5th Sunday after Easter 25.5.14 Mary, Help of Christians (Patroness of Australia)
Our Lady is the Help of Christians (her feast day, yesterday). She helps Christians, and she helps us to be Christians. And that gives a clue as to how she helps us.
To be Christian in the full sense is to be as perfect as Christ Himself, or at least as perfect as we can be according to the limitations of our nature.
At least to be free of sin and filled with as much of the Holy Spirit as we can receive.
Our Lady was herself a Christian. It sounds an inadequate description of her. This perhaps betrays that we are not immediately impressed by the title ‘Christian’, so accustomed are we to seeing the faults in ourselves and each other.
But she was a perfect Christian, and she brings to the title a force we generally might not expect.
She helps us to be as ‘Christian’ as she herself was; or if that is too much, then at least more ‘Christian’ than we have been so far.
She helps us by example, showing us that such a life can be lived. It is not unrealistic to base our whole lives on the will of God.
To imitate her is a wise thing to do, but she helps us more than that.
For one thing, she helps us by making the world an easier place to live in.
Much of the difficulty of this life is caused by the world we live in, so full of pressure, tension, anxiety etc. In such a world it is hard for us to think straight. There is never an excuse for our sin but we could say that if we lived in a more peaceful, ordered world it would be easier not to sin.
A life well-lived will have an effect on the surrounding society. Just as sin causes destruction so holiness causes ‘construction’, a building up not a tearing down.
Mary’s holiness has been all along constructive, building up the kingdom of God, a new Eden, getting things, and people, back to the way they should be.
She is Order personified, cf the Wisdom readings which are used at Masses in her honour.
She helps us further by bringing us the Saviour, by co-operating in His saving plans, by responding to His will perfectly, thus helping to bring us to faith.
She is involved with us individually and corporately (as the whole Church) taking in the whole world and the whole extent of human history.
She helps us to see things as she sees them, thus to come to a better way of living.
In our rebellious minds we say, I will do what I like. Nobody tells me what to do etc. I think I will be happier if I sin. But every sin make me less happy, not more so.
But there is still more to learn from this perfect Christian.
Our Lady did not just obey God - she worshipped Him.
God is not just to be served, or appeased, but to be loved for His own sake.
Even if we can be happier and have a better society these are not the final objectives. The final objective is to praise and love God for His own sake.
Mary has understood this from the beginning. The rest of us take about one lifetime to reach the same conclusion! She can carry us more quickly.
On feasts, on Saturdays, in certain months, we pay her special honour. But every day we should seek her out. She can help us so much. She is a treasure, always available but much under-rated.
If we have neglected her, never again. Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment