Our Mission Series, The Coming of Jesus is the Good News of Joy and Hope/Chapter 16: The Part of Mary, the Mother of All Christian Followers within the Kingdom of God, within the Body of Christ

Chapter 16: Part of Mary, the Mother of All Christian Followers, Within the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ BECAUSE MARY SUFFERED MOST TRUSTING THE LORD, SHE IS GLORIFIED MOST AMONG CREATED MEN AND WOMEN OF THE WORLD!

(Balik Sa Panginoon: Turn Our Ways Back to the Lord)

Balik Sa Panginoon (Back With God)

Luke 4:16-21A

Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the meeting place on the Sabbath. When he stood up to read from the Scriptures, he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,

"The Lord's Spirit has come to me, because he has chosen me to tell the good news to the poor. The Lord has sent me to announce freedom for prisoners, to give sight to the blind, to free everyone who suffers, and to say, THIS IS THE YEAR THE LORD HAS CHOSEN."

Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the meeting place looked straight at Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, "What you have just heard me read has come true today."

 "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." Rev. 12:1

                      Chapter 16: Part of Mary, the Mother of All Christian Followers, 

Within the Kingdom of God, the Body of Christ

    Your humble writer is no Bible exegete, nor a Bible scholar of any degree, but allow your humble servant here to attempt some generic exhortations and praising of the Blessed Virgin Mary based upon the most frequently quoted verses in Scriptures being ascribed to her.

First the above revelation verses.

A SIGN IN THE SKY. 

Mary is our symbol of hope and strength. She has been universally pleaded for refuge by the pilgrim believers/followers in the faith versus the human struggling in this valley of tears. And whereas Mary is referred to as La Maria Dolorosa, (Mary the pained woman, or specifically Mary of Seven Sorrows), because she knew; had full taste of pain and sorrow; and did experience every bit of suffering, which her Son, our Lord, bore and endured. Hence she is most appropriately the believing people's haven for all their heartaches, bitterness, and lifelong pains. And so Mary is our "great sign... in the sky". Mary is right there protectively spreading her motherly mantle over all people who will look up to her, and trust her at all time during the troubling and hurting temporary sojourn on this earthly life.

A WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN. 

We shall see Mary upon her final heavenly apparition almost as awesome as God. She is the Mother of God, and she is the perfect imitator of her Son vis a vis the business of lived holiness. And so the Almighty has deigned Mary to in some degree share in God's transcendent quality that He cannot be beheld by human eyes. In Genesis it was said the God of Abraham which Moses went to see cannot be seen face to face with human eyes. And rightly so because, in the strictest human reverencing, God is so pure to behold with human sight. Moses had to step with his bare feet upon entering into the presence of God, and had to remain head- bowed throughout his audience with the Divine all because Moses could not stand the transcendent essence of God to be faced directly by his mere human stature. And so it is throughout time and history till before judgment day. No man with whatever quality of human righteousness could dare trump up his 'righteousness' before God face to face, if ever God might even allow it as human creatures will probably just "melt in the presence" of the Almighty.

But because of the exalted privilege accorded to Mary by God by virtue of her becoming the Mother of the Son of God Mary has been exceptionally gifted with a secondary awesomeness and that she in some degree also cannot be beheld by human eyes. And just as no man can directly look with bare eyes at the sun, so no man during that moment of final Marian sky apparition can afford to look directly upon Mary. She will be made so radiant she shall have the sun around her; and people moments before the final judgment cannot stare at her; they can only fear and revere her on account of her shared holiness of her Son. Her Son, our Lord during this moment of judgment is awesome and fearsome because of the imminent laying down of His final justice upon the world; likewise, as shared by her Son, Mary will be feared and revered about who she shall finally embrace with her Queenly mantle according to the judgment of and by her Son.

 "WHEN THE DRAGON SAW THAT HE HAD BEEN CAST DOWN TO THE EARTH, HE PURSUED THE WOMAN, WHO HAD GIVEN BIRTH TO THE BOY. BUT THE WOMAN WAS GIVEN THE WINGS OF A GIGANTIC EAGLE SO THAT SHE COULD FLY OFF TO HER PLACE IN THE DESERT, WHERE, FAR FROM THE SERPENT, SHE COULD BE TAKEN CARE OF FOR A YEAR AND FOR TWO AND A HALF YEARS MORE...” 

