Mary and the Church

The texts today in the Roman Catholic Lectionary are in celebration of what Eileen Burke-Sullivan of Creighton University refers to as a liturgical diptych. A diptych is two paintings which are attached to each other and inform the meaning of each other. Yesterday, the Church reflected on the Love of Jesus through visual imagination of His Sacred Heart and His complete self giving to humanity. The response of humanity to this Love comes through the Church personified in the image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Catholic Tradition is rich in mystical experience of Mary as advocate for humanity when we are found to be deep in the consequences of our sinful decisions. Eileen Burke-Sullivan  is stuck by the violent events of the Middle East and the natural disasters which present a world far from the state promised by God to those who follow His Will. Friar Jude Winkler comments that the text today from the Book of Lamentations is a long series of dirges mourning the destruction of Jerusalem. Naftali Silberberg comments on the authorship and the literary style of the Book of Lamentations through which we are made aware of subtle techniques used by the author to convey deeper meaning in the style and format of writing. The journey of faith is one of the heart and the mystical. The Gospel from Luke today invites us to join Friar Jude Winkler in consideration of the maturing process of Jesus. In this text, He publicly announces His status as Son of God as He offers to Mary the meditation for her heart about Jesus being about His Father’s business. The intellectual statement of Jesus mission is in the Temple at the age of Jewish maturity. Is this something His humanity had always known or is this the revelation to His human intellect of His mission? The literary technique of foreshadowing is used by Luke. This event where Jesus is away from Mary (the Church) for three days, on His Father’s Business may foreshadow His death and time in tomb. Mary is in Catholic Tradition as the one who suffered in her heart with Jesus, as Mother with Son. She is the personification of the Church and the example of her love is the response of the Church to the Love of God. Her intercession in lives and human events is the mystical continuation of the calling of God to humanity to return to relationship with the Divine. Deeply personal and deeply mystical is the resonance of our heart with the Immaculate Heart of Mary.