TMA 4 Module 4 – MARY AND THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Introduction

Our three-year preparation for the Jubilee Year 2000 also carries with it reflections on Mary’s role in God’s plan of salvation.

In 1997 we reflected on Mary the Mother of Jesus, Mother of God, and Model of Faith. In 1998 we meditated on Mary, Docile to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and Model of Hope. In 1999 we focused our reflection on Mary, Beloved Daughter of the Father and Model of Charity. This year 2000 we honor Mary, Morning Star of the Millenium, our Guide to the Trinitarian Homeland, and Star of Evangelization.

It was to Mary that the mystery of the Trinity is for the first time revealed. In Mary we find the realization of God’s plan of salvation and an example of a life in cooperation with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This cooperation is best exemplified in the mystery of the Incarnation.

From Mary we can learn how to be disciples and evangelizers.

1.       Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of the Son of God. Mary’s greatest title is “Mother.” As Mother of Jesus, she is united to her Son by a close and indissoluble tie. We pray to Mary because she too is our Mother by order of grace and she can bring us closer to her Son, Jesus.

2.       Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos). It was God who endowed her with this supreme office and dignity which far surpasses all other creatures in heaven and on earth. It was God who, in view of the merits of Christ, endowed Mary with the title and privileges of: “Immaculate Conception,” “Ever Virgin,” “Assumption,” “Mother of the Church,” etc. We too honor Mary today because God honored her first.

3.       Mary is the first to be evangelized and the first evangelizer. Mary was the first to hear the Good News of the coming of God’s Son. She was the first to hear the Word and believed in the Word. She carried the Word to her cousin Elizabeth. Like Mary, first we have to be evangelized in order to become evangelizers. First, we have to listen and believe in the Good News so that we can bring it to others.

4.       Mary is first disciple of her Son, Model of Discipleship. She was the first follower of her Son. Her following of Jesus would not be easy. She had to pass the test of discipleship. “A sword will pierce her heart.” She had to learn to give up her Son to the service of the Father. Mary’s discipleship is characterized by:

·        Listening – to the word from an angel

·        Pondering – inquiring into its meaning

·        Responding – giving her “Yes” to the Lord

·        Submission – trusting, obeying, committing herself

·        Continuing – to walk in pilgrimage of faith

·        Discovering – new messages and new meanings

·        Persevering – through suffering

·        Interceding – for us her children.

For us today, discipleship means following the Way of Jesus. This means following:

·        His mission: to proclaim the Good News – about the Kingdom of God

·        His catechesis: integral – He integrates word and action, prayer and action

·        His method: comprehensive – includes all aspects of human life

·        His actions: preferential option for the poor

5.       Mary, Morning Star of the New Millennium, our Guide to the Trinitarian Homeland. Like the morning star, Mary reflects the brightness of her Son and the new day of our salvation. Mary is very much part of the Pilgrim Church on earth. She walks with us in our journey. We turn to her as our pilgrim-companion on the way. She guides our steps to the Lord. She is our sure guide to reach our final destiny, the Triune God.

Mary’s experience of the Trinity teaches us how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is at work in our world. Mary is, after the Man Jesus, the pre-eminent fruit of the Trinity at work in the world.

The Blessed Trinity chose Mary to be the first Christian believer and disciple. In Mary we learn God’s ways. Mary’s inner life in the Trinity is about believing and following. To believe is to walk in trust, to walk in darkness, surrendering oneself to the action of the Trinity. To follow as a disciple is to say “yes” as did Mary, all the way through incomprehension to the foot of the Cross, where she stood gazing at a mangled body she once coddled as a baby. Discipleship is about following in mind and heart even unto death.

Discipleship is not about timidity and passivity. On the contrary, discipleship requires attentiveness and openness to the Trinity. It demands willingness and eagerness to receive and nourish the gift of the Trinity in our hearts. It impels us to be courageous as prophets and active as disciples in sharing this most precious gift to others.

Mary’s life in the Trinity thus remains a model for all of us. We, too, share in Mary’s experience. We are God’s own sons and daughters by adoption. Jesus has taught us to call God, his Father, as our Father. We are brothers and sisters of the Lord and his own disciples. And St. Paul reminds us that we are temples of the Spirit.

Everything that we are and do, our hopes, our struggles for the full life that only God can give, our joys, even our failures result from our dialogue with the Trinity at work in our world. In so far as we use our freedom as God’s own sons and daughters to say “yes” to the will of the Father, to that extent is our dialogue with the Trinity directed by the Spirit and favored with the grace of the Savior.

In Mary, the grace of Motherhood came from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. So is it with us. The grace of a daily rebirth of Jesus in us comes from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. This rebirth of grace is possible only by way of constant fidelity to our baptismal “yes”, our own fiat to God. When all is said and done, only when we commit our fiat to the Triune God can we sing our own Magnificat. (END)

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Last Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 09:49:23 PM