9 MOTHER OF THE ANOINTED

Prayer

O Heavenly Mother, you are the Mother of Christ, the eternal priest. You formed Him in your chaste womb; brought Him forth in that night when the entire world was in peace; you nourished and looked after Him; accompanied Him in some of his apostolic journeys; followed Him in His passion and death. You were overjoyed at the news of His resurrection. You are with Him now in heaven. Guide, accompany and protect us in our priesthood; encourage us in our difficulties; console us when we fail; intercede for us to obtain the grace of final perseverance so that we too may join you and your Son who reigns with the Father and Holy Spirit in heaven one day. Amen.

The Great Handing aver

It was that Good Friday afternoon when Nature was still and was expecting the parting Words of the One Who carne to show what Love of God is. On that ignominious day, the Redeemer, Lover of the world and man dies. Before His death He gives to man His own Mother to show that Love never dies; Love never suffers defeat; Love is everlasting, Love is God. Only a God can give His mother to us because only He can plumb the depth of the love of a Mother, Mother of God and Mother of Man. The Gospel of St. John depicts the seen "When Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son!' Then he said to his disciple, "Behold your mother!". And from that hour the disciple took her to his own house"(Jo 19:26-28).For us priests it is of utmost importance to reflect upon the person to whom Mary is entrusted to be taken care of. John is a priest, who was ordained the night before by the words: “Do this memory of me” of the Most High; who was resting on the breast of the Lord when he felt the heart of the love of God and of man. Two testaments are signed: one with the blood of the Son of Man and the other with a commission Hence we can say that the Lord before departing from this world left Mary to us and we are given to Mary. Mary is therefore, in a special way Mother of Priests. This has two consequences: Mary is the Mother of Priests. It is not by chance Jesus said "Behold your Mother'. Among the parting words of Jesus before his giving up His person to the Father, narrated by John in bis gospel he puts this entrustment in the first place. It is good to imagine the scene. Jesus is writhing in pain on the tree of the Cross; redemption of the world is being completed. Jesus looks around in this agonizing moment There are only a few people; some are jeering; some want Him to come down tram the Cross to prove his divinity; the soldiers so accustomed to crucifixion are indifferent for them Jesus is one more malefactor.

Jesus sees Mary His Mother, and the disciple whom Jesus loved. This was not by chance. Mary the Mother knew everything of Man Jesus right from His conception until his death and burial. It is enough to ask any mother about their children. She had 'kept hidden everything in her heart meditating on them'.

The priest therefore must love Mary as Jesus loved her as his mother. We must consult her, ask her advice, plead for her assistance, seek her guidance, follow her instruction, arouse confidence and increase our trust and implore her help.

This is not just a sentimental act, a desire of the human heart, a chance occurrence but a deliberate choice of Jesus, His manifest will. Hence the entrustment has a theological aspect. In truth we can say Mary is the Mother of priests. Mary is my Mother. Our Blessed Mother enters into the life of priests through the initiative of the dying Christ. It is not an initiative of man.

The water that was changed into wine will take place through the hands of a priest when he baptises one, when he extends his hand on a neophyte, when he consecrates the bread for sacrifice, sinners are changed into saints and go in peace, his parting blessing gives courage and strength to a parting soul. The first miracle takes place at the intercession of the Mother of Jesus and every priest continues to do so when he administers the sacraments. Mary is still interceding with her son to carry on working miracles through the hands of his son, priest.

The hour that was awaited to perform the miracle of Cana is actually realized now on the altar of Calvary. The priest is almost always present for the hour of salvation of the faithful. In these moments Mary is always interceding to anticipate the hour! May we not say “for this reason, the priest, standing in the presence of the verum Corpus natum de Maria Virgine on the altar and speaking in the name of the liturgical assembly, says in the words of the canon: “We honour Mary, the ever-virgin mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God” ¹

Mary is cooperating with Jesus in the birth of the Church. There is no Church without her Son and his brother priests!

We must be convinced that this devotion is not only one that is subjective, my relationship with Mary is an objective situation of grace, of communion, of charity, of faith, of hope which I must live and realize. It is only a natural consequence that priests should have frequent reference to Mary in their life as priests.

To ask her that we belong to Christ totally as she was, till the end of her life. She is Mother of Faith; Mother of the Church and our Mother; a relationship of motherhood guaranteed by a stupendous fidelity, a relationship of son-ship that should grow and develop till it becomes a lasting communion through which we are priests never without Mary and always with Mary.

Each one of us receives special light and illumination to make this objective relationship personal and intimate. The Gospel says "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own house". What happened after that is covered in mystery. We can only imagine the indescribable love that existed between John and his Mother. We too have to take Mary into the home of our every day life.

“To be son of Mary and the Church-Mother is the first and most fundamental aspect of his whole existence as Christian. This applies equally to the successor of Peter, the bishops, the priests, as it does to any believer.² Fr. Potterie has a beautiful insight when he says that “our incorporation as children of God into the mystery of the Church, our mother, is more essential than the exercise of ministry in that Church”³. Mary is the Mother of the Church. Is it not then for a priest to be the son of Mary more essential than to minister to others?

Many priests do not play an extraordinary role in the mission of the Church. Mary is the unique example for us to imitate. In very ordinariness of our daily life always done in union with Christ and for Christ we make our daily life holy. Consecrated to God in her maternal womb she is totally pivoted to God and given up to God. The priests too by their ordination are consecrated to God in a new way and become living instruments of the eternal priest. Hence is it is through the sacred actions they perform every day as through their whole ministry in union with the bishop and their fellow-priests, they are made ready to attain that perfection which their Master demands.⁴

When we think of the Resurrection of Christ we must remember that He died and rose again, not like Lazarus who had come to life temporarily, but in the case of Christ it was a definitive transformation of human existence and a fullness of life, a new Life. So far only two of our nature have risen again: Jesus and Mary.

Mary is the sign of the hope of humanity and especially of priests.

To believe in the Resurrection, and to affirm that Christ has ascended to heaven and Mar was assumed into heaven do not mean that they live in the stratosphere and they have to make, who knows, what kind of a journey to reach us, but they live for us and they are present and working in our world, they are present and working in our world through a new paschal reality of the Resurrection.

Mary is, therefore, a personage really alive and working among us; through her assumption by which she participates fully in the resurrection of Christ is an incontestable truth of faith. The Church has proclaimed her universal motherhood. As ambassadors of God and continuators of Christ’s mission the priest can look to her as his final goal.

Not only has she become the intercessor par excellence after her Son for humanity. Her universal motherhood “continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.”⁵. This is the reason why the priest must have constant recourse to her because she is his “Advocate, Helper, Benefactress and Mediatrix”⁶

The title Helper is very much in place now when the world is beset with so many difficulties: lack of faith, decrease in vocations to ecclesiastical and religious life; an insatiable desire for pleasure (hedonism), human life is at the mercy of the rich and powerful without any moral code to restrain them; an almost rampant relativism in morals. She can be really called the “Madonna for difficult times”. She is the helper not only of individuals and communities, but also of the entire Church as she did once in saving her when her existence was attacked by those who were again her Son.

Seen under this light we may be able to grasp her many apparitions like those Lourdes and Fatima. This is the result of her real interest in humanity. Once we have authenticity of her apparitions we must not think that he has to come from somewhere. “Mary does not come, she does not need to come. For those who share in God’s glory, communication does no longer consist in local movements; the risen body is free from local limitations. Jesus is with us according to his promise: I shall be with you always. Without moving from place to place, we all live in his presence and receive life from him. In the same way, we are also lined with the saints through Jesus: we live in their communion and ⁷share in their intercession. So we are also related to Mary and her presence”

It is then the duty of the priest to inculcate in the faithful a genuine devotion to our Blessed Mother avoiding the pitfalls of pseudo-popular devotions that encourage vain credulity taking the faithful away from real commitment. In this context it is opportune to encourage priests to read the Apostolic exhortation Marialis Cultus of Paul VI.

