Mary Mother of God's Word

The twelfth general assembly of the synod of bishops, meeting in Vatican from 5^th to 26^th October, 2008 had as its theme, “the word of God in the life and mission of the church.” The basic aim of this assembly was “to renew church’s faith in the word of God.” To do so, the synod fathers invite the entire church to look to one in whom the interplay between the word and faith was brought to perfection, that is, to the Virgin Mary, “who by her ‘Yes’ to the word of the covenant and mission, perfectly fulfills the divine vocation of humanity.

Rev. Fathers and brothers, taking inspiration from the post synodal document Verbum Domini, I would like to reflect on Mary as Mother of God’s Word.

The human reality created through the word finds its most perfect image in Mary’s obedient faith. From the Annunciation to Pentecost, she appears as a woman completely open to the will of God. She is the Immaculate Conception, whom God made “full of grace” and unconditionally docile to His word. Her obedient faith shapes her life every moment before God’s plan. She is the virgin ever attentive to God’s word and lived completely attuned to the same. She treasures in her heart every event of her Son piecing them together as if in a single mosaic.

As religious and priests, in our day, we need to help the faithful to see more clearly the link between Mary of Nazareth and the faith-filled hearing of God’s word. In order to do so, first of all, we ourselves need to comprehend the relationship between our blessed mother and the word of God. Indeed, what the understanding of faith has enabled us to know about Mary is at the heart of Christian truth. The incarnation of the word cannot be conceived apart from the freedom of this young woman who by her assent decisively cooperated with the entrance of eternal into time. Mary is the image of the church in attentive listening to the word of God, which took flesh in her. Mary also symbolizes openness to God and others; an active listening which interiorizes and assimilates, one in which the word becomes a way of life.

Here I would like to mention Mary’s familiarity with the word of God which is clearly evident in the Magnificat. There we see in some sense how she identifies with the word, enters into it; in this marvelous canticle of faith, the virgin sings the praises of the Lord in His own words.

The Magnificat is a portrait of her soul, which is entirely woven from threads of Holy Scripture, threads drawn from the word of God. Here we see how completely at home Mary is with the word of God; the word of God becomes her word, and her word issues from the word of God. We also see how thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the will of God.

Further more; in looking to the word of God, we see how God’s activity in the world always engages our freedom, because through faith divine word transforms us. Our apostolic and pastoral work will never be effective unless we learn at the school of Mary how to be shaped by the working of God within us.

Dear friends, as we contemplate in the mother of God, a life totally shaped by the word, the challenge before us in to imitate her and to realize that we too are called to enter into the mystery of faith, where by Christ comes  to dwell in our lives. St. Ambrose reminds us that every Christian believer in some way internallyconceives and gives birth to the word of God: even though there is only one mother of Christ in the flesh, in the faith Christ is the progeny of us all. Thus, what took place for Mary can daily take place in each of us, in the celebration of Sacraments. 

Cl. Gnanaprakash Dilip SDB