"Mother of Mercy" (installment #2)

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MariaChristi

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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing to ponder Mary as, “Mother of Mercy”, we share the early Church’s awe of the Mystery of the Incarnation, that God humbled Himself to be born of a woman:
Christians were accustomed from the first to call the Blessed Virgin “the Mother of God,” because they saw that it was impossible to deny her this title without denying St. John’s words, “The Word” (that is, God the Son) “was made flesh.”…
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The title Theotokos [in Greek; God-bearer], as ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, begins with ecclesiastical writers of a date hardly later than that at which we read of her as the Second Eve. It first occurs in the works of Origen (185-254), but he, witnessing for Egypt and Palestine, witnesses also that it was in use before his time…(John Henry Newman, The Mystical Rose. Princeton: Scepter, 1996 edition, pp. 98, and 25-27).
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Mary is truly called “Mother of Mercy” because she is truly Mother of God from Whom all Mercy flows.

This morning, praying Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1: 46- 55), I heard the word “mercy” twice:
…Mary said:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age
to those who fear him.
He has shown might with his arm,
dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones
but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things;
the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped Israel his servant,
remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
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How beautifully the Lord has fashioned His Mother’s heart after His Own Heart! God had no beginning. Before time, God is; and He is Mercy. Mary sings for joy, her words: “His mercy is from age to age to those who fear Him”. Mary is carrying within her, Mercy Himself. She knew His Mercy through His Word, but knows His Mercy now in a new way, by her faith and her reverential fear of the Lord. Today, calling her “Mother of Mercy” we “Behold our Mother” as Jesus told us to do, obeying as John and the early Church did, and as all who love the Lord will continue to do from age to age, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mary is a daughter of Israel and knows the history of her people. She knows in receiving Jesus, God is remembering and fulfilling His Promise of Mercy in her. What joy in Mary’s words! Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaks! May we see and hear from our Mother, how to open our hearts to receive His Mercy. May we be perfected, like her, becoming truly a People of Mercy. May Mother Church shine in and for this world as a “Mother of Mercy” .
 
DIVES IN MISERICORDIA (On the Mercy of God)
Pope Saint John Paul II
  1. Mary is also the one who obtained mercy in a particular and exceptional way, as no other person has. At the same time, still in an exceptional way, she made possible with the sacrifice of her heart her own sharing in revealing God’s mercy.
  2. This sacrifice is intimately linked with the cross of her Son, at the foot of which she was to stand on Calvary. Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in the revelation of mercy, that is, a sharing in the absolute fidelity of God to his own love, to the covenant that he willed from eternity and that he entered into in time with man, with the people, with humanity; it is a sharing in that revelation that was definitively fulfilled through the cross.
  3. No one has experienced, to the same degree as the mother of the crucified one, the mystery of the cross, the overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with love: that “kiss” given by mercy to justice.[104] No one has received into his heart, as much as Mary did, that mystery, that truly divine dimension of the redemption effected on Calvary by means of the death of the Son together with the sacrifice of her maternal heart, together with her definitive fiat.
  4. Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy. She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the Mother of Mercy: our Lady of Mercy, or Mother of Divine Mercy; in each one of these titles there is a deep theological meaning, for they express the special preparation of her soul, of her whole personality, so that she was able to perceive, through the complex events, first of Israel, then of every individual and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which “from generation to generation”[105] people become sharers according to the eternal design of the Most Holy Trinity.
  5. The above titles which we attribute to the mother of God speak of her principally, however, as the mother of the crucified and risen one; as the one who, having obtained mercy in an exceptional way, in an equally exceptional way “merits” that mercy throughout her earthly life and, particularly, at the foot of the cross of her Son; and finally as the one who, through her hidden and at the same time incomparable sharing in the messianic mission of her Son, was called in a special way to bring close to people that love which he had come to reveal: the love that finds its most concrete expression vis-à-vis the suffering, the poor, those deprived of their own freedom, the blind, the oppressed and sinners, just as Christ spoke of them in the words of the prophecy of Isaiah, first in the synagogue at Nazareth[106] and then in response to the question of the messengers of John the Baptist.[107]
  6. It was precisely this “merciful” love, which is manifested above all in contact with moral and physical evil, that the heart of her who was the mother of the crucified and risen one shared in singularly and exceptionally—that Mary shared in. In her and through her, this love continues to be revealed in the history of the church and of humanity. This revelation is especially fruitful because in the mother of God it is based upon the unique tact of her maternal heart, on her particular sensitivity, on her particular fitness to reach all those who most easily accept the merciful love of a mother. This is one of the great life-giving mysteries of Christianity, a mystery intimately connected with the mystery of the incarnation.
  7. “The motherhood of Mary in the order of grace,” as the Second Vatican Council explains, “lasts without interruption from the consent which she faithfully gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without hesitation under the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect In fact, being assumed into heaven she has not laid aside this office of salvation but by her manifold intercession she continues to obtain for us the graces of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she takes care of the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.”[108]
  8. We have every right to believe that our generation too was included in the words of the mother of God when she glorified that mercy shared in “from generation to generation” by those who allow themselves to be guided by the fear of God. The words of Mary’s Magnificat have a prophetic content that concerns not only the past of Israel but also the whole future of the people of God on earth. In fact, all of us now living on earth are the generation that is aware of the approach of the third millennium and that profoundly feels the change that is occurring in history.
Peace
 
