I thought about writing this on the Feast of Mother Mary Assumption, but it was way passed. Nevertheless, better late than never. I find that the story of her life, as found in the Bible, contains several things that we can learn from. As a woman, she has outstanding characters that we can use as a model for our lives.
First of all, she had such a great courage and faith to do what the Lord asked her to. I think this is one of her strongest virtues, and the most important one too. Just imagine how much courage it took to become pregnant before getting married in that period of time. She could have been stoned to death by the public if her fiancee decided to punish her. Yet, she decided to trust that God will somehow give her a way to survive and made His will completed. So she said yes. This might seem like a simple thing but it is not always easy to do, "saying yes to God." Difficulty, inconvenience, fear, busyness with the world, and many other things can block us from wanting to do what God requests. In situations when the future is unknown and seems quite dark and gloomy, it would be great if we can have the faith like Mary's and trust that God will give us a way and then proceed and do what He asks of us.
Secondly, she was quite humble. The words she said in response to the angel was "I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done unto me as you have said." And in the Magnificat, she said, referring to herself, as "the lowliness of his handmaid". She always viewed herself as as servant to God, not anyone powerful or important. As I have written before in another post, humility has many advantages. It keeps us away from the sin of Pride and actually makes life easier to live. So this is also a virtue that we can learn from her.
Thirdly, she always pondered things in her mind after important events or after hearing significant things. She thought about what Priestess Anna said to her about the Sword that would pierce her soul. She thought about the event when young Jesus said, "Don't you know that I have to be in Father's house?" when he disappeared on the way back from Jerusalem and she found him talking to the temple teachers. We can take Mother Mary as an example and learn from experiences in our life. Think deeply about how events teach us and what God is talking to us from those events.
Fourthly, she was kind and helpful to other people and respond to their needs. Mother Mary stayed with Elizabeth (Mother of John the Baptist) who was much older than her for three months and she was being helpful to Elizabeth, taking care of chores in her house during the time that she stayed there. When she joined the wedding ceremony in Cana, she noticed that they were running of wine and she decided to help without anyone asking. We can imagine that Mother Mary was one very kind woman who was nice and loving to other fellow human beings. This is a great example and a good virtue that we should learn from her.
Fifthly, she gives us a very good example of how to pray and make petition to the Lord. In Cana, at first Jesus did not say yes to her request for he said "my time has not yet come." However, her faith was so strong and she ordered the servant to follow Jesus' command right away. She did not give up after hearing "no" but she acted right away as if knowing that the Lord will surely help those in need and grant her this request. This is a clear example of very strong faith and persistence in prayer. In addition, she never expected God to do anything specific, she let God be God. She firstly asked Jesus to "Do something." She did not ask him to "find them more wine" or "make the wine double itself." She knew that God knows best and so she let the method be up to God. She also said to the servant, "whatever he asked you to do, do it." This is definitely a great example we can learn from when we pray. Be persistent in our request for help , yet we have to let God do what is best and not thinking that our way is best.
The last and most difficult one to follow is that Mother Mary never left Jesus even in the darkest and the most suffering moments. She followed him along the way that he carried the cross. She stood by his side as he was being crucified. No doubt, her heart was broken, her agony was extreme, and her soul was pierced yet she accepted all that and stayed with Jesus to the very end. The most difficult thing about being Christian is that we have to accept hard times and sufferings, yet not letting of our faith. I think Mother Mary has shown this clearly in her life, but it is up to us whether we can follow her to that very end.
My patron name is Mary. If I wan to take her life as a model, I should (1) Have "a lot" of faith and obey whatever God requests of me. (2) Be humble, (3) Be reflective and thoughtful about the experience in my life, (4) Be kind to other human being and respond to their needs, (5) Be persistent in prayer yet let the answer be up to God because He knows best, and (6) Accept suffering quietly but never let go of faith
These sound like the critical core of walking the Christian path. Well, they are not easy to do, actually. Please help me Mother Mary. All I can promise you is that I will try.
