MARIAN DOCUMENTS BY THE HOLY FATHER
~ JANUARY 2000 ~
Dearest Brothers and Sisters!
1. Next Wednesday, February 2, Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, the
Jubilee of consecrated life will be celebrated, that is, of the persons who have
consecrated their life to Christ, committing themselves with vows of poverty, chastity and
obedience.
I wish to send a special greeting to these brothers and sisters of ours: to those who
have come to Rome for this occasion, and to all in every part of the world who celebrate
their Jubilee in their respective dioceses. I encourage all to cross the Holy Door with
confidence and hope, renewing their full disposition to make of their own life a song of
praise to the Most Holy Trinity. Here in Rome we are preparing for this event with a
triduum that begins today. Today is dedicated to giving thanks for vocations and
consecrations, which are inestimable gifts of God, toparticipate in the person of Jesus
Christ, the "Anointed One" of the Father. Tomorrow the topic will be that of
fraternal communion, and in the afternoon in the Paul VI Auditorium in the Vatican, there
will be a joyful celebration of consecrated persons, which can be followed on radio and
television. On February 1, then, the day that will highlight mission and witness,
Eucharistic adoration is scheduled in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. The climax of the
Jubilee of the consecrated life will be the Holy Mass that, God willing, I will have the
joy to preside in St. Peter's Square, surrounded by a large crowd of consecrated persons.
2. I invite you all to spiritually join the brothers and sisters who express the
different forms of consecrated life, because their vocation is a gift for the whole
Church! The Bride of Christ, the Church herself, owes much of her beauty to the
innumerable charisms of consecration that the Holy Spirit has inspired in the faithful
over the centuries, beginning with the apostolic community until today. By their very
presence, consecrated persons are a sign of Christ and of his lifestyle, and while they
invite us to put nothing before God or his Kingdom, they are an example to all of
generosity in prayer and dedication to their neighbor.
3. This is what we see realized perfectly in Mary of Nazareth: her most singular union
with the Incarnate Word makes her a model of the evangelical life, obedient, poor, and
chaste like that of Jesus.
Consecrated persons, men and women, have always recognized in the Blessed Virgin the
mother of their vocation, experiencing her kindly help in favorable times and in
difficulties. Today, let us entrust to Mary all her consecrated daughters and sons. Let us
pray that humanity will be able to find in their evangelical witness effective help to
walk in the new millennium according to God's plan.
Mary's Mediation in Christ
Pope John Paul II, General Audience, January 12, 2000
1. In order to complete our reflection on Mary, at the end of the cycle of catechesis
dedicated to the Father, today we wish to underline her role in our journey towards the
Father.
He himself willed Mary's presence in the history of salvation. When he decided to send
his Son into the world, he willed that he should come to us by being born of a woman (Cf.
Gal 4,4). Thus he willed that this woman -- the first to welcome his Son, should
communicate him to all humanity.
Therefore, Mary is on the road that goes from the Father to humanity, as the mother
who gives everyone her Savior Son. At the same time, she is on the road that men must take
to go to the Father through Christ in the Spirit (Cf. Eph. 2,18).
2. In order to understand Mary's presence in the journey toward the Father, with the
whole Church we must acknowledge that Christ is "the way, the truth and the
life" (Jn, 14,6) and the only Mediator between God and men (Cf. 1 Tm 2,5). Mary is
inserted in Christ's unique mediation and is totally at his service. Consequently, as the
Council emphasized in "Lumen Gentium," "Mary's function as mother of men in
no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its
power" (N. 60). We are very far from assigning a role to Mary in the life of the
Church outside of Christ's mediation or next to it, as though it were a parallel or
concurrent mediation.
As I said expressly in the encyclical "Redemptoris Mater," Mary's maternal
mediation "is mediation in Christ" (N. 38). The Council explains: "The
Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men originates not in any inner necessity but in
the disposition of God. It flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ,
rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it and draws all its power from it. It does
not hinder in any way the immediate union of the faithful with Christ but on the contrary
fosters it" (LG, 60).
