We
have been hearing a lot about the virtues and titles of Mary, but we have
beatitudes too, depicting Mary’s virtue in each of them.
In the first place we have Mary’s
song of praise, the ‘Magnificat’. The song portrays Mary, the humble servant in
whom the Lord has done great things and who stands out among the poor and
humble of God. Her emptiness, her total openness and availability made blessed
and full of grace.
Mary, the mother of sorrows
experienced the sword that pierced her heart when she from the moment of her
birth to Jesus right up to the crucifixion and death of her son on the cross.
After her visit to the holy city of
Jerusalem she experienced a mother in search of her lost child. When Mary found
the child Jesus in the temple after three days of pain and worry, she in her
meekness remained open to Jesus’ words and quietly pondered on them.
Mary lived according to God’s plan
and will from the moment of her ‘Fiat’ till her departure from this world.
Sometimes God’s plans were incomprehensible but she lived the pilgrimage of
faith with the only desire of being able to carry out God’s will in her life.
She was hungering and thirsting to do God’s will.
Acknowledging Mary as the mother of
Mercy has been an ancient tradition in the Church. St. Bernard concludes a
prayer to Mary saying “In you is mercy; in you is pity, in you is united
whatever goodness there is in every creature.”
Mary is the purest, the holiest, and
the immaculate one. Mary expresses the dignity of the human vocation that God
intended for all creation. What Adam and Eve could have achieved was achieved
in fullness by mother Mary through her glory and purity of mind and heart.
Mary is the mediatrix and queen of
peace. At the wedding fest in Cana, there was possibility of a great shame and
confusion to befall the bridegroom’s party. Mary sensed the situation and came
to bring peace and joyful celebration among the panicked people by informing
Jesus about the plight of the host. She sets right every difficulty and brings
peace to our daily lives. She becomes the queen of peace and a comforter of the
afflicted.
Mary
herself feels blessed. She is filled with joy and flooded with love. In the
‘Magnificat’ she sings: “Henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”
My dear brothers and sisters in
Jesus Christ, today it is an invitation for each one of us to imitate and
imbibe the principles of the Beatitudes. Each moment, each day, each person we
meet, each situation we go through is a time for us to live out the Beatitudes
like Mary. May God give us the strength in our effort to life out the
Beatitudes and may Mary pray for us to live life according to God’s will.
