Mary - THE Friend

We see Mary in many ways such as Mary the Mother of God, Mother of Jesus, Mary the disciple and the list could go on if I asked you to speak of who is Mary to you…surely we cannot deny the fact that she is our heavenly Mother and the many titles could be attributed to be it from the litany or from the ejaculations we often say. We her sons in Jesus Christ and Don Bosco call her under the title - “Mary Help of Christians,” or “the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” In our lives we have spiritualized and divinized of and on Mary, as true devotees, which is right and good as Christians, Catholics, or even as religious and Salesians. I stand here before you all my brothers to reflect on Mary as my friend. Jesus openly reveals the depth of His love for his disciples when in John 15:15, He says: “I call you friends, since I have made known to you all that I heard from my father.” We see in the life of Jesus Himself, she proved to be a friend, from the very moment of the Annunciation – Immaculately Conceived till the death of her son and even after that being with the Apostles.  

Why did I choose this title to understand Mary? Mary is the type and model of friendship. Mary’s own life can give us a living image of friendship. I think that it is more appropriate to look through Mary to get an idea of what a friend means to be and live, to have a realistic outlook full of experiences.

This reminds me of Eddie Catherine Doherty who wrote a biography entitled Wisdom’s Fool. In this work she penned about a priest called, Louis de Montfort. “There lived on earth a man who was in love with Mary, the Mother of God. He was so in love that he could truly think of nothing else but Mary.” As sons of Mary we too are called to be in love with her. Let us draw for ourselves a reflection in our daily living. How much of time you and I, really spend with her in thoughts, words, and deeds. There is no way but through Mary to Jesus. For without Mary there would be no Christmas, no Epiphany, and no kings undertaking long journeys by the guidance of the one bright star. Without Mary, we would have no Golgotha, no Cross, and no Easter! Without Mary, you and I would not be Christians. There would be no sons of Don Bosco, no dream, no Jesus entrusting his Mother to Don Bosco and to us Salesians. All this came to pass because of this one single three letter magical word – YES! by Mary.  She is full of grace, she is beautiful, of a beauty which I call holiness; in the words of the canticle the church calls her all beautiful (tota pulchra). Her grace is the grace of the new covenant. In defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the Church declared that Mary was preserved from sin, “in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, our savior.” In this sense she is really, as Dante said, “the daughter of her Son,” and as Ratzinger said, “Daughter of Zion,” and Pius IX – called her the splendor of an entirely unique holiness. Let our hearts seek passionately to live in and with this holiness all our lives.

There used to be and still is a very popular spiritual book: The Imitation of Christ. People do not talk much about it now-a-days. Perhaps it is time that we think of writing another one: The imitation of Mary. It may not be one to be published or best selling but to reflect on Mary’s and my relationship seen as a friendship: the selflessness, listening attitude, the faith element, being active and contemplative, living life and doing the will of God. She has a special place and role of leadership and empowerment, indicated by titles like ‘mother’ and ‘sister,’ there is nothing like calling her a ‘friend.’ For in a friend what I treasure the most is the element of trUst with a capital “U,” The U – stands for understanding, emphasizing the ‘other’ in my life. This is what Mary did all her life.. And this is what I would continue to do all my life she being there for me always, showing me the path to lead others along with me, as a friend, a companion.

I would conclude by saying that Mary is my soul friend and to spell it out in each letter:

M – Maturity

A – Attitude

R – Relationship

Y – Yes to all    

ATHEIST NEED TO BE MORE CRITICAL

What should an atheist apologist do when facing not one, but two specialists in historical Jesus studies, and the topic is the resurrection of Jesus? Should he confront the evidence head-on, knowing perfectly well that the arguments he uses among his hyperskeptical friends are practically useless against people who’ve done the research? Or should he avoid the evidence by diverting the discussion to secondary issues, knowing that if he can’t refute the data, he can at least keep people sidetracked for a while? 

Many atheists would reject the idea that their arguments are useless against scholars; however, I don’t mean this as an insult. It’s a simple fact that there is often a tremendous gulf between popular arguments and scholarly critiques, and this goes for Christians as well as atheists. For instance, a pastor might give members of his congregation a basic Design Argument to use when discussing God’s existence with their skeptical friends. This may help them defend their beliefs, but it would be unwise to use the same argument in a debate with, say, Richard Dawkins. To debate Dawkins, better evidence and a far more sophisticated approach are needed. 

Similarly, an atheist apologist may give his readers a collection of arguments they can use when discussing the resurrection. But it would be quite presumptuous to think that such arguments would be effective against. While I grant that certain important objections may be raised against the resurrection, it’s no secret that practically all atheistic responses are utterly at odds with the facts we know about Jesus and his followers. (Note: If you just thought to yourself, “But we don’t really know anything about Jesus and his followers,” you now have a perfect example of a claim that is thoroughly rejected by scholars, despite what atheists get away with saying). Thus, if an atheist is going to offer a convincing response to the resurrection, he needs something more plausible than “Maybe Jesus passed out on the cross and woke up later,” or “Perhaps the disciples just hallucinated.”