Mary herself was redeemed by Christ and thus is the first of the redeemed, because the
grace given her by God the Father at the beginning of her existence is due to the
"merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human species," as Pius IX's bull
"Ineffabilis Deus" states (DS, 2803). All Mary's cooperation in salvation is
based on Christ's mediation which, as the Council specifies again, "does not exclude
but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one
source." (LG, 62).
Considered from this point of view, Mary's mediation appears as the highest fruit of
Christ's mediation and is essentially oriented to making our encounter with Him more
intimate and profound. "The Church does not hesitate to profess this
subordinate role of Mary, which it constantly experiences and recommends to the heartfelt
attention of the faithful, so that encouraged by this maternal help they may the more
closely adhere to the Mediator and Redeemer" (Ibid.).
3. In fact, Mary does not wish to draw attention to her person. She lived on earth
with her gaze fixed on Jesus and the Heavenly Father. Her strongest desire is to make all
turn their gazes in the same direction. She wishes to promote a look of faith and hope in
the Savior sent to us by the Father.
She was a model of the gaze of faith and hope above all when, in the tempest of the
passion of the Son, she kept in her heart total faith in him and in the Father. While the
disciples, greatly distressed by the events, were profoundly shaken in their faith, Mary,
also tried by sorrow, remained integral in the certainty that Jesus' prediction would come
true: "The Son of Man ... will be raised on the third day" (Matt. 17, 22-23).
This certainty did not leave her even when she took the lifeless body of her crucified son
in her arms.
4. With this gaze of faith and hope, Mary encourages the Church and believers to
always do the Father's will, manifested to us by Christ.
The words spoken to the servants at the miracle of Cana reecho in every generation of
Christians: "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2,5). Her advice was
followed when the servants filled the jars to the brim. Mary makes the same request of us
today. It is an exhortation to enter into the new period of history with the determination
to do all that Christ has said in the Gospel in the Father's name, which at present is
inspired in us through the Spirit who dwells in us. If we do what Christ asks us to do,
the millennium that is approaching will be able to have a new face, more evangelical and
more genuinely Christian, and so respond to Mary's most profound aspirations.
5. The words: "Do whatever he tells you," with reference to Christ, also
recall us to the Father, toward whom we are journeying. They coincide with the Father's
voice that resounded on the Mount of the Transfiguration: "This is my beloved Son...
listen to him" (Matt. 17,5). With the word of Christ and the light of the Holy
Spirit, this Father himself calls us, guides us, cares for us.
Our holiness consists in doing all that the Father has said. Here is the value of
Mary's life: fulfillment of the divine will. Accompanied and sustained by Mary, by way of
acknowledgment let us receive the new millennium from the Father's hands and be determined
to correspond to his grace with humble and generous devotion. (ZENIT
Translation)
REJOICE, FULL OF GRACE
Pope John Paul II, General Audience, January 5, 2000
Today I am pleased to begin the first General Audience of the year 2000, just a few
days after the inauguration of the Great Jubilee, by offering all those present my most
cordial wishes for the Jubilee Year: may it really be a "solid time" of grace,
reconciliation and interior renewal.
Over the past year, the last dedicated to the immediate preparation for the Jubilee,
we reflected together in greater depth on the mystery of the Father. Today, by way of
conclusion of that cycle of reflections and as a special introduction to the
Catechesis of the Holy Year, we will take time to lovingly ponder the person of Mary.
In her, the "beloved daughter of the Father" (Lumen Gentium, 53), the divine
plan of love for humanity was manifested. Given her destiny to become the mother of his
Son, the Father chose her from among all creatures and raised her to the highest dignity
and mission in the service of his people.
This plan of the Father began to manifest itself in the "Proto-Gospel" when,
following the fall of Adam and Eve, God announced that he would put enmity between the
serpent and the woman: it would be the woman's son who would crush the serpent's head (Cf.
Gen 3,15).
