The Holy Name of MARY Mother of God

“In dangers, in perplexities, in doubtful cases think of Mary;

Call on Mary; let her not leave thy lips;

Let her not depart from thy heart.”

~ St. Bernard

A Personal Reflection

I am one of those Christian who venerate, honor and adore the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the Mother of God and through divine providence see her as the New Eve, the New Ark of the Covenant, and the Queen of the Eternal Davidic Kingdom- in which Jesus Christ is the King of endless glory and the Messiah of mankind! This manifestation and acceptance in my opinion are gifts from God to me, because I am just but an ordinary Christian who has been blessed by the almighty God and especially through the intercession of his Mother, Mary the ever-Blessed Virgin.

This reflection of mine is not an academic pursuit nor is it intended to convince anyone. I am not a theologian or learned in the scriptures, but a mere Catholic who happens to be an altar server, married in the Catholic Church and a recipient of the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation and Matrimony! My singular intention is to express my fidelity to my Lord and my God and the many uncountable ways the almighty has necessitated that I should honor Mary, the Mother of God and the instrument upon which the salvation of mankind became obvious through the power of “Emmanuel.”

As Saint Thomas Aquinas rightly put it, “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible”, and in the words of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, “We speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual term” my faith in God is not about intellectual understanding or appreciation. Therefore after reading through this my experiences, my hope is that you may be able to relate to why I continue to honor Mary, as God first did, and for those who may remain adamant, at the least, I am happy to have been counted worthy to express my absolute fidelity and worship of my God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, while at the same time honoring the Mother of God, Mary, as did the Angels and Saints of God throughout all generations, as the Blessed Virgin and Queen of Heaven predicted in her Song of Praise as recorded in the Gospel according to Saint Luke.

I Believe

I believe that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and nobody can go to the Father without passing through him, not even Mary, the Mother of God, because our Lord is purely human, born of the same Blessed Virgin Mother and purely Divine, the Son of the almighty God, who is our only source of salvation. It is only through the name of Jesus Christ that man can be saved and all kneels shall bow in heaven and on earth and furthermore only the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ can satisfy God’s requirement to change the course of mankind destiny from eternal damnation to everlasting life.

By faith, I believe in the Holy Trinity; that is three persons in one God; Father, Son and the Holy Spirit! While I cannot explain nor comprehend the exact meaning of this dogma, I believe, since Jesus Christ said I should accept the fact that “I and my Father are one” and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter will come after his ascension and it did during the Pentecost Sunday.

The Church teaches us to worship only God and never make idol of anything, therefore it was not difficult for me to be able to distinguish worshiping of God and honoring the angels and saints and Mary, the Mother of God. Furthermore, in my faith as a Catholic, I believe in the communion of the saints, the living and the dead and the spiritual reality of our life here on earth. I believe in the prayers of the faithful and in the intercessory prayers of the saints including the powerful advocate in Mary, the Mother of God, and the guardian of the angels and in their protections.

In life, there have been several occasions that the divine interventions of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ have been manifested through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God and other at times through so many Saints and the prayers of my parents, pastors and even strangers! My life is consequently surrounded by series of mysteries that further enhanced my understanding of how God can make the impossible possible, and also showcase the intercessory prowess of Mary.

The more I learn about the infinite goodness, mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the more my appreciation, love and honor for his Mother, Mary evolves! Though it is difficult, nevertheless I shall try to explain how Mary has influenced my life and draw me even closer to a greater understanding of the mystery of her son, Jesus Christ.

Mary’s Role in Salvation:

Mary vs. Eve

To question the role of Mary in the salvation of mankind is to failed to appreciate the symbolism of the union of Jesus Christ, who is “Emmanuel” and the Mother of God, Mary the New Eve through whom the salvation plans of the almighty God was made manifest!

In order to fully attempt to comprehend the role of Mary in God’s plans of salvation for humanity, we must first examine the fall of our first parent Adam and Eve. The intimate relationship that exists between Adam and Eve was further accentuated between the New Adam (Jesus Christ) and the New Eve (Mary) and to the extent that unlike Eve being pulled from the flesh of Adam, the New Adam comes from the New Eve.

