Catholic Outlook Magazine Lent & Easter Edition 2022

How different must have been the relationship
between Jesus and Mary! As John Haughey SJ
points out in his study, The Conspiracy of God,
Mary must have played an enormously important
role in forming Jesus to become the free human
person he was.
Fr Haughey argues that the significance of the
virginity of Mary may pale in importance by
comparison with her ability to accept the complete
otherness of her Son, Jesus, without erasing any of
His uniqueness that she could not fully understand.
Luke, the Evangelist, speaks of Mary’s capacity for
pondering events and others’ words. She makes
room in her heart for the words of others, especially
angels who speak of unexpected things. She
receives them in their otherness.
Having made room in her heart and mind for
that which is other, she accepts that which is
incomprehensible to her, and the Word of God
becomes incarnate in her womb.
So, even before the full presence of God as ‘Abba’
could be experienced by the earthly Jesus, there
had to be a capacity in Jesus for relationship, if He
was truly a full human being.
Surely, it was Mary’s freeing non-possessive love that
gave Jesus the relational space to grow and be fully
present to others in their deep need and suffering.
Jesus, as the ‘fruit of the womb’ of Mary, was able
to fully love others with such compassion precisely
because His sacred heart was set free by Mary.
No wonder Jesus urged His disciples to “love one
another.” For without such love, we can miss the
point. This is the mission of the Church—to form
people as Mary did Jesus, in a love that liberates
the heart rather than imprisons it.
In a certain sense, to follow the example of Mary in
‘letting go’ is to disappear whenever appropriate. In
the Christian idiom, ‘disappearance’ does not mean
failure or proof that something must have gone
wrong. It has always been necessary so that the
Spirit may come.
Unless our discipleship of Jesus is grounded in a
love that is non-possessive like Mary’s, it will not
bring new life to others.
With the poet Cecil Day Lewis, reflecting on his
relationship with his adolescent son, such a Marial
love discovers that:
Nuestra Señora de las Sandias by William Hart McNichols
frbillmcnichols-sacredimages.com
Mary, pray for us and help us to
“
let go and
let God.
”
“Selfhood begins with a walking away, and love is
proved in the letting go.”
Br Mark O’Connor FMS is the Vicar for Communications
in the Diocese of Parramatta.
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