hazcompat said:
DIVES IN MISERICORDIA (On the Mercy of God)
Pope Saint John Paul II
  1. Mary is also the one who obtained mercy in a particular and exceptional way, as no other person has. At the same time, still in an exceptional way, she made possible with the sacrifice of her heart her own sharing in revealing God’s mercy.
  2. This sacrifice is intimately linked with the cross of her Son, at the foot of which she was to stand on Calvary. Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in the revelation of mercy, that is, a sharing in the absolute fidelity of God to his own love, to the covenant that he willed from eternity and that he entered into in time with man, with the people, with humanity; it is a sharing in that revelation that was definitively fulfilled through the cross.
  3. No one has experienced, to the same degree as the mother of the crucified one, the mystery of the cross, the overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with love: that “kiss” given by mercy to justice.[104] No one has received into his heart, as much as Mary did, that mystery, that truly divine dimension of the redemption effected on Calvary by means of the death of the Son together with the sacrifice of her maternal heart, together with her definitive fiat.
  4. Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God’s mercy. She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the Mother of Mercy: our Lady of Mercy, or Mother of Divine Mercy; in each one of these titles there is a deep theological meaning, for they express the special preparation of her soul, of her whole personality, so that she was able to perceive, through the complex events, first of Israel, then of every individual and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which “from generation to generation”[105] people become sharers according to the eternal design of the Most Holy Trinity.
  5. The above titles which we attribute to the mother of God speak of her principally, however, as the mother of the crucified and risen one; as the one who, having obtained mercy in an exceptional way, in an equally exceptional way “merits” that mercy throughout her earthly life and, particularly, at the foot of the cross of her Son; and finally as the one who, through her hidden and at the same time incomparable sharing in the messianic mission of her Son, was called in a special way to bring close to people that love which he had come to reveal: the love that finds its most concrete expression vis-à-vis the suffering, the poor, those deprived of their own freedom, the blind, the oppressed and sinners, just as Christ spoke of them in the words of the prophecy of Isaiah, first in the synagogue at Nazareth[106] and then in response to the question of the messengers of John the Baptist.[107]
  6. It was precisely this “merciful” love, which is manifested above all in contact with moral and physical evil, that the heart of her who was the mother of the crucified and risen one shared in singularly and exceptionally—that Mary shared in. In her and through her, this love continues to be revealed in the history of the church and of humanity. This revelation is especially fruitful because in the mother of God it is based upon the unique tact of her maternal heart, on her particular sensitivity, on her particular fitness to reach all those who most easily accept the merciful love of a mother. This is one of the great life-giving mysteries of Christianity, a mystery intimately connected with the mystery of the incarnation.
  7. “The motherhood of Mary in the order of grace,” as the Second Vatican Council explains, “lasts without interruption from the consent which she faithfully gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without hesitation under the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect In fact, being assumed into heaven she has not laid aside this office of salvation but by her manifold intercession she continues to obtain for us the graces of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she takes care of the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.”[108]
  8. We have every right to believe that our generation too was included in the words of the mother of God when she glorified that mercy shared in “from generation to generation” by those who allow themselves to be guided by the fear of God. The words of Mary’s Magnificat have a prophetic content that concerns not only the past of Israel but also the whole future of the people of God on earth. In fact, all of us now living on earth are the generation that is aware of the approach of the third millennium and that profoundly feels the change that is occurring in history.
Peace
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Thanks so much, dear hazcompat. I need to read that document again. I read it sometime ago, and the paragraphs you shared above are truly beautiful. How tender a son, St. John Paul II was on earth and is now in heaven, to our “best of all Mothers”! 🙂
 
MariaChristi said:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing to ponder Mary as, “Mother of Mercy”, we share the early Church’s awe of the Mystery of the Incarnation, that God humbled Himself to be born of a woman:

Mary is truly called “Mother of Mercy” because she is truly Mother of God from Whom all Mercy flows.

