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Ave Maria Meditations

OUR LADY’S FAITH

For hundreds of years Christians have given special attention to Mary on Saturdays. Throughout history and in our own times as well, theologians and ecclesiastical writers have explained some of the reasons that make this devotion particularly appropriate. Thus, Saint Peter Damian writes that Saturdays commemorate the completion of God’s work of creation. God rested on the seventh day, and Mary is the one in whom, through the mystery of the Incarnation, God made for himself a holy resting-place.

Saturday, the Sabbath of the Old Law, is also an anticipation of the Lord’s Day, a symbol and sign of heaven. Christ, risen from the dead, is the gateway to eternal life in heaven; and the Blessed Virgin is our way to Jesus, just as she was his way for coming into the world. Saint Thomas, also, points out that Saturday is dedicated to Mary because on that day she kept faith in the mystery of Christ after his death. In any case, we Christians need a special day to honor our Lady and show her our love in a special way. (more…)

Ave Maria Meditations

After the meeting in the Temple, Jesus returns to Galilee with Mary and Joseph. He went down with them on their journey to Nazareth and lived there in subjection to them.  The Holy Spirit wanted to leave this fact clearly stated in the Gospel. Its source can only be Mary who, time and time again, saw the silent obedience of her Son. It is one of the few pieces of information we have from those years of hidden life: that Jesus obeyed them. St Augustine comments that Christ, to whom the universe is subject, was subject to them. To obey His Father, Jesus subjected himself to those who, in his earthly life, were invested with authority; in the first place, his parents.

Our Lady must have reflected very often about Jesus’ obedience, which was extremely refined and, at the same time, very natural. St Luke tells us immediately that His Mother kept in her heart the memory of all this. The whole of Jesus’ life was an act of obedience to the will of the Father.  What I do is always what pleases Him, he will tell us later; and on another occasion he said clearly to his disciples: “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me; and to accomplish the task he gave me”. Food is what gives energy for life. And Jesus tells us that obedience to the will of God – manifested in so many different ways – should be what nourishes and gives meaning to our lives. Without obedience there is no growth in the interior life, nor true development of the human person. Obedience, far from lowering the dignity of the human person, leads it to maturity by extending the freedom of the sons of God. (more…)