1) Faith, Hope and Charity, as lived by Mary our Mother and Model, and
2) How through these she succeeded to reveal Christ to the World.
"Mary, as the Model of True Discipleship: She walked by Faith and Not by Sight. She lived in hope and Knew no despair. She lived constantly in Love, never knowing Hatred.
Today, i just want to show how Mary in her own simple way, lived FAITH. The rest Hope and Love ensue from this.
The theme of this topic is Living Faith:
The Best way to treat with it is to Take Mary as our Model.
If we want to be a true disciple of Jesus, we must IMITATE the most perfect model of discipleship: Mary, the Mother of our Lord.
Jesus' own life was ruled by 2 principles:
a) total dedication to the Father, and
b) total dedication to his mission.
Mary's life was ruled by the same principles:
a) "Let it be done onto me according to your word."
b) She lived totally for the mission for her Son.
If we look at the gospels, we discover a progressive interest in Mary. Mark and Matthew have not much to say about her, but Luke and John have her playing a more decisive role in the life of Jesus and the Church. Not only is she present when the Messiah entered the World, but also when the Church is born at Pentecost.
The image of Mary needs alot of changes in our imagination. If we take the Incarnation seriously and if Jesus was the greatest religious leader ever born, his mother must have been a remarkable woman and not the sweet little girl that disappeared into the background. The more we take the humanity of Christ for real, the more his mother moves into the foreground as an extraordinary woman who not only bore such a man, but who also raised him. It seems that the woman who was so fasinated with Jesus spontaneously realise what kind of mother he must have had when she exclaimed, "Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked." (Luke 11:27)
Luke's gospel, written around the year 80 A.D., i.e., one generation after Mary's death, reveals a remarkable devotion to Mary, already present in the community for which and in which he wrote his gospel. Around that time, we already find a developed devotion to her among some communities.
John, who always sees Mary in connection with the Church, put her at the openining and closing of Jesus' Ministry: At Cana and Under the Cross (John 2:1-11; 19:25-27)
I would like to present to you, the main biblical texts that refer to Mary and to show through these texts, what discipleship really implies: To walk by Faith and not by sight
To be continue....
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