One of my sisters-in-law told me that she will be coming back to the Philippines to take care of her mother who was not in good health during that time. And just recently her mom had an operation and my in-law wants to make sure that her mom gets the best care available. She can be sure of that if and only if she will be the one to take care of her. She will surely give her time and best effort to take care of her mom. Unfortunately, she was not able to come because of the current pandemic. All ports are still close and when it opened only Filipino citizens were allowed entry. It is an unsafe, tedious process to fly back. Still if it was possible, she would have come regardless of what was at stake. That is a daughter's love to her mom. And for her that is not even enough to repay the love her mother gave to her.
There are lots of times that we are ridiculed, judged and discriminated because we give reverence to Mary, Mother of Jesus. "She is a human being, she is a sinner. You are all fools to honour her. It is not in the Bible. You Catholics are stupid. To adore her is evil, etc..." I am not sure whether they despise us or despise Mary.
"Hail, full of grace, The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.", says the Angel Gabriel (Luke1:28) to Mary. "The Holy Spirit will pass over you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And because of this also, the Holy One who will be born of you shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
It is very clear, the Angel Gabriel said Mary is blessed among all women. Her son shall be called the Son of God. What does she becomes then? The MOTHER of the SON of GOD. Isn't that the highest grace and rank one can receive that is worthy of honour? Jesus Himself honoured Mary. She obeyed Mary during the wedding at Canaan. He turned the water into wine even after telling her it is not yet time. She honoured her at the foot of the cross when He told His beloved disciple to take her as his own mother, making sure she is not neglected.
It is not written in the Bible but every mother would know what Mary would have gone through when she gave birth to Jesus. In modern time, mothers go to the hospital. Others give birth at home. But Mary, she carried the Son of God for 9 months and she gave birth in a stable. Any mother would know how inconvenient that would be. After giving birth, Mary had to travel to protect Jesus from Herod. Can you imagine the stress, the difficulty, the mental torture in travelling far after delivering a baby in an unsuitable place? And to add they had to be cautious because someone powerful wanted her child dead. If you were in her shoes, how will you cope up? When Jesus was presented into the temple it was written, "34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:34-35) Mary as early as the presentation of Jesus was notified that she will experience great pain because of her Son. And she did. At the foot of the cross, she witnessed helplessly how her Son was punished, crucified and died. Can you imagine the pain that she was experiencing that time? "A sword will pierce your own soul" maybe the same pain that a mother feels when she sees her child to be suffering from sickness, from being bullied or from punishment. But how tormenting it was when Mary saw Jesus got killed. And He was killed in front of people. He was killed being ridiculed. Harrowing it is for anybody. I could not watch a person being killed even in movies. It will be an excruciating memory. Mary went through all those. That is why she is worthy of honour. We admire her courage and adore her utmost love for Jesus.
Going back to my sis-in-law. If you were in my sis-in-law's shoe will you do the same? Will you sacrifice the money you will earn because you will be absent from work to take care of your mom who is mountains and oceans away? Will you give up the time that you should be daily spending happily with your husband and children? Most good daughters and sons will do that. They will do everything to show their parents how much they love them. They will do everything to serve and save them. And Jesus, a man and God, is not an ungrateful Son. Do you think because Mary is just a human being, she is not worthy of His honour? Will Jesus' power as a God be diminished if He will just neglect Mary who from conception raised Him to be the promised Messiah? He is God of love, mercy and faithfulness. He was faithful to Abraham. He promised one of the robbers crucified with Him in Luke 23:43 "43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” If he can reward a thief a place in paradise, what do you think a Son of greatest love, greatest power and endless mercy will do for His mother? So can you still tell us that we are stupid because we give reverence to Mary? Can you still accuse us of blasphemy? Or will you respect us as we respect what was written in Luke 1:46-49 "
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
No comments:
Post a Comment