The problem for atheists is that criticisms of the resurrection don’t get much better at the scholarly level. The arguments may become more sophisticated, but this doesn’t mean that they become more plausible. Nor does it mean that they account for the evidence any better. We may contrast this with, for instance, Design Arguments, which can be developed as rigorously as a scientist’s mind will allow. To put it differently, certain Design Arguments seem superficial, but on closer examination they turn out to be thoroughly grounded in science and reason. Criticisms of the resurrection, on the other hand, also seem superficial, but closer inspection only shows that they are superficial.

What, then, should an atheist do when discussing the resurrection with Christian scholars? I’m not sure what the best approach would be, but if I were still an atheist, I would probably go ahead and use the standard atheist responses, even though they don’t fare well under scrutiny. 

Dialogue between Mary and John

Narrator: It was the year 70 A.D. Mary was sitting on a rock at the shore of Patmos Island. The Mediterranean ocean was continually caressing her feet with its waves, as if to pay homage to the Mother of God. She was deep in contemplation with eyes fixed at the horizon. The sun was just setting in the western sky throwing up a riot of colours on the sea and on the sky. The breeze was gentle and cool. A flock of sea gulls made a circle above her before continuing their flight home. May be they wanted to have a glimpse of their queen!

John: “Mamma, what are you thinking about?” called John as he approached and sat by her side.

Mary: “Well son, you know that the object of my contemplation is only one!”

Narrator: John knew it, of course. Jesus was the single object of her meditation. She had been like that all her life. Jesus had gone up to heaven already about 40 years ago.

John: “Luke has written your story beautifully it seems, Mother. Did your hear about it?”

Mary: “No, I did not.”

John: “You yourself told him the story of how you became the mother of the Lord and the events of the infancy of Jesus. How else could anyone know about it? He did also some research about Elizabeth, Zachariah and the circumstances in which those events took place.”

Mary: “I did not want to narrate those events to anyone. But at his insistence I did. After all, the world has to know that Jesus was of God, and not born like ordinary humans.”

John: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us!”

Mary: “What did you say?”

John: “I like to call him the Word. Is he not the Word of Yahweh, the very substance of the Almighty?”

Mary: “John, I don’t understand your theological concepts. But I knew right from that marvellous day in Nazareth and he was God’s Son.”

John: “Yes Mother, he came to give all of us the right to become children of God, children not born of the flesh, nor of the desire of man, but by God.”

Narrator: Mary went into reverie again. Mary: “John, you are so poetic about your Master.”

Narrator: John went into a thoughtful mood and said: “The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us. He came as the light that enlightens all.  But the world did not recognize him. He came among his own and his own received him not.”

Mary: “Don’t mention that John. I have forgiven our people who rejected and killed him. It is a thing of the past. They are all my children now.”

John: “Sorry mother. I know that it hurts you. If you will excuse me, I am a bit curious to know how you managed to stand under the cross those three hours. Somehow my contemplation is always on Calvary.”

Narrator: “Hummm,” sighed the Mother. Mary: “You were there. I knew that Jesus and you were close friends and it must have been a torture for you too.”

Narrator: John was silent and let the mother speak.

Mary: “Well son, I will share with you a sort of crisis of faith I went through, standing under that cross.”

Narrator: John widened his eyes in surprise. He moved and sat near her feet looking up eagerly at her face.

John: “It was a moment of crisis for all of us, mother,” he said soothingly.

Mary: “For all of you, yes, to some extent. But it was the worst for me. For you it was just that your Messianic hope had ended. For me it was different. At that time only I knew something that none of you knew.”

John: “What was that mamma?”

Mary: “That Jesus was truly God’s Son!”

John: “Oh yes, now that you say it. We all thought he was the Messiah and a man sent by God. Jesus was constantly calling God his ‘Abba’. But we never truly understood that. How could it ever occur to us that the one and only God might have a Son. It was beyond our wildest imagination. Our Scriptures have called several people sons of God, but it was a figurative speech.”

John: “I heard that Peter once confessed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God.”

“Yes, I was there, and I heard it. But I am sure that Peter did not understand the nature of Jesus as we know it today after his resurrection. I knew Peter’s mind well. Now we know from your own mouth that he was born of God. Only you knew this at that moment.”

“Yet, standing under the cross, I hear Jesus crying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabaktani’! And the crowds were shouting, If you are the son of God, come down from the cross”.

This was a sacred moment. Mary was opening her soul to her adopted son! John dared not interrupt.

Mary: “The words of the Angel Gabriel came and hit my heart like hammer blows. He had said that the child would be conceived by the power of the Most High; that he would be called Son of God; he would sit on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom would have no end.”

Narrator: The Mother’s face was aglow with an unusual brightness.

Mary: “And here was my crisis. Could this Son of God die like a common criminal? Could God abandon his child? Was Jesus himself going through a faith crisis on the cross? Was I mistaken in that house of Nazareth when I heard the message of the angel? Or was I having hallucinations under the cross? The whole thing did not fit together. It all looked absurd.”