Whosoever this 'angel’ of God having wings as of a gigantic eagle, we do not know; but we do know because Mary's was the bosom that carried and nourished the Son of God, and because Mary, along with Joseph had to protect her Son from the annihilation by the Dragon/or the Devil 'Incarnate' or the Devil-in-human form Mary was especially procured and armed with divine assistance that she along with the Child be transported to their safest haven.

It was with 'eagle wings' that Mary and the child were transported to safety by God; it was with 'eagle wings' that Mary was assumed into Heaven body and soul, and it was with 'eagle wings' that she persevered aloft over the negativity of the "via dolorosa" by her Son. The eagle wings made her steady in her faith in her Son. In her total faith, she never doubted that the event of passion and death shall culminate in the resurrection of her Son, and into His final glory with the Triune Godhead in Heaven together with all the powers of the heavens.

 MARY, MOTHER OF GOD. 

Elizabeth's response to Mary upon Mary's greetings to her cousin Elizabeth explicitly addressed Mary as "... the mother of my Lord...”. Elizabeth is the wife of Zacharias, a priest in the Judean religion. And Elizabeth as a Jewish woman meant God when she used the word MY LORD. Elizabeth and every one close to the family knew the privileged position of Mary that she gave birth to the Lord, the Son of God. Everyone from Zacharias to Elizabeth to Anna and Joachim, the parents of Mary, and to Joseph all knew the divine circumstances surrounding Mary's giving birth to her son, Jesus. As they all have been told by Mary of the angel's annunciation of God's message to her. Thus we have Luke's account of this heavenly event of the Annunciation. Luke 1:26-38 "In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Upon arriving, the angel said to her: 'REJOICE, O HIGHLY FAVORED DAUGHTER! THE LORD IS WITH YOU. BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN.' She was deeply troubled by his words, and wondered what his greetings meant. The angel went on to say to her: 'DO NOT FEAR, MARY. YOU HAVE FOUND FAVOR WITH GOD. YOU SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON AND GIVE HIM THE NAME JESUS. GREAT WILL BE HIS DIGNITY AND HE WILL BE CALLED SON OF THE MOST HIGH. THE LORD GOD WILL GIVE HIM THE THRONE OF DAVID HIS FATHER. HE WILL RULE OVER THE HOUSE OF JACOB FOREVER AND HIS REIGN WILL BE WITHOUT END.' Mary said to the angel, 'HOW CAN THIS BE SINCE I DO NOT KNOW MAN?' The angel answered her: 'THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL COME UPON YOU AND THE POWER OF THE MOST HIGH WILL OVERSHADOW YOU; HENCE THE HOLY OFFSPRING TO BE BORN WILL BE CALLED SON OF GOD. Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age; she who was thought to be sterile is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God.' Mary said: 'I AM THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. LET IT BE DONE TO ME AS YOU SAY.' With that the angel left her."

 Mary was familiar to the divine use of angels as messenger of God's missive. Mary was a devoutly informed Jewish girl of and about her Israelite religion. Startled as she was by the apparition of the angel Gabriel, she was aware about God's angels as carriers of heavenly messages. And she was aware if it was an angel of God and not just any spirit who was talking to her at the moment of the Annunciation. Because she was a religiously educated young girl, aside from the work of grace, only a religiously educated girl could have used those very learned words and thoughts that comprised her Magnificat prayer to the Lord. (We shall analyze the verses of her Magnificat later as a reflection of her kind of religious wisdom.) Immediately aware also that the angel was corroborating to her the facts relating to Elizabeth's pregnancy for John, and aware of the Jewish covenant of the Heavenly Father that He was to send a Messiah to the Jews, right there at the "Annunciation" Mary was overwhelmed that the promise of the salvation of the Jews is being unfolded, and acted upon her at that moment. And so humbled by the divine propositioning to her, and precisely as the angel said, on account of the fullness of graces of God that were then being bestowed upon her Mary elatedly and obediently responded: "Let it be done to me according to thy word!" And so what was begun in eternity according to the Divine Plan of God now was realized on earth: the truth of the Incarnation of God. Because at this moment the power of the Most High overshadowed Mary, and, in the words of the evangelist John, the Divine "Word became flesh". The Son of God was conceived in the womb of Mary; Mary shall later give birth to her Son, whom she was to name Jesus. 