The promise begins to be fulfilled at the Annunciation, when Mary is given the
proposal to become the Mother of the Savior.
2. "Rejoice, full of grace" (Lk 1,28). The first word the Father speaks to
Mary through his angel is a formula of greeting that can be understood as an invitation to
joy, an invitation re-echoing that directed to the entire people of Israel by the prophet
Zachariah: "Greatly exult daughter of Sion! Behold, your King is coming to you"
(Zach. 9,9; Cf. also Sof 3, 14-18). With this first word addressed to Mary, the Father
reveals his intention to communicate real and lasting joy to humanity. The very joy of the
Father, which consists in having the Son near him, is offered to all, but first of all it
is entrusted to Mary so that from her it will be shed on the human community.
3. The invitation to joy is linked by Mary to the special gift she received from the
Father: "kecharitomene." Not without reason, the Greek expression is often
translated as "full of grace": it is, indeed, an abundance that reaches the
highest degree. We should note that the expression sounds as though it is Mary's own name,
the "name" given to her by the Father from the beginning of her existence. Up to
the conception, in fact, her soul was filled with all blessings, enabling her to follow a
road of eminent sanctity throughout her earthly existence. In Mary's face we perceive the
reflection of the mysterious face of the Father. The infinite tenderness of God, who is
Love, is revealed in the maternal features of Jesus' Mother.
4. When speaking of Jesus, Mary is the only mother who can say "my son," as
the Father says it: "You are my Son" (Mk 1,11). For his part, Jesus calls the
Father "Abba," "Daddy" (Cf. Mk 14,36), while he calls Mary
"mommy," placing all his filial affection in this name.
After he leaves his mother in Nazareth, during his public life when he meets her he
calls her "woman," to emphasize that henceforth he takes orders only from the
Father, but also to declare that she is not simply a biological mother, but, rather, has a
mission to fulfill as "Daughter of Sion" and mother of the people of the New
Covenant. As such, Mary always remains oriented to full adherence to the will of the
Father.
This was not the case with all of Jesus' family. The fourth Gospel reveals that his
relatives "did not believe in him" (Jn 7,5) and Mark mentions that "they
went out to seize him; for they said, 'He is beside himself.' " (Mk 3,21). One can be
sure that Mary's interior dispositions were completely different. This is confirmed in
Luke's Gospel, in which Mary presents herself as the humble "handmaid of the
Lord" (Lk 1,38). In this light we read the response given by Jesus when "he was
told: 'Your mother and your brethren are standing outside, desiring to see you.' (Lk 8,20;
Cf. Mt 12,46-47; Mk 3, 32); Jesus replied: "My mother and my brethren are those who
hear the word of God and do it" (Lk 8,21). Indeed, Mary is a model of hearing the
Word of God (Cf. Lk 2, 19.51) and of docility to it.
5. The Virgin preserved and renewed with perseverance her total disposition expressed
at the Annunciation. The immense privilege and lofty mission of being Mother of the Son of
God did not change her humble behavior, submissive to the Father's plan. Among the other
aspects of this divine plan, she assumed the educational endeavor implied in her
maternity. The mother is not simply the one who gives birth but also the one who actively
undertakes the formation and development of the son's personality. Mary's behavior
undoubtedly had an influence on Jesus' conduct. One can assume, for example, that the act
of the washing the feet (Cf. Jn 13, 4-5), which was left to the disciples as a model to
imitate (Cf. Jn 13, 14-15), reflects that which Jesus himself had observed in Mary's
behavior during his childhood, when, in a spirit of humble service, she washed her guests'
feet.
According to Gospel testimony, during the period Jesus spent in Nazareth he was
"subject" to Mary and Joseph (Cf. Lk 2,51). He thus received from Mary a real
education that marked his humanity. On the other hand, Mary let herself be influenced and
formed by her son. In the progressive manifestation of Jesus, she discovered the Father
more profoundly and gave him the homage of all the love of her daughterly heart. Now her
task is to help the Church to walk as she did in Christ's footsteps. (ZENIT Translation)
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