Leading up to the Fall of Mankind, Eve listens to the sordid words of the serpent, on the contrary, paving the way for the Recreation and salvation of Mankind, the New Eve is visited by the Angel Gabriel, thus the first listened to the Devil’s agent, whereas Mary in total submission to the will of the almighty God listened to the his agent, the Angel Gabriel. The implications are that through the action of Mary, she effectively untied the Knot of Eve’s Disobedience.

Another contrast between Eve and the New Eve, which is Mary, is their progeny; Eve gives birth to Sin and Death, whereas Mary gives birth to Grace and Salvation that is in Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ and with Jesus Christ. Eve listens to the words of the serpent and sins against God: sin and death enter the world! Mother Mary, the New Eve, literally gives birth to the Son of God, Jesus Christ who is the grace and salvation of mankind.

Together the Old and New Eve changed creation, however in a different way: Eve and Adam together cause the fall of mankind from grace to condemnation, whereas on the contrary the New Eve (Mary) and the New Adam (Jesus Christ) brought about salvation

Mary was necessary in partnership in the salvation of mankind because the Savior of mankind needed to be fully human and fully divine! Christ being born of a woman was a necessary step in his incarnation and validity in being the savior: thus, Mary, as the New Eve, the Mother of God, was the necessary perfect and pure vessel of Christ’s incarnation.

The old Eve became the “Mother of all the Living, however the New Eve, Mary becomes the “Mother of all who live in Christ”, when Jesus Christ hanging from the cross look down and told John the Evangelist son behold your mother, and looking at his mother, said, woman behold your son, and from that very moment, John began to take care of Mary!

Last but not the least, the enmity that existed immediately after the fall was between Eve and the Serpent and therein was found the first messianic promise that was given to mankind:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” On the other hand, the enmity of the New Eve (Mary) was with Satan as documented in the Book of Revelation, recounting the Woman bearing the Son and the Woman and the Dragon engaging in spiritual warfare in which the almighty God has granted her victory!

“Henceforth all generation shall call me blessed”

Mary is also the visible sign of God’s work and a reflection of the perfect bride for the bridegroom, in our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is a woman, a virgin whose attributes are a faithful and steadfast observance of the Law of Moses and the complete love for God and total submission to his will. She was never from a wealthy family nor highly educated, nobody would have expected her choice to be the Mother of God and as a matter of fact, as the divine plans started unfolding, she was ridiculed, denigrated and even accused of committing adultery and potentially awaiting to be stoned to death. And yet, filled with the Holy Spirit, Mary proclaimed “henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.” The ways of God is different from those of man, and he decided to ridicule those who claim to be wise and knowledgeable in worldly matters by making Mary, a woman filled with humility, obedience and love of God to be the maternal custodian of his only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

The Angel Gabriel

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy God sent his angel, Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. He had a message for a girl betrothed to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. The angel came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Now after she was told about how she was going to become the Mother of God, she did not doubt nor reject, but replied with a “YES” even without completely understanding the implications of her choice! By saying “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your words”, Mary effectively allowed God to use her as the medium of salvation for humanity!

This is one of the greatest alleluia moments in the life of mankind, the very moment, this woman, the Mother of God, Mary, accepted to become the abode of the Son of God! She sacrificed all, gave her all, without reservation and became completely united with God and without hesitation! In order to appreciate the sacrifice of Mary, reflect upon the interaction of Jesus Christ and his heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane; “Not my will, but your will be done.” Jesus Christ has the power to avoid death, but because of the love and union between the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit and also as a result of staying the course to bring salvation to mankind, he let go of everything, stripped of his glory and accepted death, even death on the cross!

Mary Visits Elizabeth

The angel Gabriel also revealed to Mary, the Mother of God that Elizabeth who was referred to as barren was sixth month pregnant with a son, whom she will later call John the Baptist! This was the same Elizabeth that was ridiculed, mocked and insulted because in those days, the lack of the fruit of the womb in some quarters was considered a curse from God! Behold, the angel Gabriel message was true! When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greetings, something extraordinary happened; John who is in the womb was able to recognize Jesus Christ and his mother filled with the Holy Spirit proclaimed to Mary “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” It suffice to note, Mary always carry Jesus Christ everywhere she goes and make our Lord visible to those who open the eyes of their faith as Elizabeth did in the above narrative.

Jesus first Miracle

So it came to pass that Jesus Christ, his mother Mary and the disciples were invited to attend a wedding in Cana, and behold the wine ran out! The Mother of God went to her son and interceded on behalf of the wedding couple, so that they will not be put to shame. In spite of the fact that it was not Jesus Christ “time”, he performed the miracle of turning the water into wine and the wedding was successful. This was the first miracle of Jesus Christ and his glory was made manifest before all. Again, without doubt, Mary helped manifest the glory of his son and those who obeyed her instructions to do whatever Jesus Christ required of them are never put to shame.

Jesus Is Crucified and Gave Us Mary

So they took charge of Jesus. He went out, carrying his cross, and came to “The Place of the Skull,” as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called “Golgotha.”) There they crucified him. Standing close to Jesus’ cross were his mother…Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there; so he said to his mother, “He is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “She is your mother.” From that time the disciple took her to live in his home. These events informed the Church tradition of universal maternity of Mary.

Today, I am that disciple and no longer saint John the Evangelist! It is my responsibility to honor Mary, because Mary is already taking care of me as her son.

Queenship of Mary

In Revelation, we read about the enmity between the New Eve, Mary and Satan or Dragon when the woman was about to bear a Son. Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple…And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Based on the Church teaching, which I believed, the “ark of the covenant” and the “woman” are considered the same portent. Mary is therefore the New Ark of the Covenant, the vessel that brought heaven and earth together or the emergence of the incarnation of God, the Divine to become the Son of Mary, the human! The “woman” is obviously Mary and the “male child” is Jesus Christ who is to take over the Eternal Kingship of David as was promised by the almighty God to King David.

As a result of the protection granted to Mary, the dragon was unable to harm her and therefore turn to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.

We are the offspring of Mary; all children of God, Christians who obey God and bear testimony to Jesus!

Mary in my Faith

I honor and venerate Mary because God first honored her and made her the instrument by which his Only Begotten Son and my Lord Jesus Christ became man and was able to offer himself as a living sacrifice for humanity thereby paving the way for the salvation of mankind from eternal condemnation due to the disobedience of our first parents Adam and Eve to everlasting life as a result of the complete obedience and total submission to the will of God by Mary, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God.

Every single unique grace and role given to Mother Mary is anchored in Jesus Christ. All her honor and due veneration rests on understanding Jesus Christ as the Savior of mankind.

Mary is the most blessed of human creation, prepared as a bride befitting of the bridegroom, who will bear the savior of the world! She is the new Eve that completely submits herself to the will of the almighty God and pave way for the salvation plans of God to become a reality. Consequently, God honored her above any other human being and upon the invocation of the name of Mary; her intercession is real and undeniable before her son, Jesus Christ. The teaching about her Immaculate Conception is based on the understanding that, nothing sinful can bear or carry God, and therefore, the almighty God make the conception of Mary to be free from the sins and consequences of Adam and Eve disobedience.

Mary’s Contemporary Interventions- the Apparitions

The battle between the Dragon “Satan” and the offspring of Mary is an ongoing one that the Mother of God continues to intervene through the permission of her son and our Lord Jesus Christ as manifested in both public and private apparitions. Mary continue to lead us to Jesus Christ at every of such apparitions and reminds us of the necessity to turn to Jesus Christ as our only source of salvation.

The role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God in the life of the “offspring” of God that truly understood her accentuating effectiveness is simply exemplified in the Wedding at Cana narrative in the gospel and that is nothing short of leading us all to her son Jesus Christ.

There have been series of Apparitions (supernatural appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in which the Mother of God appears in different forms, but with the same theme; turning our heart to his son, Jesus Christ.

