In the drawer of my bedside table is a rosary recently given to me by my father. It belonged to my great-grandparents, who were devout Roman Catholics. This rosary is the largest one I have ever seen, with beads the size of small grapes. The rosary is so large because it’s meant to be prayed by two people. It was prayed by my Big MawMaw and Big PawPaw together each night before they fell asleep. I’m deeply moved as I think of my great-grandparents sharing their prayer by holding onto the rosary that is now in my possession. Their profound Roman Catholic faith was rooted in love of God and family but also in a steadfast devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Blessed Virgin has always had, and still has, a remarkable way of bringing people together, especially when Christians find plenty of reasons to be divided.
There’s something about the Virgin Mary that inspires deep devotion. Perhaps in a Church that for too long denied leadership roles to women (and still does in some corners), Marian devotion filled a need for maternal care, strength, and warmth in a Church run by power-grabbing male leaders. In her life, Mary was steadfast in faith and devotion. She was there at the foot of the cross in John’s Gospel, hanging on until the bitter end of her son’s life. She’s a powerful example of the comfort given to us in the communion of the saints, whose prayers are always with us. And while we most certainly should pray directly to God, there’s a great encouragement in asking for Mary’s prayers, too, as we would ask for the prayers of a friend.
This month of May is Mary’s month. To celebrate this, our Godly Play children’s formation class participated in a simple crowning of the statue of Our Lady in our beautiful Lady Chapel. Parishioner Gail McCown crafted a lovely wreath of rosemary, which is often associated with the Blessed Mother. I also took the children around the church, finding as many images of Our Lady as possible. If you haven’t noticed, when we worship in the church, we’re surrounded by Mary! It’s a reassurance that her prayers are with us at all times.
Marian devotion is a regular part of our life as an Anglo-Catholic parish. We begin each recitation of the Daily Office with the Angelus (a devotion that includes the Hail Mary and is a remembrance of the doctrine of the Incarnation) or the Regina Coeli in Eastertide. At Choral Evensong and Benediction, we sing one of the seasonal Marian devotions. The presence of Mary is threaded through our common life, inspiring us to humility—as Mary was humble—and calling us to point to Jesus in all we do, just as images of Mary frequently show her holding the infant Jesus and pointing to him. Mary is not a replacement for our Lord in the salvation of the world; she is a shining example of how God uses humans in his plan of salvation.
I’ve felt that through the ups and downs of Good Shepherd’s history, the Blessed Mother has been a reassuring, constant reminder of God’s faithful presence with us. She has guided this parish to live into its humanity with grace, obedience, and charity, especially when humanity’s sinfulness seemed to have the upper hand. She has reigned over the Lady Chapel, asserting that the church has always been a house of prayer, even when conflicts caused people to focus less on the Gospel than on a spirit of reactivity. Mary has been a rock of stability, pointing, of course, to the inherent changelessness of God.
And how can we not remember the words of Our Lady in John’s Gospel, when he turned water into wine? Do whatever he tells you, she said. How appropriate those words are for us today. More than anything, Mary urges us through the ages to listen to her son. Do whatever he tells you. And at the foot of the cross, Mary is part of that earliest community of the Church, as Jesus entrusts her and the Beloved Disciple to one another.
The Western Church has referred to Mary as the Mother of God, highlighting the incredible reversal in the kenosis (self-emptying) of Jesus as the Word made flesh. God comes to earth, and Mary, a human being, becomes the Mother of God. In the Eastern Church, Mary is the Theotokos, the God-bearer, encouraging each of us to be God-bearers in a world that sorely needs visible images of the beauty of God.
When you’re next in the church, visit our Lady’s statue in the Lady Chapel or at the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, light one of the blue candles before her, offer a prayer, and behold her reigning there, the Queen of Heaven, Bearer of the Eternal Word, the Blessed Mother, the God-bearer, the one who is praying with and for us, who points us and the world to her son, the Savior of the world.
We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts, that we who have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought unto the glory of his resurrection; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle