Mary

From the beginning, Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Mother of God, the Mother of us all has been a consistent presence on the camino. On the first day, leaving Ste. Jean de pied a Porte, we were led on the beginning steps of the journey to a shrine in honor of Mary.

The first pilgrim on my journey was Kim, a young woman from Japan. She talked about her lack of faith and religion. But this shrine intrigued her. She wanted to know about Mary and why she was asked to be the mother of the Messiah at such am early age and why she had to be a virgin and conceive without a human father. Tough questions as we walked uphill for almost eight hours!

There is a beautiful and earthy image of Mary popular in Spain: Mary breast feeding Jesus with her two fingers placing her nipple inside the tiny mouth of the baby Jesus. It is beautiful and gentle, giving us a maternal image of God.

While many of the images of Mary focus on her and the infant Jesus, many depict her holding the lifeless body of her Son after he is taken down off the Cross; others show Mary as Queen, assumed into heaven. In most of these depictions, she holds us two fingers in honor of the two natured of Christ.

Mary has guided me as I prayed the mysteries of the rosary, day after day, the beads linking me with her Som. So many of you have placed Mary on my journey and in my footsteps with each Hail Mary you are praying for me.

Mary was poor in spirit, saying yes to the mysterious plan of God that had to cause her much pain; she mourns with each of us in all of our grievings as she wept at the foot of the cross; she lived meekness in surrendering to the will of God and not her own; her heart was focused on her love of her son and his mission; she felt the persecution in the rejection of her son; she was there at the birth of the church on Pentecost just as she was there at the birth of Jesus in the manger.

Mary sang a powerful hymn of prophetic revolution when God would
scatter the proud, cast down the mighty from thrones of power and then would lift up the lowly and feed the hungry.

We, all generations , call her "blessed" because she dared to speak those prophetic words and live all those eight beatitudes that we pray on this All
Saints Day.

Mary was not a goddess that we conveniently place on a pedestal making her untouchable and removed from our lives. She was first disciple before she was mother and her life was immersed in the prophetic Word.

Mary has been called the spouse of the Holy Spirit. We need her now more than ever in our church to inspire us to allow that Spirit to guide and fill our mission. She and the Spirit will help to breath new life in our church and its tired institutions and structures.

Mary is urging me on to complete the journey of the camino and make her
Magnificat my own Song of Praise.