This morning, praying Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1: 46- 55), I heard the word “mercy” twice:

How beautifully the Lord has fashioned His Mother’s heart after His Own Heart! God had no beginning. Before time, God is; and He is Mercy. Mary sings for joy, her words: “His mercy is from age to age to those who fear Him”. Mary is carrying within her, Mercy Himself. She knew His Mercy through His Word, but knows His Mercy now in a new way, by her faith and her reverential fear of the Lord. Today, calling her “Mother of Mercy” we “Behold our Mother” as Jesus told us to do, obeying as John and the early Church did, and as all who love the Lord will continue to do from age to age, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mary is a daughter of Israel and knows the history of her people. She knows in receiving Jesus, God is remembering and fulfilling His Promise of Mercy in her. What joy in Mary’s words! Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaks! May we see and hear from our Mother, how to open our hearts to receive His Mercy. May we be perfected, like her, becoming truly a People of Mercy. May Mother Church shine in and for this world as a “Mother of Mercy” .
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Thank you for your beautiful posts concerning our Blessed Mother and her title as “Mother of Mercy.” I have just a few quick fascinating comments concerning Mary as “Mother of Mercy” taken from the deep theological reflections of that great apostle of Mary, St Maximilian Kolbe which you may be already aware of. The mercy and compassion of God towards us in the forgiveness of our sins and the sanctification of our souls is a work of His love. And Love in the Trinity is personified in the Holy Spirit. Our rebirth in the life of grace, though the work of the whole Trinity, is appropriated to the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures as St Paul says “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Accordingly, St Maximilian Kolbe sees our Blessed Lady, the Mother of Mercy, as the created visible manifestation and personification of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love of the Father and the Son. The maternal love of Mary not only for Jesus Christ, her divine Son, but also for all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, as she is our Mother in the order of divine grace, is a sign and manifestation of a tender and maternal love in the bosom of the Trinity itself which is personified in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the love the Father and the Son have for each other and in the mind of St Maximilian, our Blessed Lady is a sign and visible manifestation of this tender and maternal love in the bosom of the Trinity which is the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is the bond of Love uniting the Father and the Son. Thus, St Maximilian says that Mary is the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Very beautiful words and thought of St Maximilian I think. As the Holy Spirit is uncreated Love itself, Mary is created love and mercy itself; a created manifestation of the Holy Spirit himself.
 
Richca said:
Thank you for your beautiful posts concerning our Blessed Mother and her title as “Mother of Mercy.” I have just a few quick fascinating comments concerning Mary as “Mother of Mercy” taken from the deep theological reflections of that great apostle of Mary, St Maximilian Kolbe which you may be already aware of. The mercy and compassion of God towards us in the forgiveness of our sins and the sanctification of our souls is a work of His love. And Love in the Trinity is personified in the Holy Spirit. Our rebirth in the life of grace, though the work of the whole Trinity, is appropriated to the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures as St Paul says “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Accordingly, St Maximilian Kolbe sees our Blessed Lady, the Mother of Mercy, as the created visible manifestation and personification of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Love of the Father and the Son. The maternal love of Mary not only for Jesus Christ, her divine Son, but also for all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, as she is our Mother in the order of divine grace, is a sign and manifestation of a tender and maternal love in the bosom of the Trinity itself which is personified in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the love the Father and the Son have for each other and in the mind of St Maximilian, our Blessed Lady is a sign and visible manifestation of this tender and maternal love in the bosom of the Trinity which is the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is the bond of Love uniting the Father and the Son. Thus, St Maximilian says that Mary is the quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Very beautiful words and thought of St Maximilian I think. As the Holy Spirit is uncreated Love itself, Mary is created love and mercy itself; a created manifestation of the Holy Spirit himself.
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Dear Richca,

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, I am familiar with the work of St. Maximilian Kolbe. The book *Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit * was the first book of his writings in which I read this saint’s insight that Mary is a “quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit”. St. Maximilian was a careful theologian and is careful to distinguish what he is saying from any sort of heresy. His words need to be read carefully. Mary is not a member of the Holy Trinity! She is not God, but the Holy Spirit has overshadowed Mary in such a unique way that we can rightly call her the Spouse of the Holy Spirit, It is the Holy Spirit Who is the Divine Person of the Trinity proceeding from Father and Son and is their Love personified.

God is Love and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Love filling Mary with Grace. She is our completely human Mother yet so graced by His Mercy we stand in awe and gratitude as her children. Mother of Mercy, pray for us that we may be sons and daughters of Mercy,
 
Wow, such rich reflections! Mother of Mercy, pray for us that we may show mercy and be granted salvation!
 
liturgy96 said:
Wow, such rich reflections! Mother of Mercy, pray for us that we may show mercy and be granted salvation!
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Thanks for your reply, liturgy96.

Yes, both hazcompat and Richca have added much to this installment #2. As we begin the Month of November, I am mindful of our opportunities to show mercy on our suffering brothers and sisters in Purgatory. Let us pray for them that they may soon gaze upon Our Lady and Jesus in heaven.

Mother of Mercy intercede for the poor souls in purgatory. Let our prayers for them reach the Lord through your merciful hands. Continue, please, Mother of Mercy to intercede for all of us who continue our journey on earth – especially those in most need of God’s Mercy.
 
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