In that lofty and moving love’s encomium, which the First Letter to the Corinthians proudly presents, it is clearly written: “Love never ends” (1 Cor 13:8). The eloquent ingredients which make up ‘agape’ (love)
all point to self-sacrifice. The Pauline text lists the enviable attributes of ‘agape.’ It says that it is patient and kind, devoid of any jealousy or boastfulness, neither arrogant nor rude, does not cling to its own ways, not irritable or resentful, does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right instead, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
It simply never ceases to be what it is (see 1 Cor 13:4-8). This type of love has been enfleshed in the person of Mary, the Mother of God. It was exactly this kind of love which, by God’s grace, made Mary anticipate Christ’s victory over death. In what way?
Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth, is the exemplar of believing “to the end” (John 13:1). From the time she received the archangel’s invitation to be “the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38) she never renounced her call. Contrarily, Mary clung to God’s promise, showed him her total surrender by obeying his salving word wholeheartedly and kept waiting in silence for the workings of his divine initiative. In so doing, Mary displayed a faith before which mountains could “be taken up and cast into the sea” (Matt 21:21-22). Her ardent faith made her the most powerful intercessor, after her son, in front of the father. What Mary asked in prayer, she received because she had faith (see Matt 21:21-22). The Cana miracle is surely a case in point.
Faith not only defines who Mary is but also continually incurs upon her God’s infinite and transforming blessing. Mary’s entire being is soaked in God’s nature. That is why the Lukan passage rightly assigns to her, from the lips of her kinswoman Elizabeth, the subsequent formidable titles which are deeply connected with the highest level of faith: “Blessed are you among women”, “blessed is the fruit of [her] womb”, and “the mother of [the] lord” (Luke 1:42-43). Furthermore, Elizabeth’s joyful confession unravels Mary’s heroic love for God on account of her steadfast faith. “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the lord.” (Luke 1:45).
In front of such an extraordinary act of faithfulness to God’s marvelous design, the whole creation rejoices. Even babes! Elizabeth boldly confirms that when she says: “For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy” (Luke 1:44).
After a committed life in which she specifically pondered upon and painfully lived, day and night, Jesus’ main prerequisite of discipleship, mainly denying herself, daily taking up her cross and submissively following her Son, Mary was assumed into heaven. It was on 1 November, 1950 when Pope Pius XII, through the apostolic constitution which defined the dogma of the assumption, “Munificentissimus Deus,” expressed the common belief of the universal church concerning Mary’s assumption. The dogmatic text goes: “The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” (§ 44).
Pope Benedict XVI said: “By contemplating Mary in heavenly glory, we understand that the earth is not a definitive homeland for us either, and that if we live with our gaze fixed on eternal goods, we will one day share in this same glory and the earth will become more beautiful”. Mary, never-ending love, support us by your motherly guidance. Amen.
■ Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap