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Marian
Reflection
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-
 MARY,
THE CHOSEN ONE
- By Leslie
Freires
Hail Mary, full
of grace… The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you
among women
And blessed is
the fruit of your womb Jesus….
So goes the prayer in honor of Mary, our Mother.
I cannot help but feel awed at the way Mary was blessed and honored
by God being the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. She was fully
sanctified and freed from original sin that she might be a fitting
vessel through whom His Son Jesus could be born into the world.
Of all biblical women, nobody was as faithful and obedient,
and as chosen as Mary. And why not? She is after all the Mother of
the Most High, our Lord Jesus Christ. God, in His might and power,
chose a simple and humble lady. There was nothing ostensibly
extraordinary about her. She went about her daily life like any
other women and, in fact, was betrothed to a man just before she was
brought the joyful tidings. One may ask then, “What sets her apart
from the other women?” In the words of Fr. Joseph Galdon,
“the secret of Mary’s fundamental posture toward God was the fact
that she prayed”. I remember the story of the Annunciation where the
angel came to her as she prayed. Mary was always open to what the
Lord asked of her. She was always ready to respond to God’s call to
the challenges that come her way. Mary was always tuning-in to
God’s rhythm,
so much so that God saw in her a heart full of love and
faith in Him.
Like in Mary, can God see the same virtues in us? Is our
heart full of love and faith amidst the seemingly violent and
materialistic world we live in? Where in a flick of trial and
temptation, we quickly turn away from God, seeking and choosing the
easier path.
Mary, being human like us, also experienced the same
struggles and difficulties, joys and sorrows. But unlike us she
“pondered all these things in her heart”. In all the events in her
life – the public life of Jesus, the Cross on Good Friday and at the
tomb on Easter Sunday, we can be sure that Mary prayed.
God was pleased with her not only because of her great
faith but more importantly because she obeyed. Mary was obedient to
God till the end. She must have been troubled when she first
encountered the angel telling her the Good News but she gave her
“Fiat” to God. With great joy, she hurried to visit her cousin
Elizabeth to help her and announce the Good News.
Many times, we want to be obedient only when it suits our
whims or selfish desires. We pray to God to give us so many things
from the smallest to the biggest, things that are not so important
in our lives. More so, we dictate to God the things we want.
Mary displayed her obedience to God when she said yes which is
actually saying “no” to all her dreams, plans and work, to put God
first in her life. How many of us would respond the way Mary did?
Faced with the reality of life, can we say we are obedient, even for
menial things that God calls us to do, whether in our family,
work or community? Can God count on us? Maybe that’s why we claim
to have experienced so little miracles nowadays because we refuse to
see and respond to the workings of the Lord or maybe because our
hearts are so focused on the things of this world that He has no
more place in our lives?
On this month of May, as we honor Mary, our Mother, let us
once again ponder in our hearts the great faith and obedience of
Mary, so that we, too, may become more like her – beautiful and
pleasing in the eyes of God.
Holy Mary, Mother
of God, pray for us sinners
now and at the
hour of our death. Amen.
E-mail the author:
leslie@genesis.faithweb.com
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