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The fact of the matter was that now Mary has been chosen to mother the Son of God. From the time of the angel's first heavenly contacting of her throughout all the happenings about her Son's birth, up to Jesus' being found in the Temple, and Simeon and Anna's confirmation to her about her Son's predestination, and up to Jesus' first miracle at the Wedding of Cana, Mary has been apprised by the Almighty of her distinct and privileged position as "the Mother of God". She learned from Joseph God's assuring him about her conceiving by the Holy Spirit, and her eventual giving of birth to the Savior of the Jews. Elizabeth and Zacharias have told her about the interrelated conceptions of both of their children. They have spoken to Mary how John their own son was destined to prophecy  ..."for the Most High to prepare straight paths for HIM...” Jesus -- her Divine Son. Together with Joseph, she witnessed the Divine Intervention to save her and her Son against the enemies of God. And the shepherds' and the Magis' testimonies of worship of the Holy Infant were further confirmation of the Heavenly Father's enacting of the Incarnation of His Son per her instrumentality, a Jewish woman, fulfilling the maternal role for the promised Savior of the Jews and all people. Both Simeon and Anna, a prophetess, physically affirmed her Son's saving role for the Jews. Then young Jesus' marvelous display of religious wisdom versus the learned men of the Temple was deeply marked in her mind. Eventually, with the grown up Jesus appearing publicly for the first time, Mary was most confident that, with her persuasive influence, her Son at the Wedding At Cana, where she and Jesus and his apostles were invited, and where it happened the wine ran out, at her request was absolutely capable of converting six 25 gallon stone water jars of water into wine. AND HE DID! She was convinced her Divine Son, by His Divine mercy and might will ever be persuaded for help for whatever the believers need, including their very human needs.

Of course, that Mary was destined to become the Mother of the Savior have all been foretold through prophecies. We already stated in another section how mankind after the fall became in need of God's mercy and salvation. And we also stated how God in His infinite LOVE was eternally aware of man's tragic loss of His love. We said previously in another section of this site that "God in all eternity has all planned that mankind's pitiable state of condemnation be ransomed by the Heavenly Father's economy of human salvation through His sending of His own Son to the world to redeem men from their sinfulness, and to atone sacrificially for their great offense against the Almighty. And in the great heavenly plan was included the promise of a new Eve along with the new Adam who shall be the first fruits of God's saving of the people of the world." We have discussed about the new Adam, namely about the Savior Jesus Christ Himself in these other sections of these web pages. Here on this section page we shall Endeavour to explain in layman's terms the role and the honor that belong to Mary in the Divine Plan of Salvation.  Francis Eugene, from his Mariology Outline, referred to a "proto-evangelium"(the first Good News). I.e. this was the promise of God for a reprieve out of our first parents' predicament of having fallen out of grace of God for "eating of the forbidden fruit" in the center of Paradise. Thus complementary to the battle between the powers of good and the powers of evil which have been waged against the heavenly rebel spirits/angels, and to the predicted specific war between the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness was another battle or war between Evil and "the woman"(a reference to Mary). Genesis 3:15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." Remember the story where the "serpent"(the Devil itself) tempted our first parents Adam and Eve into disobeying the command of God not to eat of the forbidden fruit at the center of Paradise. Adam and Eve were ousted from the ethereal life of Paradise, while the tempter serpent and its off-springs were cursed by God; and the latter were made direct enemies of the woman and her offspring. God knew that the sinfulness, which Adam and Eve and their descendants shall have to put up with then and through generations, was a pit out of which no human effort is capable of extricating any man or woman from such an apathetic and miserable realm of existence. In the first place no mere human being could ever restore to humanity the lost love and friendship of God. Only someone from the Father, who has come down to earth, can re-attach that Divine Connection of mankind to the heavens, which will enable men to recover their "lost face" with God. But this celestial connection had to serve as well as humanity's Supreme Ambassador on their behalf to the Heavenly Father. John the Evangelist said that regarding those that accepted this someone from heaven, this someone "... empowered" them "... to become children of God." John 1:12 Hence, there took place that re-attachment and more with the Almighty, Whom men have forsaken and lost. Emphatically, thus, not only did these 'embracing people of the world' get back a glorious life that man has lost but they, moreover, have been empowered to become CHILDREN OF GOD. Right after the fall the above was promised by God; and upon the coming down of the Son of God on earth by "becoming flesh, and dwelling among us" the same divine promise has been realized. But how this came about involved the Lord's referring to a role by a woman, by "the new Eve", who was to be instrumental at primarily "en- fleshing” into the world the Divine Word, who is THE Savior of the world. Just like the Ark of the Covenant, as is noted for us by Francis Eugene in his Mariology outline, precisely kept within it God's testament of the Ten Commandments for the chosen people of God, so also Mary, in the New Testament, contained within her, and unraveled out of her to this dark and enslaved world its LIGHT and SAVIOUR for the world. She is then the new Ark of the New Covenant. As the Ark of the Covenant was holy and sacred to the chosen people of God, so this New Ark of the New Covenant is necessarily a holy and sacred instrumentality for Jesus' liberation of mankind from sinfulness to the new life of divine grace. Simply put, she was as a matter of fact THE MOTHER OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR! And as the Mother of the Savior was herself the bearer of "the Good News".

VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD, and THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 

But with Mary's so elevated role and honor as a human being she necessarily must be a "worthy vessel" of the Divine. So in two respects Mary's being must be an exceptional offshoot among humans, and among female humans. Her own conception in the womb of her mother Saint Anne was declared an immaculate conception by the Church. I.e. she was conceived without original sin. Then her conception of her child, Jesus, in her womb as per the overshadowing of the power of God; i.e. Mary was a virgin, and remained a virgin all through the process of the birthing of her Son, our Savior Lord. In other words, Jesus was not formed out of the natural human sexual union but via the overshadowing of the Spirit upon her. This Angel Gabriel told Mary, and this the Spirit informed Joseph in his dream. In Isaiah it is written, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel." Is 7:14

As regards the other aspect of Mary's exceptional humanity of being immaculately conceived, Mary herself proclaimed it to the world in one of her enumerable apparitions all over the world, and throughout this contemporary history. She appeared to Saint Bernadette of Lourdes in France, and to the children of Fatima on October 13, 1917 and told them she is the Lady of the Immaculate Conception. Out of her body shall form the body of our most holy Lord; necessarily that body from which our Lord is destined to share of his corporeity has to be the purest of all human bodies. The Holy of Holy must not be stained in any manner, whether by the source of its physical body or by the process of its physical but Spirit acted- "germinization" within Mary's body. Francis Eugene writes, whereas "... the seed is not found in a woman... (but) is found in a man (semen)." He continues Mary cannot "... be with seed", (can not be with a mere man's seed/semen). Thus in her conception of Jesus' physical body there was no cross fertilization occurrence from between a man's and a woman's. And he points to "... the divine act of God which happened during the Annunciation." It was all the work of the "overshadowing" by the Holy Spirit. Hence, Mary on two counts was privileged both for being personally initially un-corrupted with sinful concupiscence during Saint Anne's conception of her, and for her own conceiving of her child as an unblemished virgin. The first act saved Mary from being stained with sin; while the second act guaranteed her Son's direct "fruition" upon her by the Holy Spirit. These state to us how both the Son and the Mother were without sin: the Son because of Himself (His Spirit), and the Mother because of her Son. This explains, Francis Eugene writes, of Mary's "kecharitomene": Mary's being full of grace.

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 MARY, QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH. 

