Mary, Woman of
the Promise: Mary woman of the promise;
Vessel of your people's dreams, Through your open willing Spirit waters
of God's goodness streamed. Mary song
of holy wisdom, Sung before the world
began, Faithful to the Word within, you
Carried out God's wondrous plan. Mary,
morning star of justice, Mirror of the
radiant light, In the shadows of life's journey, Be a beacon for our
sight. Mary, woman of the Gospel, Humble home for treasured seed, Help us to be
true disciples Bearing fruit in word and deed.
Covenants mark all
the important encounters between God and man.
God's relationship with Israel was defined by a covenant, as were His
relationships with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. Jesus Himself spoke of his redemptive
sacrifice as the new covenant in His blood (Lk 22:20).
In the ancient Near
East a covenant was a sacred kinship bond based on a solemn oath that brought
someone into a family relationship
with another person or tribe. When God
made His covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, He was gradually
inviting a wider circle of people into His family: first a couple, then a
family, then a nation, and eventually the world.
Therefore, God Himself is Father, Son, and the
Spirit of Love-and Christians are drawn up into the life of that family. In baptism we are identified with Christ,
baptized in the Trinitarian name of God; we take on His family name, and thus
we become sons in the Son. We are taken
up into the very life of the Trinity, where we may live in love forever.
Every family needs
a mother; only Christ could choose His own, and He chose for His entire
covenant family. Now, everything He has
He shares with us. His divine life is
ours; His home is our home; His Father is our Father; His brothers are our
brothers; and His mother is our mother too.
In the earliest icons
of Mary, she is almost always portrayed holding her infant child-forever
bearing Him to the world, as in the twelfth chapter of the book of
Revelation. A true mother, she is
usually portrayed pointing to her son but looking out toward the viewers, her
other children. She mothers her
infant-for an infant cannot hold himself up-even as she mothers her children in
the world and draws us together to Him.
As Mary birthed
Christ to the world, so the Church births believers, "other Christs,"
to each generation. As the Church
becomes mother to believers in baptism, so Mary becomes mother to believers as
brothers of Christ. The Church, as
someone once said, "reproduces the mystery of Mary." ( gathered from Hail, Holy Queen by Scott Hahn)
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