For Catholics today is a special day. Today is the birthday of Mary, the mother of Jesus, mother of human kind, and our mother. Hers is one of the three birthdays that church celebrates as feast in liturgical calendar: 1. Jesus. 2. John the Baptist, 3. Mary. Theologically, they were all without the original sin. Jesus from all eternity, Mary was immaculately conceived, John was cleansed of the original sin when he and Jesus met from the wombs of their respective mothers.
What
gift shall we give to her on her birthday? The best gift that we can give to
any mothers is to emulate/imitate in our lives the virtues and values that they
lived for. Mary lived by the ‘yes’ she said to the Lord. Mary became the
handmaid of the lord by saying ‘yes’. In spiritual terms, she had the
dissolution of her will. In modern times, dissolution of one's will would sound anti-human. And therefore
religion has become irrelevant too, or it has become only a social institution.
Bu the irony is that humans easily surrender their will and freedom in front of wealth, political
power, positions, etc. Religion is the fine sense of not surrendering our will
to anyone, but to God –the higher power.
There
were millions of women born before ‘the common era’. Many perhaps would have
been called also as Mary. But we only celebrate this woman’s birthday as a
feast. Why? Because she had a rebirth. She accepted a rebirth; she dared to be
born again.
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| Courage to say YES |
Our birth is unconscious, it does not need our effort nor is it because of any of our merits. Our lives become conscious when we begin to be reborn into greater selves. When Mary said ‘yes’ to something good in her life. She was being born again. Therefore in fact what we celebrate is the birthday of ‘yes’. It is not a day, it is a lifetime. A Christian birthday is the day when we consciously say ‘yes’ to the divine plan.
What
is the meaning of ‘yes’ in this context. ‘Yes’ is a responsibility declaration.
There is this oath-taking when someone assumes a higher position. In praxis it
could be interpreted as, I am responsible when someone, somewhere is in need of
help; I am responsible when someone, somewhere is in need of dignity, I am
responsible when someone, somewhere is in need of education, I am responsible
when someone, somewhere is in need of peace, I am responsible when someone,
somewhere is in need of love, etc.
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| Life is unconscious |
When the angle asked Mary, can you be the mother of truth, the mother of peace, the mother of dignity, the mother of salvation, the mother of Jesus? She said ‘yes’. Thus she declared her responsibility for humanity. Thus it is interesting to note that at once she left her house and went to someone in need of help –she left for the house of her cousin Elizabeth.
Lisa Tzwu-Fang Su, an American billionaire business executive, while addressing the graduates at MIT said, find the toughest problems out there and volunteer to help out, this is really how you make your own luck. This is when people pay attention; this is how you make a difference –that is what it means to say ‘yes’. The world is full of complex and challenging problems. Working on those hard problems is extremely challenging and frustrating. Go all the way till the end. I remember a powerful quote I have read, "Don't quit before the miracle happens." Mary refused to quit.
Mary, in my opinion did not run away from the toughest problems. I also have a feeling, that Mary embraced it voluntarily. Monica Fernandes, in her article, Mary, a woman far ahead of her times, in Together magazine says, Mary was born to parents who are advanced in age; and they presented her to the temple. In a patriarchal society, she broke a glass ceiling of sorts, as she was the first woman to serve in a temple. Her pregnancy without marriage could have put her in peril but her faith was unshakeable, she voluntarily took it on herself.
Mary’s ‘yes’ became even more pronounced when she began to say to others “yes you can”. At the wedding at Cana she seems to be telling her son and the host, ‘yes, we can be full again’. Once she believed and began living that ‘yes’ she began to understand and accept one of the most foundational statements of our faith, “Nothing is impossible with God”.
When she said ‘yes’ and took the responsibility to help we also get the assurance that when we are in need of help she will be there by our side. Perhaps that is why the Catholics cling to her as their mother. We must not just romantically admire Mary, and her acts of courage and faith, we must begin to say ‘yes’. And move out of our houses to the lives of others.
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