Because Mary is the Mother of God she, therefore, virtually is the Queen of Heaven, and of earth. Francis Eugene notes in his Mariology Outline that "in David's Kingdom the Queen is not the spouse, as there were many spouses/concubines of the King", (mainly due to political and geo- hierarchical demands of the time), but Bathsheba was acclaimed the Queen per King Solomon\'s designation under the Kingdom of his father David. Thus, a very prophetic type-'a propos' of the type of queen-ship accorded to Mary, being Jesus' mother: the mother of THE KING, and being the queen in the greatest of all kingdoms, THE KINGDOM OF THE MOST HIGH! Francis Eugene brings in Mary's appropriate title as the "Gebirah" (Queen-Mother).

 MARY, MEDIATRIX OF ALL GRACES/… "A privy to all the hidden thoughts of every man".

When the child Jesus was presented at the Temple, there was the pious man Simeon who upon encountering Mary and the child, said:" This child of yours will cause many people in Israel to fall, and others to stand. The child will be like a warning sign. Many people will reject him, and you Mary will suffer as though you had been stabbed by a knife. But by this shall be revealed the thoughts of men". Luke 2:34 Christ was to bear and endure through His passion and death brought upon Him by the people and their sinfulness, and Mary was to similarly bear and endure her Son's passion and death never doubting it was the way, culminated by her Son's resurrection from death, that the heavenly Father's plan of human salvation was to be realized. It was total pain and anguish for both the Son and the Mother. Whereas we have previously discussed Christ's manner of pain and suffering let it not escape our heart and mind the supreme sorrows and sadness Mary underwent as Mother of the Savior. Despite all the divinely delivered messianic messages from and by the Angels, and from and by the religious prophets/prophetesses it was not an easy act of faith to accept "a Lord Messiah" born and delivered over a manger and around a stable as she discovered at the very beginning moments before the first Christmas the world's rejection of her Son! "There was no room for them", and for her supposed SPECIAL SON "in the inn". It was not without disappointment to her to witness her Son preach His gospel message, and establish His Church only to be repudiated by many a people and their own kinfolks! It also hurt her to know of Judas, one of the twelve closed friends of her Son, to be the one to betray her Son to His plotting enemies! It broke her heart when, despite all the miraculous healing of many individuals her Son helped and the very charitable words of teachings by her Son to the very same people they clamored vociferously for His death and crucifixion. Imagine her hearing some of them even taunting Jesus most blasphemously with words: "You save others; save yourself!" Finally, imagine and understand the great maternal sorrows and heartache Mary went through as she followed the harrowing torture placed upon Christ by His executioners, climaxed by receiving in her embracing arms the excruciated lifeless body of her guiltless Son! Imagine her standing by Him crucified, and dying seemingly helpless and defeated! Yet she DID NOT DOUBT THAT THAT BELOVED SON OF HER SO CRUELLY MALTREATED AND MURDERED TO HER FULL KNOWLEDGE WAS/(and IS) THE "LAMB-SON-OF-GOD", her same sacrificial Son WHO WAS REALIZING THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD. Her 's was still a small human mind, but it was with a mind perfectly illumined by faith and a heart strengthened by grace that she incessantly and absolutely submitted to the WILL of the FATHER! In other words, her "fiat" in the Annunciation moment, all over again uttered in her heart throughout Jesus' passion and death! (FIAT is a Latin word equivalent to the statement: let it be done.)  Which loving mother could ever bear to watch her child so unjustly and mercilessly brutalized in her presence by victimizer? And who could do so without losing some sense of inner poise and abandonment to the will of God?  But with Mary there was no place for bitterness and redress about her Son's fate. It was rather that determined trustworthiness of God enveloping her soul which made her believe Yahweh’s order of justice and truth, God's mighty arm over men's conceited pride, and God\'s fulfillment of His faithful promise of infinite mercy given from way back to Abraham through generations of God's chosen people that ultimately will be fulfilled under the shadow of the mystery of God's salvation of men. It is particularly in this light of Mary's total embrace of co- suffering with or uniting with her Son's sacrificial suffering in obedience to the Father's Divine will that Mary is such a resplendent jewel of the Church, or of the Body of Christ.