Some of the Approved apparitions are, Our Lady of Kibeho, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Laus, and Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of La Salette, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Pontmain, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Knock, Our Lady of Beayraing, and Our Lady of Banneux.

There are other apparitions that are yet to be approved by the Church, but however have had tremendous impact on the faithful especially within the locality. In a special way and with deep gratitude to God, I was a witness to the Apparition of Our Lady of Aiokpe, in Nigeria. Again, Our Lady, the Mother of God addresses herself as the mediatrix of all graces and substantiates her apparition with the miracle of the dancing sun. The Bishop or Ordinary as at the time of the event in the 1990’s was Bishop Fidelis Oga Orgah of blessed memory and with the many other priests, religious and the faithful bore witnesses to the powerful intercession of the Mother of God through the miracles, healings and joy that permeate the Nigerian Christian community and in a special way the small village of Aiokpe in the Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, Nigeria.

Private Experiences

The interventions that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God has wrought in my life are as a result of my belief that her intercessory prayers before her son and my Lord Jesus Christ are more powerful and easily acceptable than mine! This does not in any way stop me from praying to my God directly nor disregarding Jesus Christ as my advocate, since in reality we have only one advocate with the Father and that is Jesus Christ!

In my life, I pray directly to God through Jesus Christ as I am led by the Holy Spirit, because my Lord was the one that told me to ask and I will receive, seek and I will find and knock and the door will be open. However based on my experience, I have discovered that whenever I ask, seek and knock for something and I turn to Mary, in the same way that the wedding couple turned to her, I am encouraged the more to wait upon the Lord as I know that the Mother of God had been given the power to influence the timing of when my prayer is going to be answered to the glory of God!

Throughout my life, I continue to benefit from this very unique union of humanity and divinity brought about by God’s singular plan of returning man from eternal condemnation to everlasting life.

As a child, three of our favorite prayers most often referred to as the Common Prayers are, The Lord’s Prayer, The Hail, Mary and The Glory Be…. My life is woven into these prayers and in the most remarkable fashion the glory of the almighty continues to be made manifest as I sojourn in this earthly, but short-lived life.

I therefore thank my God; Father, Son and the Holy Spirit for the gifts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the Mother of God and the Mother of mankind, for her powerful intercessions and continual protections for those who turn to her seeking to draw closer to Jesus Christ. And I also thank the almighty God for all the Saints and the angels that honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, as the Mother of our God. All the Apostles of Jesus Christ and especially Saint John the Beloved, whom tradition believed kept the Mother of God as directed by Jesus Christ until her Assumption into heaven. Saints like Augustine, Bernard, Francis, Anthony, Rita, Bernadette, Pio, Maximillan Kobe, Bridget, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and hosts of other men and women of God all have great affections for the Mother of God and display their love passionately and faithfully for many of us to see. I also desire to emulate their lifestyle and pray that God will help me to be a true imitator of Mary, just as she was the perfect imitator of Jesus Christ while on earth.

May the almighty God bless you all for taking time to read through this small contribution of mine in which I attempt to document some of the reasons why I continue to honor and pray to Mary, and also ask the Saints to please join my prayers and petitions to theirs and pass them to God through Jesus Christ!

My Prayer

Dear heavenly Father,

I want to continue to thank you so much for the gift of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and the perfect image of the New Eve. Her humility and total submission to your will change the course of humanity from eternal condemnation to everlasting life, when she said yes to the request of the Holy Spirit and became the mother of your Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please help me to emulate her humility and total submission to your will, as she did emulate her son, Jesus Christ who also completely submitted to your holy will and die for the salvation of mankind.

In times of temptation, give me the courage to call the name of Mary, and ask her to come to my aid, by presenting my petition as quickly as possible to my Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

The Hail, Mary Prayer

I now join all the angels and the saints to implore the Hail, Mary prayer beginning as we should always;

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! Amen.

HAIL, Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Thank you!

Ref: Genesis 2, 3, Luke 1, 2 Revelation 11, 12, 1 Corinthians 2, www.stpeterslist.com

Podeh2016