What DId Mary Know?

“What did he know… and when did he know it?” There are questions heard in so many circles today, especially political and ecclesiastical.

I have been doing much thinking and praying about the Marian feasts of the Assumption and the Queenship of Mary. It has dawned on me how these feasts speak to the questions of the day. It came together for me as I was preparing for the Miraculous Medal Novena services yesterday.

We can not understand the Queenship of Mary apart from the Kingship of Christ.

Christ’s kingship is a servant kingship. He lay down his life for us. On the night before he suffered and was executed, he did something so extraordinary that his disciples did not understand it. He washed their feet. We cannot imagine the Queen of England washing the feet of commoners!) Then, knowing they probably did not understand he pointedly asks them, “Do you understand what I have done? If I  your master (King) have washed your feet I want you to wash each other’s feet.

He went further and said, “Do this in memory of me!” Be God’s love to one another to the degree I have l shown the love of God who lifts up the lowly. His kingship is a serving kingship. This tells us a lot about Mary’s Queenship.

The following reflection on what  Mary knew is taken from the full text.

Queenship of Mary

What do we learn about Mary’s Queenship from the kind of king Jesus was? We learn Mary is a servant queen.  When Mary said, “Yes,” she, in effect,  said yes to being the servant revealing love just as Jesus manfested love in both his life and death.

Think about her life.

 

• From the beginning Mary served God’s Good News by literally opening herself to bear this humble servant king.
• Mary served God plan by immediately going out to serve her kinswoman who needed her.
• Mary served God’s plan by nurturing the fragile life entrusted to her in her womb
• Mary served God plan by turning a stable into a home for Jesus.

 

Mary served God’s plan by pondering so many things in her heart

 

• Letting go of her son as he began his public mission
• Standing at the foot of the cross in his final act of service
• Agonizing over the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and Peter, leaders from his inner circle
• Trying to make sense of things with the confused and cowardly disciples in the upper room

When did Mary Understand God’s Plan?

She spent her life pondering all these things in her heart… serving God’s plan even when she had questions and did not understand it.

 

How her life revealed God love was not always clear to her. She simply trusted, she believed. She served. She is a servant queen. All this became finally and fully clear to her in her Assumption.

 

Let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus

 

Some things for us to ponder in our hearts.

 

• How important is for us to know the details of how we serve God’s plan?
• Can we live our faithful service even when we do not understand?
• Most importantly, do we wash each other’s feet?