 Moreover, precisely on account of Divine Retribution and Justice to the aggrieved and sacrificed Lamb of God; and perhaps in some degree to the sacrificial mother of THE LAMB, these same most holy aggrieved victims of the redemptive "holocaust" shall be the one to powerfully and awesomely "unveil" the un-speake-able guilt and crime of each and every "perpetrator & participatory perpetrator" against THE LAMB and against ITS inseparable co-sufferer in the cross, the new Eve Mary. Performing two roles, on the one hand she will be one who would play some devil- advocate's role to her Son on behalf of them that have tried to avoid any part in His "crucifying"; and on the other hand she will be one a-privy to every act of irreverence and blasphemy each guilty one shall have to account to the same sacrificial LAMB, her JUDGING SON! Their giving an account to the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings! Except for the apparition description of the woman clothed by the sun, the book of Revelations does not account for some sort of Mary's presence during the eschatological moments of judgment by THE REIGNING LAMB. Yet per her hierarchical level of fidelity to the LAMB, her own Son, Mary could not but be close at hand by the throne of the LAMB as will be His most faithful elects, which is implied in the Revelation scenes. Hence the likelihood she would play some very important assisting role in the dispensation of the Lord's justice upon them that culpably contributed to the "total sacrificial suffering" of her Son. The shame of every un-repented grievous sin against her Divine Son shall be divulged to and by the LAMB, and possibly to "the woman" of the new covenant, letting her- privy to all of men's offenses and guilt against the LAMB. Perhaps, this is why all men, except the blessed ones, cannot face up to her, she who is clothed with the sun? Men's sinfulness cannot but be repulsed also by her privileged brightness.

On the other hand, what a sweet comforting presence she will be for them faithful ones to her Son! She will be there to assure all people under judgment not to fear the justice of her Son. She will be there to reassure them, rather, of their final rewarding by her Son for their faithful lives lived by His grace. After all she is the heavenly "Gebirah"! And she will be there to be publicly acclaimed the God-given mother of all saved people. John 19:26 reminds us how the Lord Jesus has commended us all under her mantle of protection when He said to Mary, "Behold your son", referring to John who represented all of the believers. Jesus confirmed this fact by also speaking to John, saying to him, "Behold your mother". Through countless stories/testimonies of believers through the ages, it has been attested by indisputably how indeed Mary on a regular basis comes to the succor of all who ask for her assistance of influence upon her Son. Thus the MEMORARE prayer to Mary. Millions of personal prayers by her devotees shall be revealed never unanswered by her. This is probably one aspect of our faith largely undocumented by the Church authorities. Yet seek out the common believer folks all over the world through the history of the Church and they can attest to her en-numerable intercession helps for all sorts of favors, whether spiritual or material.

 MARY, THE FIRST MONASTIC, PASSIONIST, AND A PURE HUMAN, WHO WAS A PARAGON OF VIRTUES.

Mary as a young girl spent her growing life praying, and learning/reading about God and her Jewish religion. Mary in her prime age simply obeyed God:"... be it done to me according to your word (i.e. according to the Angel's word from God)". Mary, as mother of God did not advertise much what she was, and what she did. Yet she knew her most awesome position, i.e. she gave birth, nurtured, and raised the Son of God. Onwards through the end of her life, Mary was ever tight-lipped; did not say much about her role ... but she prayed even much more...... and her best prayer was her rare proclamation/speech to the world, her MAGNIFICAT of the Almighty God. How fitting that God chose her to be lifted up to Heaven for her own honor, and the Glory of God. Her silent ways of contemplative manners of self-effacement, which was most evident throughout her mothering of the growing Son of God, and throughout her constant and vigilant company to the first Christian communities? "The apostles often met together and prayed with a single purpose in mind. The women and MARY, the mother of Jesus would meet with them, and so would his brothers." Acts 1:14

