Mon, 1 May 2017 | Cover | Page 12

HOLY MARY, MOTHER OF GOD:

A Mother Like No Other

Edited from "The World’s First Love" (1952) By Bishop Fulton J. Sheen No mother whose son has won distinction for himself, either in a profession or in the field of battle, believes that the respect paid her for being his mother detracts from the honor or dignity which is paid her son. Why then, do some think that any reverence paid to the Mother of Jesus detracts from His Power and Divinity?

Where does this coldness, forgetfulness and, at the least, indifference to the Blessed Mother start? From a failure to realize that her Son, Jesus, is the Eternal Son of God. No one mother of a mortal is entitled to more love than any other mother. Therefore, no sons and daughters should be required to single out someone else’s mother as the Mother of mothers.

If Mary were only the mother of another man, then she could not also be our mother, because the ties of the flesh are too exclusive. Flesh allows only one mother. Since Mary is the Mother of God, then she can be the Mother of everyone whom Christ redeemed. The key to understanding Mary is this: We do not start with Mary. We start with Christ, the Son of the Living God! The less we think of Him, the less we think of Her; the more we think of Him, the more we think of Her; the more we adore His Divinity, the more we venerate Her Motherhood; the less we adore His Divinity, the less we have reason for respecting Her. Never will it be found that anyone who really loves Our Lord as a Divine Savior dislikes Mary. Those who dislike any devotion to Mary are those who deny His Divinity, or who find fault with Our Lord because of what He says about Hell, divorce and Judgement.

It is on account of Our Divine Lord that Mary receives special attention, and not on account of herself. Left to herself, her motherhood would dissolve into humanity. Our Lord is God Who became Man. Never before or since did Eternity become time in a woman, nor did Omnipotence take on the bonds of flesh in a maid. It is her Son Who makes her Motherhood different.

Our Lady is not a private person; all other mothers are. We did not make her different; we found her to be different.

We did not choose Mary; He did.

When Mary told the Apostles after Pentecost about His Virgin Birth, it must have made a difference. Because the Apostles put it in their Creed and teaching, it must have made a difference. Once Christ is accepted as the Son of God, there is an immediate interest not only in His prehistory, but also in His history and particularly in His Birth.

How could God become Man and yet be sinless Man without original sin? He could be a sinless Man by being born of a Virgin.

We do not believe that Jesus is God because He was born of a Virgin Mother. We believe in the Divinity of Christ because of the evidence of His Ressurrection.

If He had never taken on our human flesh, we would never have heard His Sermon on the Mount, not have seen Him forgive those who dug His Hands and Feet with nails on the Cross. He asked Mary to give Him a human life-to give Him hands with which to bless children, feet with which to go in search of stray sheep, eyes with which to weep over dear friends, and a body with which to suffer--that He might give us a rebirth in freedom and love.

Christ is the Mediator between God and humanity; Mary is the Mediatrix between Christ and us. Our Lord is a Mediator between God and man. A mediator is like a bridge which unites two opposite banks of a river, except that here the bridge is between Heaven and earth. As Man, Christ could act in our name, take on our sins; as one of us, He redeems us on the Cross and gives us new life in His Resurrection. It was through Mary that He became the bridge between the Divine and the human. Without Mary, we would no longer have Our Lord! She cannot be compared to Our Lord, for she is a creature and He is the Creator.

But if we lose her, we cannot get to Him.

Without her, we could never understand how that bridge was built between Heaven and earth.

Mary does not prevent our honoring Our Lord.

Nothing is more cruel than to say that she takes souls away from Christ. That could mean that Our Lord chose a mother who is selfish, He Who is Love Itself.

As our love does not start with Mary, so neither does it stop with Mary. Mary is a window through which our humanity first catches a glimpse of Divinity on earth. Or perhaps, she is more like a magnifying glass, that intensifies our love of her Son, and makes our prayers more bright and burning.

God, Who made the sun, also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. The moon would only be a burnt-out cinder floating in the immensity of space were it not for the sun. All its light is reflected from the sun. Our Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing. With Him, she is the Mother of Men.

On dark nights, we are grateful for the moon; when we see it shining, we know there must be a sun. So in this dark night of the world when men turn their backs on Him Who is the Light of the World, we look to Mary to guide their feet while we await the sunrise.

Hymn to Mary, Our Mother

Mother, at your feet is kneeling One who loves you, ‘tis your child Who has sighed so oft to see you Bless me, Mother, bless your child. Mother, when my Jesus calls me From this world so dark and drear From the wily snares of Satan, Shield me, Mother, Mother dear.

Plead for me when Jesus judges Answer for me when He asks How I spent so many moments How performed so many tasks.

Mary, oh my dearest Mother, May it ever to me be given As, on earth I fondly love Thee, So, to love Thee still in Heaven.

Dearest Mother, tell my Jesus How I love Him fond and true And oh Mary, dearest Mother, Tell Him I belong to you.

Mary, Mother of God and Our Mother...

Pray for us!

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