There are numerous titles given to
Blessed Virgin Mary throughout history of the Church. The present Pope Francis
has often emphasized the topic of mercy in the Church in the recent years. When
we begin to look at the reasons, we find that his own episcopal motto is “Choosing
with mercy.” Moreover, he had declared a Jubilee Year of Mercy from December 8,
2015 to November 20, 2016. During the Jubilee year, the Pope had opened the
doors of the four major Basilicas in Rome, especially the Holy door at the
Basilica of Mary Major drew a connection between the jubilee year of mercy and
Mary, Mother of mercy.[1]
In this regard, Pope Francis had connected Mother Mary as the door of mercy and
the whole church need to allow her to intercede and to encounter Jesus her Son.
The followers of Jesus and the members of the Church should learn from Mother
Mary, who had conceived in her heart prior to her womb. This was possible to
her because of her obedience to God and kept an open heart towards the
direction of the Holy Spirit to transmit the power of mercy of God to the whole
creation. Similarly, Pope Francis in
the year 2013 has penned a letter to show his closeness to Fr Pasqualino Di Dio, founder of the Little House
of Mercy, in Sicily, Italy, in which he
encouraged all those who collaborate in this good project to the
tenderness and mercy of the Father, in sharing the solidarity to the weakest and
the most discouraged.[2]
During the time of pandemic the maternal role of Blessed Virgin Mary would be a
great help to the whole Church to experience the mercy of God.
Significance of the Term Mercy
Looking at the
Hebrew root word hesed which means mercy, righteousness, sentiments
etc., that makes another person dependable and worthy to experience mercy.[3]
Scholars are of the opinion that the human and the divine attitudes are
designated in this. In addition to this, the common word in the bible for mercy
is emet which means solidity, steadfastness, loyalty,[4]
but the New Testament uses eleos which is broader than mercy as a duty
of one person to the another, readiness to associate with the other person who
is in need.[5] Generally, the term mercy is
understood as the emotion roused by contact with an affliction which comes
undeservedly on someone. It is seen as the distress of others as one’s own. In
addition to this, the Oxford dictionary defines the term ‘mercy’ as ‘pity’, ‘compassion or forbearance’, ‘charity’, ‘forgiveness’, ‘to help someone in great need’ for a suffering person.[6]
It is the compassionate sorrow at another’s misfortune together with a will to
alleviate it. [7]
Thus, the encounter of love and misery gives birth to mercy.
Biblical Understanding of Mercy
God’s
mercy manifested in his saving acts of forgiveness of individuals. (Deut 13.17,
Ps 25.6, Hos 1:6-7). It is the mercy of God that matters, not any human will or
endeavor, for one’s survival. Therefore, the mercy of God is often associated
with covenant with the people of Israel. Similarly, the mercy of God was
understood as His saving will and of love for everyone. In the face of
unfortunate this emotion includes the elements of both awe and mercy.[8]
In the OT context we understand mercy as an attitude of God which arises out of
a mutual relationship with the human person. It is the attitude one expects of
the other in a real relationship. Thus, the relationship of mutual mercy arises
between relatives, friends, hosts and guests, masters, and subjects in the
covenantal relationship which will be understood as a helpful act corresponding
to a relationship of trust, faithfulness as the appropriate attitude. In human
relationships, the element of obligation may yield before that of favour, but
on the side of God it denotes grace. However, from the biblical points of view
mercy is described as the readiness of God to come to the aid of his distressed
creature out of free grace. Moreover, human experience of God as the God of
mercy, compassion and forgiveness which can be seen both in the OT and in the
NT. The general notion of mercy must be understood as an actual attitude of God
towards sinful man.[9] God in his bountiful mercy
shares his love and kindness to every human person, who is the image of God. In
the religious usage God’s mercy always means His faithful and merciful help. We
remember that God keeps his covenant promises despite man’s unfaithfulness.
Thus, primarily mercy denotes not a disposition but the act or demonstration of
assisting in faithfulness. Moreover, the NT denotes the showing of love and the
act of mercy to be extended to the loving kindness in its general sense.[10]
The loving kindness of God and the human person must be understood as an act of
mercy.
Fullness of Grace
God granted
Mary the fullness of grace. According to Luke, the Evangelist, the angel
addresses Mary, “O highly favoured one” (Lk 1.28). This emphasizes the
predominant aspect which the Lord perceived in the person of Mary. “Highly
favoured one”, “Full of grace” or “Made full of grace” or “Filled with grace”
clearly indicate that this was a gift given by God. In this connection, Pope
John Paul II clearly states, “From the first moment of her conception she
belonged to Christ, sharing in the salvific and sanctifying grace through the
power of the Holy Spirit, Mary receives life from him to whom she herself gave
life as a mother”.[11]
The extraordinary and gratuitous nature of God’s intervention becomes clear.
