This past Sunday, Pope Francis re-consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as part of the Year of Faith. Sunday (the 13th) was the anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, in Fatima, Portugal. Saturday was designated as "Marian Day", and Saturday evening, Pope Francis and thousands of pilgrims were in St. Peter's Square to venerate the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima. During his address on Saturday, our Holy Father spoke about the faith of Our Lady, asking the question, "What was [her] faith like?" He answers that question with three points, three aspects of Our Lady's faith.
1. "'Mary's faith unties the knot of sin' (cf. Lumen Gentium, 56)." Every sin we commit ties a "knot" in our soul. There is discord and a lack of harmony, a lack of right relationship. When there is a knot in your muscles, it begins to pull everything else out of whack. Other muscles begin to contract and knot, pulling joints out of place and causing an overall sensation of discomfort and pain. Our sins, too, pull us out joint and compound one another when we are not careful to guard against even the least sin.
"But we know one thing: nothing is impossible for God's mercy! Even the most tangled of knots are loosened by his grace. And Mary, whose "yes" opened the door for God to undo the knot of the ancient disobedience, is the Mother who patiently and lovingly brings us to God, so that he can untangle the knots of our soul by his fatherly mercy. We all have some of these knots and we can ask in our heart of hearts: What are the knots in my life? "father, my knots cannot be undone!" It is a mistake to say anything of the sort! All the knots of our heart, every knot of our conscience, can be undone. Do I ask Mary to help me trust in God's mercy, to undo those knots, to change? She, as a woman of faith will surely tell you: "Get up, go to the Lord: he understands you." And she leads us by the hand as a Mother, our Mother, to the embrace of our Father, the Father of mercies."2. "Mary's faith gave human flesh to Jesus." From the time of the Early Church, it has been taught that Mary first conceived Jesus in faith, and then in the flesh. God wanted Mary's "yes", her cry of faith and complete trust in God's plan in order to carry out His work in and through her. We too, experience this "giving of flesh" to Jesus when we cultivate this kind of faith within our souls. Pope Francis says that "it's as if God takes flesh in us...for he dwells in all who love him and keep his word... Do we think that Jesus' incarnation is simply a past event which has nothing to do with us personally? Believing in Jesus means giving him our flesh with the humility and courage of Mary, so that he can continue to dwell in our midst."
3. "Mary's faith as a journey... She precedes us on this pilgrimage, she accompanies and sustains us." Every soul's life on earth is a journey towards eternity. By following the example of Our Blessed Mother, we learn how to truly be a disciple, a pilgrim, a follower of her Son.
"Her entire life was to follow her Son: he - Jesus - is the way, he is the path! To press forward in faith, to advance in the spiritual pilgrimage which is faith, is nothing other than to follow Jesus... The way of Jesus is the way of a love which is faithful to the end, even unto sacrificing one's life; it is the way of the cross... Mary understood this from the beginning, when Herod sought to kill the newborn Jesus. But then this experience of the cross became deeper when Jesus was rejected... Mary's faith encountered misunderstanding and contempt. When Jesus' "hour" came, the hour of his passion, when Mary's faith was a little flame burning in the night, a little light flickering in the darkness... Her flame, small but bright, remained burning until the dawn of the resurrection. And when she received word that the tomb was empty, her heart was filled with the joy of faith: Christian faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Faith always brings us to joy, and Mary is the Mother of joy! ... What is our faith like? Like Mary, do we keep it burning even at times of difficulty, in moments of darkness? Do I feel the joy of faith?"
As we reflect on this beautiful faith, modeled so perfectly by Our Blessed Mother, let us ask for the grace to live with a faith like hers. May Our Lady lead us closer to Christ each and every day, and may she lead us to a greater abandonment to the Will of God, that we may each give our own "yes" to His plan.
*All quotes taken from the "Prayer for the Marian Day on the Occasion of the Year of Faith; Address of Holy Father Francis". Click the link above to read the full text of the Address.
Written by Catherine