Narrator: John ventured a word. John: “I was standing there, holding you in my arms. And I did not know what you were going through.”

Mary: “It was as if Satan were haunting me. ‘You were cheated’ he seemed to heckle. I began to pray as I have always done. Then I understood something.”

John: “What is that mother?”

Mary: “That God’s ways are not ours. His plans are not for us to understand, but to believe. If God had told me that Jesus was His Son, so He was! And if God had decided to allow His Son to be killed by hanging him on a tree, He must be having his reasons. It is not for me to question His wisdom.”

John: “Oh dear, Jesus must have also known what you were going through.”

Mary: “I think He did. I saw compassion in his eyes in spite of pain, as he looked at me; but also confidence that I would understand and believe. And I decided to believe, despite all. I decided that if it were true that my Son was dying, it was also true that he was truly God’s Son!”

John: “Now I know the real reason why he entrusted us to you, Mother. You are the only one who could sustain all of us in our crisis.”

John: “I realized that. So I steadied myself and stood firm next to you and to Mary Magdalene. It is faith that made me survive that day. Without it I would have died right there under the cross.”

“We all started believing only after the resurrection. You were the only one who kept the faith alive on that day! Mother, for this we your sons will do whatever you tell us to do!”

Narrator: Mary had a smile on her face. She got up and moved towards the cottage where they were staying as it was becoming chill.

Narrator: John let her go and said to himself: John: “Behold a woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, wearing a crown of twelve stars…!”

Narrator: Mary went up till the door, turned back and called John inside. John immediately sprang up to her. John looking at her said, John: “I Love you mamma”

Narrator: Mary in return told him, Mary: “I Love you, too.”

To The Girl I Loved, Am Loving And Will Love…

I am God’s Creation,

But you are my Intention,

At the same time a Partition,

By an act of your Suppression,

I lead to the waters of Depression,

At the time of your Celebration,

I was the source of Dissatisfaction,

At the time of Examination,

I filled you with Distraction,

Today, I thought of our Contraction,

But fell for the Interaction,

I think about the conversation,

And soon fall into a deep Concentration,

This is all my Love Extensions,

To you unanswered Questions,

Hope, One day and the days to follow your loving affection,

Will one day clothe all my Imagination?

With full of Gratification,

And a sense of Application,

To my love, for my love, with my love and by my love…

Is truly, souly, surely, and wholly…

Just not an Infatuation,

But all my life’s Meditation

I, Me, & Myself

Guitar is my Passion,

Dance is my Action,

Game is my Recreation

Acting is my Addiction,

This calls for my Audition,

It is my Life’s Ambition,

For my Satisfaction,

But for this I always live in Tension,

When I am in Temptation,

I am a sum of Subtraction,

By the scene of Attention,

I am a sign of Multiplication,

But above all I am God’s Creation

PRAYER IS A LANGUAGE GAME

Language Game is universally understood in a not so good sense and has a negative outlook towards language and life. I would like to express my understanding of Prayer – Language Game.

Why do I call it a language? Because you and I, as we call ourselves ‘humans,’ language is apparently a necessity, a need therefore it can be seen also as a necessity in Prayer. Language is simply using words, signs, symbols, meanings, concepts, ideas or whatever you think of…Now, thinking of language, is language something complex or simple, and I leave it you for your opinion on this query, but for me it simply means in a simple way to communicate – who you are? And what you are? You and I stay in communion, in connectedness with the other. You and I use language to know, to understand, and to be understood. Language is needed for conversation, for dialogue, for living our lives to the full.

 Why do I call it a game? I know for certain that to play a game we need two players, be it on the ground of physical, or psychological, or ethical, or virtual, or as a matter of fact even spiritual. So speaking of spiritual, it is very much got to do with PRAYER.

A...

I am writing this after I receive Jesus in the form of Bread (Holy Eucharist) on the 8^th September 2011, Our Virgin Mother’s Birthday (just a thought to ponder though this is not the issue for the moment to reflect on, put nothing like thinking over this…How can a Mother be a Virgin or rather how can a Virgin be a Mother?).

I don’t know how, why, when and where it all began – whether to call it something, or what to name it??? But I think know for sure that she truly is ‘A,’ what I mean here is an ‘Angel,’ but normally I address her as ‘A.’ When she is there around, I get a thrill, a sort of feeling that cannot be expressed but touches my soul. Whenever I talk to her (sometimes for long minutes, or sometimes just see her in passing or sometimes simply a hi-bye). When I look at her it sets my heart on fire and my mind in attire that feel’s pleasant.

I am happy to have this Angel in my life. And genuinely hope that every one of you (yoUth) too may have an Angel just like mine. I can trUst my Angel for she cares for me and knows me, prays for me and has regard for me.

She is full of Life, and Love and Light. She is normally in White which I vouch, speaks of her humility and Purity. She is truly human yet divine.

I owe to GOD (if exist, really HE does exist, for God is…) for giving me this A…