On 8 Sept, we inaugurated our Marian month. Fr Rector Fr Savior D’Souza, sdb presented to us Mother Mary as our model to lead us to Jesus. Recently Jimena Navarrete (b. 22 Feb 1988) of Mexico was crowned Miss Universe 2010 on 23 August in Las Vegas, Nevada. These two events led me to reflect on this ‘out of the way’ topic: ‘Mary as the Universal Beauty Queen’.
As I went about gathering materials for this, I realized how the ‘beauty myth’ is gripping today’s society and especially the younger generation. It presents an ideal world of the beauty industry and how women are presented to the society. There are certain things that are striking and intriguing – the women in the numerous magazines are so thin, I wonder if they will be healthy enough to bear children; it mentions that one out of every four college girls and boys have an eating disorder, the mania being to keep slim and trim. A psychological survey conducted in Mumbai found that 3 minutes spent looking at a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to become depressed, guilty and shameful.
In contrast to all these, we have Shahnaz Hussain of Mumbai, CEO of Shahnaz Herbals (world’s leading brand and manufacturer of some 350 herbal and ayurvedic cosmetic and beauty products for skin, hair and body care) who interestingly emphasizes that one needs to develop inner beauty, keep a pleasant disposition and a smiling face to combat problems of appearance. Outer attractiveness or appearance is a trick that is easy to learn but what counts is what is inside.
In this backdrop of our ‘fashion-crazy world’, it would not be out of place to say that Mother Mary is surely ‘All Season Universal Beauty Queen’.
We can recall the famous Nazareth-scene: Mary, a 16 year old young girl, simple and timid, full of dreams about her future (as any Jewish girl of that time), goes about her daily tasks with zeal and love. Suddenly there appears a heavenly messenger and Angel Gabriel greets her as the ‘Highly favoured one’. As the gospel tells us, she was surely worried, puzzled and confused when she was told that the Lord is with her. Was it one of assurance, confidence or suspicion? The colour of her face surely must have changed, when she was told that she would be pregnant, that too out of wedlock. What would Joseph think of her? Notwithstanding, Mary responds to God’s call and invitation and expresses her commitment to him by her ‘fiat’- an expression of her deep faith.
In the Lucan account of the visitation, we notice the hurry and the use of verbs that follow one after another. Mary literally runs across the hill country of Ain Karim to share a secret that she can’t contain to herself alone and also to accompany Elizabeth in her own pregnancy. We can visualize the light in her eyes, one of great joy and an aesthetic look on her face, as sings the magnificat.
Moving ahead to the birth narration, the account ends thus: ‘And Mary remembered all these things and pondered deeply about them.” What wonder and ecstasy of this young mother when she held in her tender hands the bundle of joy, her eyes looking into the eyes of the light of the world! Truly she knew more than what the shepherds knew. As they narrated their midnight story there must have been a glow on her face.
From the gospel narratives, Mary comes across to us as a vivacious enthusiastic and reflective young woman, endowed with a radiating inner beauty, a woman of contagious joy and delicate attention to others.
In Michaelangelo’s famous Pieta, we see Mary relatively a very young woman compared to Jesus. The sculptor wanted to express the idea that Mary is a virgin and therefore would never grow old. Her love was pure and this made her radiantly ever beautiful.
Yes brothers (yoUth)!
It’s only true love in our hearts that will give us the quality of agelessness. When love floods our being, even if our skin may wrinkle, our personality will continue to glow through our sparkling eyes and sunny smile. Mary helps us to recapture our original beauty. She teaches us that the perfection of beauty is not in cosmetic creams, lotions, perfumes and gels, but through the full flowering of God’s call in our life.
We need to look at Mary constantly so that we can let her radiant beauty sink into the very fibers of our being. We need to balm and seal it with a deep personal prayer that helps us become more Christlike in our day to day life.
Femina Miss India ad of 1999 called its participants ‘women of substance’. What about us? What substance do we have? What substance do we need to be Christlike?
That substance is found in this: to develop a passion for Christ which will lead us to have a passion for humanity, the youth. The cross is for our assistance, the centre of gravity in all that we are and in all that we do. And the timely refreshment in our growth-process is the sacrament of confession and our life is illumined by the Eucharist. The doorkeeper of a Salesian or Formation House is Our Lady, the beauty queen.
Mary challenges us to participate in a radical fashion show of a beauty contest of life which is not dictated by external or artificial appearances but from the inner depths of our aspirations, convictions and beliefs. She exhorts us to develop our inner resources so that we can become persons of substance.
Just as the world-beauticians’ tips, Mary too gives us special tips to be genuinely beautiful.
She says:
For attractive lips – speak words of kindness and love,
For lovely eyes – seek out the good of your community members,
For a slim figure – share your resources, talents, food and everything,
For beautiful hair – let God run his fingers through them by frequenting fervently the sacraments,
For poise and gait – walk with the knowledge that you’ll never walk alone for my Son walks with you.
Dear brothers (yoUth), let us imitate the qualities of our beautiful Mother and become Christlike, as she herself, the universal beauty queen, invites us to be her handsome children.
This was a Sermonette given by Cl. Michael Gaikwad, sdb on the 14th of September 2010. It was a creative way of expressing Mary’s Beauty and It did tough my mind and heart. With the permission of the person, I am posting it on the blog.
Youth,
As you read this Understanding way, hope something may touch your racing thoughts towards the reality of this world.
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