The irruption of Mary into the life of many saints is easily explained when we know their great filial attachment, love, exchange of gifts, letters, visions that took place. We cannot expect that, we cannot even presume to have it but in our own little way we can take her to our little home. With her we shall more easily find out the design of the Father, enter into the heart of Christ. And understand the expectation of the Holy Spirit.

"O Mother of the Church,

in the midst of the disciples in the Upper Room you prayed to the Spirit

for the new People and their Shepherd;

obtain for the Order of Presbyters a full measure of gifts

O Queen of the Apostles" ⁸.

Mary is there in the upper room when the apostles expect the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is the mystery of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles when He took possession of them and gave them the courage to preach and bear witness to what Jesus had commanded them to do so.

Mary understands well what is meant by the irruption of the Holy Spirit because she had experienced His active and lasting presence through her immaculate conception, on the day of the Annunciation and on the beauty, splendour and humility of Christmas Night.

The Holy Spirit has transfigured her and made her so transparent reflection of the glory of God. And yet in fidelity she waits for the coming of the Holy Spirit she who was entirely His. It can be said that the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles not only because Christ has promised them the Holy Spirit but also through the prayers of Mary.

The presence of Mary in the upper room together with the priests, the apostles can teach us many things. She teaches us how to receive the Holy Spirit; she shows the way to attract the Holy Spirit into our existence. We always ask the Holy Spirit to illumine, strengthen, comfort and purify us let us also ask our Blessed Mother to pray with us for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The same Spirit is given to us in the Sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation and Ordination. We will never be capable of that openness to receive the Giver of Gifts as Mary was but in our own limited way we must try to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit that like the apostles we continue the mission of the Church started by them. It is said Mary’s prayer hastened the descent of the Holy Spirit on that day and she is doing the same today for her sons, the priests who are the vehicles of the Holy Spirit in the administration of the sacraments. .

Every priest must be convinced that Mary has an irreplaceable role in his life and ministry. He must base himself on solid doctrine and not on something ephemeral and merely passing. As far as it lies within his power he would be a propagator of true devotion to Mary echoing as it were the phrase of St. Bernard: “Concerning Mary we will never teach and preach sufficiently”. Who can adequately describe a mother and here is a question of the Mother of God? We experience our mother’s love and that is why words are inadequate to speak of her.

No wonder why Fr. Neuner says: “Far beyond the wall of the Church, Mary has inspired human life in its different aspects and awakened its deepest aspirations: culture, art, architecture, literature. Our art galleries are unthinkable without the masterpieces of Mary, created throughout the centuries, from the middle Ages up to our time. Poets and writers have ceaselessly sung Mary’s praises and composed volumes in her honour” ⁹

The decree of the Life and Ministry of priests exhorts “priests should always venerate and love her, with a filial devotion and worship as the Mother of the supreme and eternal Priest, as Queen of Apostles, and as protectress of their ministry”¹⁰

Mary will help her priests to have a profound consciousness of the history of salvation. Reinvigorate our fidelity in our vocation. Let us leave the future of our mission in her hands. She will certainly with the help of her Son make us overcome the problems and difficulties proper to our time. She will encourage us to a greater magnanimity in our service for others. Above as spouse of the Holy Spirit she will make us delve more deeply into the working of the Holy Spirit within us and within those for whom we care. She will teach us how to be contemplative in action.

It will be good if of every priest it can be said "he has a special devotion to Mary"; it must be a speciality that distinguishes him from the others priests "bringing her to his little home". "Mary is not merely a private individual who has made good in her private life: she is an irremovable and necessary factor in God's plan of his salvation-history. We are therefore always sustained by what she said. What she did is also a factor in our situation in salvation history".¹¹