In my post earlier today, I discussed the Holy Spirit in the early life of Mary. (Recall Mary was a mere teenager when she gave birth to Our Lord, so the events in his childhood can still be considered part of the early life of Mary.) This discussion included the role of the Holy Spirit in her life before the conception and birth of Jesus, as well, notably her own conception, the Immaculate Conception.
In this post, we will discuss the Holy Spirit at work in the later part of Mary's life, the final years of Our Lord and beyond.
The gift of the Holy Spirit that is understanding is present in the story of Jesus when the crowd tells him that Mary and his brothers (blood relatives) are present. We read: Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:20-21) As you recall, this gift helps us understand matters related to the Faith, to go beyond mere assent to it. Here, we see the truth of the theological concept of the family of God (spiritual communion of the baptized) revealed to the people. We see here Mary come to the crowd. It was her presence that caused a gift of the Holy Spirit to be released to the people. She can do the same for us today!
The next time we see Mary in the Bible is during the Passion. We see her at the foot of the Cross, gazing upon her Son. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene (John 19:25). Writers note that it was likely the gift of wisdom that allowed her to stand there and endure watching him suffer in such agony. This makes sense. This gift, as you recall, allows us to see God as God sees himself. When was God more fully himself than on the Cross, giving of himself totally for our salvation? Jesus, we said, is the Wisdom of God. The gift of wisdom allowed Mary to see God's plan for our salvation, what was being accomplished on the Cross, and therefore, despite her grief, she did not despair. We likewise, should pray for this gift, so that we can better make sense of our own suffering, and that in the world that we see and hear about daily.
The very next line Jesus says is important for us, as well. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” (John 19:26-27) In these words, Jesus, is in effect, giving his mother to us. The disciple John, a sinner like us, stands on our behalf to receive the gift of the Mother of God. Mary, with all the gifts of the Spirit operative in her, is given to us as a model of how to live a life in the Spirit, as well as a gateway and intercessor for those gifts of the Spirit to flow through her to operate in us. We will speak more on how this works in the next post.
The final earthly event of Mary recorded in the Scriptures is Pentecost itself, where the Holy Spirit is revealed to the world in all his fullness and glory. We read in the Acts of the Apostles: When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.....When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. (Acts 1:13-14, 2: 1-4)
Spiritual writers note the gift of wisdom is also operative in this event. The gift of wisdom is an illumination into divine realities. Cannot we say that about Pentecost? You may also recall the gift of wisdom allows us to live love heroically. Before Pentecost, fear and hesitation guided the apostles. After the Spirit came, they went out and boldly proclaimed Jesus as Savior, even though it cost most of them their lives. Finally, we also noted that the gift of wisdom allows us to judge all things. We see this several times in the Acts of the Apostles, the empowered apostles passing judgment on the actions and attitudes of people, calling them "corrupt" (Acts 2:40) and placing blame for the Lord's death on them (Acts 3:14). They were empowered to do this by the gift of the Spirit. In the same way, we can call out the sins of our generation only through this gift. (Of course, we cannot condemn people, but only judge acts.)
After Pentecost, we do not see Mary again in Scripture. Tradition has her living with John for some period of time, and then, she is assumed body and soul into heaven (the Assumption), and then crowned Queen of Heaven. There is not much commentary on the role of the Spirit in those specific events, but it appears to me that these events are tied into, and a result of, all that had gone before, where we do see the Spirit play a role. I believe she spent her final years on Earth in contemplation of God, and his wondrous deeds, continuing to experience the gift of wisdom. She was assumed into heaven because due to the Immaculate Conception, she could not experience bodily decay, one of the effects of the grace the Spirit gave her. So, one could say, the Assumption was a reality due to the Spirit. The gift of wisdom became perfected when she saw God in his fullness at the end of her earthly life. Traditional paintings of the crowing of Mary in heaven portray the Father and the Son as crowing her, but the Spirit hovering in the middle between the two, which to me, infers that the crown has no power or meaning without the blessing of the Spirit. The Spirit will always be present whenever Mary is present. We will discuss this more in the final post in this series.
Joseph, spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us.
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