 Nonetheless, most deferential as she was to her Divine Son, Mary was also most believing about her exact role as a privileged woman in time and eternity. By faith she accepted fully her instrumental role in having been chosen the mother of our Lord. She realized God expected her to have some influence upon her Son. No wonder the Pope recently gives her the title of Mediatrix of All Graces in so far as like we mentioned earlier she is at the main crossroads of the Church dispensation of Christ's graces from the Holy Spirit. No wonder too that during one of Jesus' miracles while He was yet among us He performed His first miracle upon the request of His mother. Thus the following account by John. "On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had likewise been invited to the celebration. At a certain point the wine ran out, and Jesus' mother told him, 'THEY HAVE NO MORE WINE.' Jesus replied, 'WOMAN, HOW DOES THIS CONCERN OF YOURS INVOLVE ME? MY HOUR HAS NOT YET COME.' His mother instructed those waiting on table, 'DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.' As prescribed for Jewish ceremonial washing, there were at hand six stone water jars, each one holding fifteen to twenty-five gallons. "FILL THOSE JARS WITH WATER,' Jesus ordered, at which they filled them to the brim.’NOW,' he said, 'DRAW SOME OUT AND TAKE IT TO THE WAITER IN CHARGE.' They did as he instructed them. The waiter in charge tasted the water made wine, without knowing where it had come from; only the waiters knew, since they had drawn the water. The waiter in charge called the groom over and remarked to him: 'PEOPLE USUALLY SERVE THE CHOICE WINE FIRST; THEN WHEN THE GUESTS HAVE BEEN DRINKING AWHILE, A LESSER VINTAGE. WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IS KEEP THE CHOICE WINE UNTIL NOW.' Jesus performed this first of his signs at Cana in Galilee. Thus did he reveal his glory, and his disciples believed in him." John 2:1-11 The Lord confirmed this role of Mary as mankind's intermediary to HIMSELF, (which point we already stated up top this discussion on Mary), when during His last hours on earth while hanging on the cross He designated to Mary the care of men. John 19:26 "When Jesus saw his mother and his favorite disciple with her, he said to his mother, 'THIS MAN IS NOW YOUR SON.' Then he said to the disciple, 'SHE IS NOW YOUR MOTHER.' From then on, that disciple took her into his own home." Hence, Mary is made both the mother of God and the mother for all people. The Church, thus, allows her the similar title of Mother of All Nations. Easily every country adopts her queen even if universally she is already the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Thus, because of her apparition at Guadalupe, Mexico she is called the Patroness of all the Americas. Nevertheless, almost each country has a portrait of her portraying her as also its patroness.

 We stated Mary being a home-learned Jewish religious girl. But having borne in her womb the very WORD of God, she is further given by the Church the title "Seat of Wisdom". For both as the new ARK OF THE COVENANT, and bearer of the HOLY CHILD, indeed Mary is the human flesh where the AUTHOR OF ALL WISDOM rested. Hence, Mary is appropriately called the Seat of Wisdom. And tight-lipped as she was, Mary surely pronounced the wisest of statements in her MAGNIFICAT. Line by line her magnificat summed up the truths behind all philosophies and proverbial thoughts about life's human conditions and behaving, including her prophetic knowledge of the Lord's fulfillment of His promise to her and to her people's ancestors and descendants. Thus, in Lk 1:46-55 Mary said: "My being proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit finds joy in God my savior, for he has looked upon his servant in her lowliness; all ages to come shall call me blessed. God who is mighty has done great things for me, holy is his name; his mercy is from age to age on those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm; he has confused the proud in their inmost thoughts. He has deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places. The hungry he has given every good thing, while the rich he has sent empty away. He has upheld Israel his servant, ever mindful of his mercy; even as he promised our fathers, promised Abraham and his descendants forever." True enough history discloses to us the occurrences of deposed oppressive monarchs and rulers, and exalted individuals of low estate to privileged positions of authority, as well as of wealthy families suddenly bankrupt, and impoverished persons given un-solicited elevation in the societies' ladder of affluence. And always ultimately common folk wisdom attributes the radical changeover of estates upon the hands from heaven, attributing to the feared Almighty His mighty "Midas" touch upon people's lives, which most often confused the supposedly clever former persons of rank and means. Of course, it was by the Spirit that Mary poured out here her declamation of faith in the Lord.