Moreover, grace understood in the sense of sanctifying grace which produces
personal holiness, brought about the new creation in Mary making her fully
conformed to God’s plan. This grace, according to the Letter to the Ephesians
(6:1) is bestowed in Christ and on all the believers. The original holiness of
Mary represents the unsurpassable model of the gift and the distribution of
Christ’s grace. The grace has a quality that places it above the grace
possessed by any other person. It is uncontaminated grace. Thus, the Catholic
Church calls Blessed Virgin Mary in this title “Immaculate”, which naturally
means perfect and without any mistake. It is because of this Mother Mary is
called store of grace, the same grace that filled Christ Himself. God’s grace
consists in the gift of oneself. And thus, we say, “The grace of God has
appeared for the salvation of all men” (Titus 2.11). Therefore, the Immaculate
Conception implies that Mary was full of grace from the beginning of her life.
She was preserved by the power of God because of her fiat and obedience
to the will of God. Hence, grace, we understand as love, freedom, strength, and
promise.[12] Every individual who has
received the grace / favour from God is protected with the same power. Mother
Mary in her total yes to the divine plan of God is completely free before God
and she is responsible for humanity.
The Magnificat and Mercy
The Catechism of the Catholic
Church clearly defines that the Virgin Mary “Co-operated through free faith and obedience in human salvation”.[13]
In total obedience to the saving will of God she expressed her strong “Yes” to
God. Similarly, Mary expresses her own sense of lowliness on the other side, “My
soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour for he has
looked on the humble estate of his servant” (Lk 1:47-48). This reveals the
experience of Mary and the hand of God upon her. God is not only the Almighty
to whom nothing is impossible, but also the merciful, capable of tenderness and
fidelity towards every human person. God has bestowed that mercy on Blessed
Virgin Mary. This is understood when She encountered the angel in the meeting
experiencing the mercy of God.
The song of Mary, the Magnificat
(Lk 1:47-55) opens with the declaration of her intention to magnify God. This
stands parallel to the affirmation that she has found joy in God enabling her
in a miraculous way. This happy state exists because God has regard for the
afflicted state of his servant. It is not that Mary has some personal and
individual affliction. Analysing the first part of the Magnificat moves to the
climax by taking a broader view of Mary’s experience as demonstrating the
holiness of God, which brought mercy for all generations. This act of God’s
mercy is for generations upon generation of those who fear him (Lk 1:54-55).
The second part of the Magnificat moves to the climax of showing God’s mercy to
all the descendants. It is the mercy promised to the patriarchs and Abraham and
his descendants for ever. As we read in the Psalm 25:6 “Your mercy and
steadfast love have been from of old”, so also God has bestowed his mercy upon
Mary from her conception. As George states “Poverty of spirit manifests through
her interior attitudes like dependence on God, humility and admission of
personal limits, availability, detachment and openness to others”.[14]
The Magnificat of Mary is an eloquent expression of this beautiful virtue. She
loved the Lord God with all her heart, all her soul, all her mind and all her
strength (Mk 12:30) to reveal the mercy of God to everyone.
In addition to this, Blessed Virgin
Mary facilitates our encounter with Christ as a maternal and saving presence in
the Church, which can fully grasp her union with Christ and her service to the
Gospel only through a deep knowledge and love of Blessed Mother. As Mary is
associated with Christ in his salvific mission, so also the Church is associated
with him in continuing the same work through the centuries. Moreover, on
Calvary the Church collaborated in her own salvation in Mary, who in her faith,
love, and obedience shines forth as the model of mercy.[15]
Mary is the clearest expression of the essence of the Church and the model of
the spiritual attitude with which the Church celebrates and lives the divine
mysteries.
Blessed Virgin Mary – Mother of Mercy
The rich
sense of an act of faithfulness and the loving kindness can be understood in
the life of Mother Mary. She kept the word of God in her heart and was
pondering. Moreover, she responded to the plan of God by her obedience to the
will of God. In the life of Mary, as the evangelist explains clearly, when the
angel appeared and greeted, “Hail full of grace, do not be afraid Mary, for you
have found grace with God” (Luke 1:28-30). This greeting of angel “full of
grace” which is the identity of God’s favour and mercy. She is the first and
foremost a person who is dear to God from all eternity. Hence Mary can be
clearly understood as the real living manifestation of grace.[16]
Here the grace signifies the absolute gratuitous favour, freely given,
similarly, where grace denotes a quality inherent in the person, seen as the
effect of divine favour which makes a person beautiful, attractive, and
amiable. Moreover, Mary found favour with God, the grace which filled the heart
and soul because of her holiness as the Church has declared Immaculate from her
conception was possible because of her obedience. Mother Mary is called Mother
of mercy because she is compassionate toward all and eager to help the sinners.
