Mary, Mother of Mercy

During this Year of Mercy, this blog is going to try and follow the Holy Father's lead and use this as an occasion to reflect a lot on Mercy. 

On a previous post I did on December 10 about the Year of Mercy , I stated that I felt perhaps that this could be "our last chance" so-to-speak before a chastisement or a purification of some sort begins.  I could be wrong; it might not come at all, it might come later, or it might have already begun.  Regardless of whether it has or has not, or does or does not come, we need to be sure we take advantage of this time as a Church to receive mercy, to live it, and to teach about it to the world.  If you are not Catholic, now is your big chance to really receive the heart of the living God, and that is His Mercy.  This blog will do what it can to fulfill the request of our Holy Father Pope Francis, and devote a good majority of its posts this year to the topic of mercy. 

Here is the dictionary definition of mercy:

"compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm."

We will start by talking about Mary as the Mother of Mercy.

Today, January 1, as always, is the Solemnity of the Mary, Mother of God.  On this day, we honor Mary's maternity.  It was a maternity like none other before or since.   She was a Virgin when she conceived (and remained one her whole life).  Also, since she herself was conceived without Original Sin, and received the fruits of Christ's redemptive acts in advance, her pregnancy was free of the physical labor pains that typically come with it.  Now, the external circumstances around the birth and early years of Jesus certainly caused trouble (i.e. not being able to find a normal place to give birth, having to flee to Egypt due to Herod's order that firstborns be killed, losing Jesus in the Temple), but nothing inside of Mary's body caused trouble for the pregnancy, nor during the upbringing of the child Jesus, because she was sinless.

One of the titles of Mary is the "Mother of Mercy".  We see this in the well known prayer, "Salve Regina" ("Hail Holy Queen" )

Hail Holy Queen

Mother of Mercy

Our life, our sweetness, and our hope

Why is it right and just to refer to Mary this way ?

1) Mary is the masterpiece of God's Mercy because of her Immaculate Conception.  She was immaculately conceived (as stated above).  She did not "merit" that.  She did not "ask" for it.  Yet, God, in His Wisdom and goodness, chose her to be the vessel for His Son to be born in our world.  It would not be appropriate for Our Lord to be born from a sinful body, so the Father chose among sinful men and women, one to stand out and protect from the stain of Original Sin, so His Son could be appropriately brought into the world.  An infant child is loved naturally by his or her parents through no "merit" of his or her own, not because of anything that he or she has done.  It is the same with the Blessed Mother and God.  She was loved by God because of who she is, and because she received a gift that she did not earn or merit,  she is an example of Mercy like none other, a "masterpiece" of His Mercy.

2) She is the Mother of the Savior, and thus literally brought mercy into the world.     Jesus is Mercy Incarnate, the Merciful God made flesh.  Mary is His Mother.  Therefore, Mary is rightly called the Mother of Mercy and it can be said, therefore, that all mercy flows through her.

3) She shows us how to be merciful.  There have been many apparitions of the Blessed Mother in which she talks us about ways to avoid going to hell; saying the Rosary, fasting, conversion.  This, saving people from hell, is definitely merciful.  Let's also think of some of her characteristics that she shows in Scripture that reflect on her being merciful, or living as a fruit of mercy.

• She was a virgin her whole life.  We all knows it requires a special grace to be able to live chastely like that our whole life.  In fact, in the Hail Mary, we recognize that reality when we say, like the angel did,  "Hail Mary, full of grace."   This grace is definitely a sign of God's Mercy.  However, for things to work out as they did, Mary had to say yes, and correspond with that grace, and she did just that.  
• She was humble.  In her Magnificat (which we posted in its entirety in a recent post), she praised the "great" God for what he had done for her, and referred to herself as "lowly".  She knew she was nothing without God's Mercy. 
• She also practiced the works of mercy herself.  Remember, mercy is not just about forgiveness, it is also about compassion (recall the dictionary definition above.)  Mary showed compassion to two notable people in the Gospels; her cousin Elizabeth, and the couple at the wedding feast at Cana. When she heard her much older cousin Elizabeth was pregnant with child, Mary rushed to help her, even though she was with child herself  (Luke 1:39-56) .  What compassion she had for her cousin!  At the wedding (John 2:1-11) Mary noticed the couple was running out of wine.  Mary mentioned this to Jesus, who proceeded to take care of the situation by turning water into wine.  In wanting to avoid the couple embarrassment, she showed them tremendous compassion.

Mary was merciful to all of us by giving us an example of how to live like and for Her Son Jesus Christ.

So, let's turn to Mary at this still early stage of the Year of Mercy as an intercessor, and ask her to be merciful to us by bringing us to Her Son.   Let's ask her this year to help us become more merciful.  Let's learn from her example, and live the virtues she possesses (faith, humility, devotion, purity, obedience, poverty, patience), some of which we have covered or hinted at already in previous posts or today, some we may later.  Living these virtues will help us recognize more our need for mercy, and help us become more merciful ourselves to ourselves and others.

From the litany to Saint Joseph, we pray:

Mary, pray for us

Joseph, Spouse of the Mother of God, pray for us