Finally, whereas we have referred to Mary as "a" Blessed Virgin Mother, for purposes of humoring the world's laicical style of speech and perceptions, we are to view and believe Mary, along with her spouse Saint Joseph, as the most chaste couple on earth. We are to include here a referring to Joseph as he was necessarily involved if we are talking about Mary's virginal chastity. We believe, as spouse of Mary, Joseph was both virginal and chaste. Together with Jesus, all three were, to each other, the closest or most intimate of all families in all of history, yet Mary and Joseph abstained from the intimacy of sexual union as it behooved Mary to be completely immaculate and unblemished being "the woman"-mother of the purest God-man, Jesus Christ. But Joseph too, knew and accepted another secondary role in the story of Incarnation and Redemption by the Son of God that together with Mary he and she understood a higher calling assigned to them by God as "parents" and "guardians" of the Holy Child Jesus, the Savior of mankind. Thus, howsoever, Mary and Joseph felt for each other as previous fiancées betrothed to each other, and whatsoever their plans or their parents' plans were for each other, and whatsoever the legal customs and traditions between engaged couple at that time and place of Mary's and Joseph's marital ambiance, and howsoever physically attracted Mary and Joseph to each other, ALL PALE and FADE in the face of that most special predicament and circumstance they found designated to them by no less than God Himself, accordingly as was communicated to both Mary and Joseph by God's Angels. Mary and Joseph in effect both got each a special call-to- action order, similar to a government draft, or to a really emergency duty call upon a doctor or fireman, or policeman. You forget all the surrounding circumstances; you just move it, and go! No buts. No ifs. No wait a minute. No excuses. You just go, take off, take it, and tackle the job/mission. And Mary and Joseph were directly called to similar situation, but a much higher duty call: the call to participate in the realization of the salvation of mankind. For as very devoted Jewish religious practitioners/believers Mary and Joseph learned, knew, and waited for the Messiah. They were both very devout in their fear of God, or reverence for God as they encountered Him in their holy circumstances. Like we said from about the Magnificat, we could tell Mary studied her religion, and was trained personally at knowing and worshiping Yahweh. The same thing must be true with Joseph. He was very aware of the sacred and imperative God's commands, albeit very personally delivered commands given by God to each one of the two. Then in addition to their direct divine communication from God, we must bear in mind the following facts. Their divine message were confirmed by Elizabeth and Zachariah, both devout religious Jews, who themselves also got God's special messages which are related to Mary's and Joseph's messages. 

One more thing is that Simeon and Anna also received God’s messages right before the time they shall meet the Holy Child together with Mary and Joseph.  One further thing to bear in mind is messages also from God to Joachim and Ann in relation to Mary and Joseph. Mary's parents, Ana and Joachim, were very devout religious Jewish couple, one of which, (Ana), was touched herself by the Spirit of God when she conceived Mary "immaculate", i.e. conceiving Mary free from original sin upon Mary's birth conception by her. In other words, aside from Mary's own individual piety, all of the above ambiance should be AWESOMELY OVERWHELMING to her! Ditto with Joseph!  As God was directly over, around, and within their lives, i.e. with the baby/child, Jesus, the Lord, closely with them, how could Joseph lose awareness of their special very sacred and purest of calling? Divine joy is right there by him! Likewise, more so with Mary, to whom the Angel of the Lord delivered a message from God! So, what was their special calling? Mary was told she was to mother "God-made-Man"; i.e. her "Baby" was to be from the heaven. With Saint Joseph, he was told to be the protector, guardian, and foster father of the same, "God- Boy/Kid" or "God-young man". Necessarily filled with graces, both Mary and Joseph would have been too busy fulfilling the roles. Lowly marital desires or marital fulfillment are very insignificant in comparison and in contrast to the above mentioned divine roles for them. Both must be spiritually/religiously pressed by the said roles. The two were as it were the very first "Nun", and "Monk", (monastic religious), who vowed for chastity even if legally called husband and wife on account of the "work" they were entrusted to take care of. Then let us go back to the working of grace here. The very source of grace is right there in their physical midst. How much more abundantly were graces available and accessible to them for the asking and for the taking! Besides, we already learned Mary was said to be full of grace. She received all the "tools" to be able to make herself most suitable for the ACT and ROLE as the Virgin Mother of our Lord. Thus, for our edification, the Church addresses both Mary and Joseph "most chaste" in approved litanies of prayers invoking both. The Church calls Mary "ever Virgin"; while Joseph is referred to as her "most chaste spouse".