God the Father has revealed His
mercy in and through his Son Jesus (Jn 3:16-18). Jesus became a human person
not to condemn the humanity but to forgive and to manifest the mercy of God in
and through his word and deed (Mt 9:13). Human beings are sinful, and no human
sin can erase the mercy of God. Indeed, sin itself makes even more radiant the
love of God the Father. This love of God has been manifested and transferred to
us from His Son Jesus. In the words of Pope St. John Paul II in Veritatis
Splendor explains the role of Blessed
Virgin Mary “Mercy reaches its fullness in
the gift of the Spirit who bestows new life and demands that it be lived, the
Spirit renews the face of the earth (Ps 104:30), makes possible the miracle of
the perfect accomplishment of the good. This renewal gives the ability to do
what is good, noble, beautiful, pleasing to God and in conformity with the gift
of mercy because of her Son, Jesus”.[17]
Blessed Virgin Mary is Mother of Mercy because it is to her that Jesus entrusts
his Church and the whole humanity. At the foot of the Cross when she accepts
John as her son (Lk 23:34), Mary experiences the richness and the universality
of God’s love and opens her heart and enables it to embrace the entire human
race. Thus, Mary becomes Mother of every one of us to obtain for us the divine
mercy.[18]
Mary shares our human condition, but
in complete openness to the grace of God. She understands sinful human person and
loves every individual with a Motherly love. Moreover, Blessed Virgin
Mary is the mother of mercy because she bore in her womb the very face of the
divine mercy. Mother Mary is called by all as Mother of Mercy it is because of
the mercy of Jesus toward human beings that has made Mother Mary merciful. [19]
Precisely for this reason she is on
the side of truth and shares the Church’s burden in recalling always and to
everyone the demands of mercy. Mary’s presence on calvary encourages us to
understand the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in her life.
However, the Second Vatican Council offers us a criterion for discerning
authentic Marian doctrine: “Mary occupies a place in the Church which is
highest after Christ and closest to us”.[20]
We can understand this lofty position granted to Mary in the mystery of
salvation. The entire teaching of salvation history invites us to look to the
Virgin Mary as a model of perfect adherence to the will of God. Recalling the
unbelievably beautiful expressions of the Letter to the Ephesians: “God who is
rich in mercy out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph 2.4). The
Council affirms with the title to God “Most merciful” the son born of a woman
is thus seen as the fruit of the Father’s mercy and enables us to understand
the mother of mercy. This reminds us of the unique bond uniting Mary with the
Holy spirit. Everything in fact comes from the will of the Father, who has sent
his Son into the world, revealing him to men and establishing him as the Head
of the Church. This is the plan that was fulfilled by the Incarnation, the work
of the Holy Spirit, but with the essential co-operation of the Virgin Mary, who
became an integral part in the economy of communicating the love of God the whole
humanity.
From Cana to Calvery
The role played by Mother Mary is a
mediating role. It was because of her fiat the Son of God truly
became flesh, Jesus the human person. The mediatory role of Mother is intricately
linked to her virginity and the conception. The human engendering of the Word
made flesh was the work of God the Father, which was realized in the womb of a
woman who was entirely disposed of the action of God in her. The element of
faith that the Evangelist John emphasizes to believe in his name (Jn 1.12). It
is faith that opens for all men this possibility. Mother Mary by her faith and
obedience to God allowed her to take part in the plenitude to communicate the
gift of being able to share in his divine mercy. Moreover, at the
salutation of the Angel Mary was transformed by grace (Lk 1.28); it was the
grace of being a virgin and when the plan of God is announced to her that she
will become the mother of the Son of God (Lk 1.38).
This role
of mediation can be clearly seen at Cana as well as at the Cross. At Cana Jesus
never said anything first but it is Mary took the initiative and told the
servants “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2.5). A similar remark can be seen
according to the description of the Evangelist Mother was standing between the
Cross of Jesus and the disciples He loved (Jn 19:25-26). Here also she is
standing in a position of mediation between Jesus and the disciple. However, we
find that there is one mediator between God and man, Jesus who gave himself as
a ransom for all (1Tim 2:5-6). Jesus Christ alone is the perfect mediator
between God and man. But Mother Mary shares in the one mediation of Christ in
accomplishing the redemption of the world in distributing the gifts of eternal
salvation obtained from the cross. As Pope John Paul II explains, “The first
moment of submission to the one mediation between God and man – is Jesus, but
the acceptance of Virgin Mary pervaded by her spousal attitude as handmaid of
the Lord constitutes the first and fundamental dimension of that mediation
which the Church confesses and proclaims in her regard”.[21]
The task of mediation in distributing all the grace of redemption is performed
in intimate union with the Holy Spirit (Lk 1.35). Mother Mary is the human
instrument of the Holy Spirit in the work of sanctification. It is the Holy
Spirit wills to distribute all his heavenly gifts of grace and mercy.
Conclusion
Down through the centuries, Mother
Mary is called with numerous titles that are expressions of her love and mercy.
Mary’s titles are enshrined in the Litany of Loreto. One of the important
exhortations that we find as Mother of mercy. This title “Mother of mercy” gives
us encouragement to imitate her virtues. She was the first one to receive the
salvation inaugurated in Jesus. Mary is an act of grace and she proclaims the
salvation of God to all (Lk 1:54-55). God’s mercy is his active faithfulness to
his covenant commitment to Israel. This is not a general statement about the
character of God as a declaration of what God has demonstrated in his action
upon Mary. God’s mercy now embraces all the future. The move from Mary’s
individual experience to what has been accomplished for all Israel is now
achieved in Mary.
Blessed
Virgin Mary by her very fact of her obedience and the faith she had in God is
revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit. She humbled herself before the power
of God and God has made Mary as an instrument to share the grace and mercy to
the whole universe. In this context, Pope Francis made a special prayer to
Mother Mary “We fly to your
protection, O Holy Mother of God”, in the present tragic situation, when the
whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to you, Mother of God and
our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection. Virgin Mary, turn your
merciful eyes towards us amid this coronavirus pandemic. Mother of God
and our Mother pray for us to God, the Father of mercies, that this great
suffering may end and that hope, and peace may dawn anew. This prayer of
the Pope Francis expresses that through the intercession of Blessed Mother for
the whole humanity would experience forgiveness, salvation, and mercy.
[1]
One of the most cherished
titles of Mary is that of “Mother of Mercy” which appears in the Litany of
Loreto. This title goes back at least to the 3rd century. In a new
form of prayer “We fly to your patronage” has the word “mercy” in the place of
“patronage”. Many saints from the Middle ages have bestowed this title on Mary:
Peter Damian, Bernard, and others. As a matter of fact, St. Alphonsus claimed
it was Mary who in a vision to St. Bridget gave this title to herself. I am the
Queen of heaven and the Mother of Mercy. Cf. Anthony Buono, ed., Dictionary
of Mary, Mumbai: St. Paul’s, 2006, p.315.
[2]
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-11/pope-little-house-of-mercy-a-beacon-of-light-and-hope.html, accessed on 25.11.2020.
[3]
John Mckenzie, Dictionary of the Bible, Bangalore: ATC, 2002, p. 565.
[4]
John Mckenzie, Dictionary of the Bible, p.566.
[5]
John Mckenzie, Dictionary of the Bible, p. 567, Cf. Gerhard Kittel, Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 2, Michigan: WM.B Eerdmans Publishing
Company, p.477
[6]
Della Thompson, ed., The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1999, p.853.
[7]
J.M. Perrin, “Mercy”, William
McDonald, ed., New Catholic Encylopedia, Washington: Jack Heraty &
Associates, 1967, Vol. IX, p.673.
[8]
Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 2, p. 477.
[9]
Adolf Darlap, “Mercy”, Karl
Rahner, ed., Encyclopedia of Theology, Mumbai: St. Paul’s, 2004, p.954.
[10]
Gerhard Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. 2, p.
483.
[11]
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, No.10.
[12]
R.K. Samy, ed., Mary in our Search for Fullness of Life, Bangalore:
NBCLC, 2006, p.48.
[13]
CCC. 511.
[14]
George Kaitholil, Mary: The
Pilgrime of Faith, Mumbai: St. Paul’s, 1998, p.37.
[15]
Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Mary: Glimpes of the Mother of Jesus,
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995, p.93.
[16]
Raniero Cantalamessa, Mary Mirror of the Church, Bangalore: I.J.A. Publications,
1998, p.17.
[17]
Pope John Paul II, Veritatis
Splendor, No. 118.
[18]
Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Mary: Glimpes of the Mother of Jesus, p.95.
[19]
Anthony Buono, ed., Dictionary
of Mary, p. 315.
[20]
Lumen Gentium, No. 54.
[21]
Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris
Mater, No. 38.
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