As Mary's month of October draws to a close, two scriptural events, actually twin scriptural events, can provide a fitting meditation on Mary’s role in salvation history.
One event, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, occurs early in Mary's biblical experiences. The other event, Mary's sad witness of her Son's death on Calvary, happens late in Mary's Gospel story. Yet Mary's role in each incident is remarkably similar and quite instructive regarding Mary's enduring place in the church's spiritual life.
Mary's visitation to her elderly and expectant cousin Elizabeth is generally and rightfully appreciated as an act of charity by one godly woman toward another. Recall that Mary herself was “with child” and that Judea where Elizabeth made her home is about 90 miles south of Nazareth where Mary resided. In spite of the camels and donkeys that populate Christian art, the chances are that Mary walked that good distance, and the Gospels relate that Mary remained there for about six months. So her sojourn in the south was indeed an enduring act of kindness. But the mystery of the Visitation, with all due respect toward Mary’s familial concern, can be understood on a deeper level. The young Mary's embrace of her senior cousin Elizabeth can easily be grasped as the New Testament embracing the Old Testament. Elizabeth, Zachary and John the Baptist were indeed the cream of the Old Testament. They represented the hopes and ambitions of the Jewish nation. When Mary arrived with Jesus in her womb, she brought those Jewish hopes to their fulfillment. The yet-born John the Baptist leapt for joy as he sensed the nearness of redemption in the person of Christ. Mary brought salvation to this Judean household as she would soon bring salvation to the whole world through her son's birth at Bethlehem and then unfailingly through her support of him during his public life. This is Mary's perennial task - to introduce the world to its Savior and to transform the world by his divine presence.
Consider now an incident toward the end of the Gospel narrative. The Blessed Mother and the beloved disciple stand at the foot of the cross. The dialogue among these two and the dying Jesus is indeed familiar. Jesus instructs his mother, “Woman, behold your son.” And the master instructs St. John, “Son, behold your mother." Usually preachers interpret this happening to depict a thoughtful and dutiful Jesus providing for Mary in her old age. Mary was a widow; Jesus was an only child; pensions, Social Security and Medicare were in the very distant future. Jesus very respectfully and very tenderly looks out for his mother’s welfare in her final years. But just perhaps it is not Mary who needs support and solicitude in her old age. Perhaps it is the young St. John, representing the infant church, who needs Mary’s maternal support and enduring solicitude as that church takes its place in history. Remember that the Blessed Virgin Mary had a proven record of loyalty toward Christ, collaboration with his followers and endurance under difficult times. From Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt throughout Galilee and finally now in Jerusalem, Mary had never failed in her allegiance to Jesus.
The infant church, however, was already failing. Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ abandonment did not bode well for the future of the church. Clearly, the very early Christian community needed all the support it could get — and Mary was just the one to provide stability and guidance to Jesus' hapless disciples. As has been noted in this column before, along with the apostles Mary is uniquely mentioned by name in St. Luke's depiction of the early church gathered for prayer and fellowship: When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Clearly Mary was not present here simply as a widow in need of support in her old age. The mother of Jesus was present here as an asset to the early community, a living link to Jesus as an historical person, an enduring witness to his divine origin, the prime beneficiary of his saving work.
