In his 1965 Encyclical Mense Maio (the Month of May), which focuses on the Mother of God, Pope Paul VI wrote, “During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God’s mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance”.
Many painters and sculptors have represented and continue to represent the Madonna holding the Baby Jesus very tightly and closely to herself. She seems to be afraid that somebody will try to take him away from her, or even just try to touch him. In my opinion, these artists have not understood Mary’s fundamental attitude, which is that of offering, of giving, and not of possessing.
Personally, I find Donatello’s bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, which can be admired on the High Altar of the Basilica of Saint Anthony, much more insightful. Mary has been captured in the act of standing up from her throne, reaching out in front of herself. She is holding the Baby Jesus like a paten, as an offering, and the smiling Baby seems to want to escape from his mother’s arms, almost as if he were looking for an infinite number of other hands and arms to receive him. I would even go so far as to say that in both the Madonna and the Child one can note a kind of impatience: the impatience of wanting to give something immediately.
Mary brought her son into the world but, unlike most mothers, she did not have any pretensions about wanting to keep him for herself. She gave her son to the world, to humankind. She knew full well that her son did not belong to her, but was destined to belong to others. Her son was a gift from God for all of us. The Gospels present Mary of Nazareth as a silent person who prefers to remain in the background, almost hidden, as it were.
Mary is the woman who does not step into the limelight. Her presence is a teaching of discretion and giving: it is the Word that must speak and be heard, not her. We should not be upset by this: the monstrance that bears the Word is splendid inasmuch as it is wrought from the same rare material of silence, and this silence of Mary expresses fullness, not lack of ability.
In front of that masterpiece of God which is the Virgin Mary, the correct stance for us should be that of contemplation, of openness and of silence. Devotion to Mary is really authentic if it makes us look at our inner selves, if it produces meditation on our faith which is nurtured above all by God’s love, rather than by apparitions and miracles. After all, even Mary had to find answers for the many doubts in her life without any special assistance.
Luke the Evangelist ends his version of the Annunciation with the phrase “Then, the Angel left her.” This is certainly not a happy ending. If anything it is a difficult and binding beginning. Mary was left alone, with no further extraordinary communication or reassuring message which removed her doubts. She had to make her journey with the help of her own faith, and not with the special assistance of an angel. Even in her life, as in our lives, her doubts and questions grew. She had to draw light from the darkest moments, and did not find easy ready-made answers. The angel had finished speaking, and from that moment on Mary would have to question the events of her life in order to try and understand. The same is true for all of us.
Updated on October 06 2016