Mary was more than the Mother of Jesus. She was also the mother of John. And why not call her the mother of all the disciples? Wasn’t that the task she received from the dying Redeemer? So then, she was simply and plainly, The Mother, without any additional specification.
We shall see in another part of this book that Jesus is leading Mary by means of painful and bewildering lessons from a mere human maternity to one in faith and in spirit. Mary had given birth to Jesus in Bethlehem according to the flesh. Now, the time was coming for Jesus’ birth according to the Spirit –– Pentecost –– the Lord needed a mother in the spirit.
And in this way Jesus was preparing Mary by means of an evolutionary transformation for that spiritual function. This explains how in the gospels Jesus seems to be minimizing her mere human maternity. Now that the day of Pentecost has arrived Mary was prepared. Now she is the Spiritual Mother: her appearance now is one of protecting and enlightening that first group of twelve who were to make up the Body of the Church.
As indicated in the gospels, Mary was never a passive or an indifferent woman. She boldly questioned the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:34). She herself took the initiative and rapidly set out crossing mountains to help Elizabeth in the late days of her pregnancy. (Luke 1:39) In the cave of Bethlehem, she alone handled her complicated and difficult moment of giving birth to the Lord. (Luke 2:7)
When her son was lost, the Mother didn’t sit on her hands and remain paralyzed.
She quickly took the first caravan and set out again for Jerusalem. She returned and moved heaven and earth for three days looking for him. (Luke 2:46) At the marriage feast of Cana, while all were enjoying themselves, the problem was only noticed by her. She realized that they needed wine. She took the initiative and without bothering anybody, and went about solving the problem quietly. And she succeeded!
At another particular time, when it was noted that Jesus was not well, she arrived at a house in Capharnaum to take him away, or at least take care of him. And on Mount Calvary when “all was finished” and nothing more could be done, only then, yes, she remained still, standing, in silence. (John 19:25)
In Bethlehem, in Egypt or even in Nazareth, Jesus was nothing without his Mother. She taught him to eat, to walk, to speak. Mary probably did those very things with the newborn church. She was always behind the scenes. The disciples always knew where the Mother was…in John’s house. Was it not Mary who brought together the group of those who were committed to Jesus, who encouraged and exhorted them to keep on praying? (Acts 1:14)
It’s easy to think of what a woman of like personality would do in the delicate circumstances of the early church. Without exaggerating the actual situation and the normal way of acting for a woman like Mary, I could well imagine, without equivocation, what Mary was doing in the heart of that nascent Church.
Extracted from the book “The Silence of Mary” by Fr. Ignacio Larrañaga
