Mary

Friday, August 15, 2008 -- Week of Proper 14
Saint Mary the Virgin; Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer)
EITHER the readings for Friday of Proper 14 (p. 979)
Psalms 102 (morning) 107:1-32 (evening)
Judges 14:20 - 15:20
Acts 7:17-29
John 4:43-54

OR the readings for St. Mary (p. 999)
Morning Prayer: Psalms 113, 115; 1 Samuel 2:1-10; John 2:1-12
Evening Prayer: Psalms 45 or 138, 139; Jeremiah 31:1-14 or Zechariah 2:10-13; John 19:23-27 or Acts 1:6-14

I read the readings for St. Mary

Mary is a wonderful model for the church. Her willing openness provided the space that God filled with divine life. She nurtured the light into being, and bore God into the world. Her word is "Yes! Let it be unto me according to your word."

In our gospel story she takes her neighbor's problem to Jesus. "They have no wine." To run out of wine at a wedding feast would be a terrible dishonor for a host family. It would have been an embarrassment. It would have taken the life out of the celebration honoring the new love which is creating a new family. Mary senses the plight of the hosts, empathizes, and takes the issue to Jesus.

For Jesus, the problem seems problematic. "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." It is an abrupt and curt reply. The time is not propitious. Yet she is unfazed. She trusts implicitly. She tells the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Willing openness which makes space that will be filled with divine life and will turn water into wine, mere survival transformed into effervescence. She is God-Bearer.

She is also Our Lady of Sorrows. Centuries of Christian art has tried to capture the pathos of a helpless mother witnessing the torturous death of her child, the lifeless body delivered into the arms of the mother who once cradled the infant. All human anguish can be imaged in this sadness. Faith tells us that this deep sorrow is also the place of divine life. Centuries of grief has collected in prayer toward her and received the sad, serene peace of acceptance.

Legend says that after Jesus' death, Mary settled in Ephesus under the protection of the apostle John. There is a small shrine just outside the town which has been a place of pilgrimage and devotion for centuries. A stone chapel covers a building from the 6th or 7th century with foundations that may date to the 1st century. In 1812 a German nun who never left her house awoke in a trance and described the journey of John and Mary to Ephesus, and recounted her vision of a small, rectangular house with a fireplace and an apse and a round back wall. Next to the apse was Mary's room, which had a spring running into it. Years later a French priest searched to find the House of the Virgin. He found this place, but didn't get much response from authorities. In the 1890's the Lazarist order came, found a small chapel in ruins and a damaged statue of Mary. They erected a chapel, which has become a place of pilgrimage.

Water from the spring that runs below the house is said to have healing properties, and there are abandoned crutches and canes left behind as testimony. Pilgrims tie paper and cloth prayers of supplication to a fence along the wall, asking Mary for aid, comfort and intercession.

The final image of Christian tradition is that of Mary Queen of Heaven. She reigns in peaceful triumph within the glorious life of her risen son. The open peasant girl taken into divine embrace, bringing with her a heart that carries the weight of the world.

There is something approachable, welcoming and nurturing about a mother's love. Mary shows to us the feminine nature of God. We can bring our hopes and fears, our anguish and aspiration to one whose openness makes such abundant room for God's being with us. In her womb is nurtured every nascent hope. In her arms she carries sorrow unto death. In her heart she bears all that is human, with open obedience to God, and lifts life into the glories of Heaven. \

She shows us how to be the church -- the mediator of God's presence, the open "Yes!" that bears Christ, the faithful surrender that is the path to heaven.

Hail Mary, Mother of God. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

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The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas