 31st May, for the festival of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the 15th August and the birth of Mary on 8th September.

In view of the scarcity of references to her in the Bible, and her popularity in worship, especially in the Roman Catholic Church, it is worth asking the question: What is our image of her and is that image a help or hindrance in our spiritual growth?

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First, there is the image of the passive Mary. One recalls the words of Mary to the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, when she replies: "Be it done to me according to your word."

Such an image speaks to us of her openness to receive God into her life. It speaks of her voluntary obedience and surrender. It speaks of her willing co-operation and acceptance of the will of God.

These are certainly feminine qualities which we all need to develop in our discipleship. We all need to learn to be open to receive God into our lives. We all need to learn to be obedient to God, and we all need to learn to co-operate with God.

However, such an image, I would suggest, portrays a woman who is weak and helpless. It tends to reinforce the submissive role of women in history. This can often be seen visibly in the statues of Our Lady where she assumes a posture of resignation, with her head tilted to one side and a look of melancholy on her face.

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Secondly, there is the image of the pure Mary. Again, one recalls the words of the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, when he says: "A virgin shall conceive and-bear a son."

Such an image speaks to us of Mary's uniqueness in being called by God. It speaks of her privilege of being chosen by God to be the bearer of his Son. And it speaks to us of her sense of worth in the eyes of God.

There is no doubt that we all need to be reminded of our own sense of worth, of privilege and uniqueness in the eyes of God. Each one of us is very special to God.

However, this image of Mary, through the process of history has become increasingly unreal and far removed from our day to day experience of life.

This all started way back in the second century, with the apocryphal Book of James claiming that she was a perpetual virgin. This was further reinforced by Athanasius calling her 'ever virgin'. Then in 431 AD, the Council of Ephesus described Mary as 'God Bearer', commonly translated as 'Mother of God'. And about this time we have evidence of her name being substituted for that of Jesus in the official service books of the church.

Since the church had now made her so special, it became necessary for her to have a very special means of entry and departure from the world. So, St Gregory of Tours in the sixth century introduced the idea of her bodily assumption into heaven, which the Roman Catholic Church eventually defined in 1950. Later, in the Middle Ages, Eadem maintained that she could not have been subjected to original sin, which they believed was transmitted through the sexual act, and therefore suggested that she must have been lmmaculately Conceived. This doctrine was defined by the Roman Catholic Church in 1854.

So, over the years, the emphasis upon the purity of Mary, has led to the identification of sin with sex, and virginity as being the Christian ideal.

Such an image of Mary has finished up, I would suggest as being unhelpful to our Christian development.

Firstly, it has encouraged sexual repression and hang-ups in many a Roman Catholic.

Secondly, it has offered us a model which cannot be easily imitated by women, most of whom are not called to be virgins and unlikely to be 'virgin mothers!'.

And thirdly, it does not speak to men, except those who would use devotion to such an image as a means of rejecting real women and thereby retarding their natural sexual development.

In short, the over-emphasis upon the purity of Mary, and its reinforcement by the doctrine of the church, has made the image of Mary so unreal that she no longer has any relevance. As Kenneth Leach has observed, 'Mary then takes her place in the grotto, the shrine, the cultic place to which we flee for a transitory escape from this world'.

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This now brings me to the third image of Mary which is beginning to emerge and may prove more relevant to us today.

This is the image of the political Mary.

It finds its basis in the words of the Magnificat which Mary sang when she discovered that she was to be the bearer of God's son. She sang: 'He has put down the mighty from their throne and exalted those of lowly degree.'

The late Pope Paul VI once wrote, 'The modern woman will note with a pleasant surprise that Mary of Nazareth was far from being a timidly submissive woman. On the contrary, she was a woman who did not hesitate to proclaim that God vindicates the humble and oppressed, and removes the powerful people of the world from their privileged positions.

This image of Mary, as a political freedom fighter was echoed in the words of the late Pope in Latin America, when he said: 'From Mary, who in the Magnificat proclaims that salvation has to do with justice, there flows the authentic commitment to the rest of humanity, our brothers and sisters, especially for the poorest and the most needy, and to the transformation of society.'

So this young Galilean woman, who became God's bearer, is now seen as singing one of the most radical freedom songs - the Magnificat. Mary has become a symbol of freedom and hope. A person who in her own life demonstrated that God lifts up the lowly and puts down the mighty. Such an image of Mary speaks to us of our new found freedom in the Kingdom, and particularly of the dignity of womanhood. It speaks to us of their new status in society.

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Although there are only four references to Mary in the Bible outside the nativity and childhood narratives, she has played, and continues to play, a significant part in the corporate worship of the church and its private devotional life.

In particular, the images of the passive and pure Mary have spoken to us over the years, but they may have lost some of their potency. Perhaps the image of the political Mary is one more appropriate to our days and age, as a symbol of hope to the oppressed and down-trodden people of today.