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Why Love Mary?
By Amarilys Velez
When
Adam and Eve sinned against God they lost the sanctifying grace God had
given them. God, though, in His infinite love for each and every one of
us, has made it possible for us to once again receive sanctifying grace
through His Son made flesh, Jesus Christ.
But how? His Son must be born of a woman who would provide the human nature of the redeemer. But she wasn’t just any woman. She was a fifteen- year-old maiden called Mary, who lived with her parents in the village of Nazareth. Inspired by grace, Mary had vowed to God to remain virgin, which was part of God's plan for her. When God created the soul of Mary, at the moment of her conception in her mother Anna's womb, He sheltered her from Original Sin. She was to receive the sanctifying grace that had been lost when Adam and Eve sinned. Through grace, she was united with God from that moment.
So why was it that an angel should appear to her? While Mary remained in her parents’ home before her marriage to Joseph, an angel revealed God’s plan to her and awaited the consent of the young maiden. As Adam brought sin into the world by the exercise of free will, so Mary chose, of her own free will, to accept the call from God to give birth to the Redeemer of sin.
Sometimes our non-Catholic friends accuse us of “over-glorifying” Mary. They are willing to call her the Mother of Christ, but that is all. How could Mary be considered as only the Mother of Christ?
St. Athanasius said, “If the Son is King, then the Mother who bore Him should be looked upon as a [Queen] and sovereign.”
St. Bernardine of Sienna adds, “No sooner had Mary consented to be Mother of the Eternal Word, than she merited, by this consent, to have dominion over the whole world and over every creature.”
When Mary chose to be the Mother of the Redeemer, it was freely and intimately that she shared in his passion. She was created and chosen by God Himself to be the Mother of His Son. She provided the human nature of Christ. She cared for Him, fed Him, clothed Him, and suffered with Him. As a mother myself, I suffer with my children, I hurt when they hurt and rejoice when they rejoice. My children are a part of me. I see myself in them and I also see, in me, my mother. I, like every other human being, owe my life to her. And along with all that I am and all that I know, I owe her my motherhood.
So how much do we owe the Mother of God?
About the Author: Amarilys Vélez is a Third Order member of the Institute of the Incarnate Word and married to George Vélez. She is a proud mother of five beautiful children and a convert from Protestant Evangelicalism to the Catholic Church. She is also a member of Defenders of the Holy Trinity and occasionally writes for The Defenders of the Faith, Inc.