This month of May is ebbing
away, and seeming as this month is consecrated to Mary in a special way, it
seemed poignant to write an article in Mary's honour. Such a topic is dear to
my heart, because ever since I have fully embraced living out a Mariology
-especially after having read 'True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin
Mary' by St. Louis Marie De Montfort- my interior-life and
exterior-life has been enriched in so many ways -especially in regards to my
personal relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For indeed as the
Early Church Father St. Bail the Great has said: "God has ordained that
she should assist us in everything!" [379 AD.]. Yet before we consider
what Mariology is, and why we should bother with it –defending its practice and
identifying the excellence of this devotion– it would serve us well to shed
light on a few additional terms: Theology and Christology.
Theology
The term Theology
has its origns from the Greek word theologia (θεολογία); with Theos, meaning 'God', and logia or more precisely logos
meaning 'study'. Theology is thus -as all Theology students are told in
every introductory unit- the study of God. However such study does not
just have a purely intellectual dimension to it, but rather it has a practical,
tangible and lived dimension to it. After all God is more person than any
person, and He is inherently relational, and so it would be impossible to
really 'study' Him unless one entered into and developed a relationship with
Him. Thus Theology is really the lived study of God; and this study
requires faith and reason. This is why Theology is also known as 'the
science of faith' or 'faith seeking understanding', or even, as one Jewish
theologian I read a while ago put it: 'faith seeking meaning'.
Christology
The term Christology
has its origins in Greek and simply means Christos-logia: the
study (logia/logos) of Christ (Christos). However jumping on the band
wagon of the logic we used to define Theology; a more accurate definition of
Christology would be the lived study of
Christ, a study integrating the knowledge of the mind, and the wisdom and
understanding of the heart, gleaned through a personal relationship with
Christ. All true study and true devotion leads to and culminates in Christ; since
He is God and Man, and to Him alone belong all "power and wealth and
wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" (Rev 5:12).
Mariology
Finally, the term Mariology
having its origins in the Latin word Maria, meaning Mary, and the Greek
word logos meaning study; simply means the study of Mary. Yet in line
with our train of rationale we can more accurately define Mariology as the lived study of Mary, which we do
through entering into and developing one’s relationship with Her. After
all, this is accomplished most excellently through a true devotion to Mary; and
such a devotion can be called Mariology
par excellence. This true devotion to Mary involves the following 'interior
practices' as De Monfort sets forth in his renowned book (TD Part 1, 115):
1.
Honouring her, as the worthy Mother of God, by
the cult of hyperdulia, that is,
esteeming and honouring her more than all the other saints as the masterpiece
of grace and the foremost in holiness after Jesus Christ, true God and true
man.
2.
Meditating on her virtues, her privileges and
her actions.
3.
Contemplating her sublime dignity.
4.
Offering to her acts of love, praise and
gratitude.
5.
Invoking her with a joyful heart.
6.
Offering ourselves to her and uniting ourselves
to her.
7.
Doing everything to please her.
8.
Beginning, carrying out and completing our
actions through her, in her, with her, and for her in order to do them through
Jesus, in Jesus, with Jesus, and for Jesus, our last end.
He also outlines a dozen
principle ‘exterior practices’ in which this true devotion, this Mariology as
we might say, is lived out. Some of these include (TD Part 1, 116):
1.
Making her privileges known and appreciated.
2.
Giving alms, fasting, performing interior and
exterior acts of self-denial in her honour.
3.
Carrying such signs of devotion to her as the
rosary, the scapular, or a little chain.
4.
Reciting with attention, devotion and reverence
the Holy Rosary.
5.
Solemnly giving oneself to her by a special
consecration.
We might also add the
importance of intellectual formation which we can achieve through study of
Scripture in the light of Mary, daily meditation of the Holy Rosary, and
spiritual reading about our Lady and the teachings and dogma's concerning Her.
Of course Mariology is not an
end in itself, but rather the perfect pathway or ladder which leads us to
Christ. Since as St. Fulgentius (533 A.D.), bishop of Ruspe states: "Mary
is the ladder of heaven; for by Mary God descended from Heaven into the world,
that by her men might ascend from earth to Heaven." For "it was
through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also
through her that" we must come to Jesus.[1]
So even if one is unaware of Mary in their relationship with Christ, still they
have passed through Her; for She is the gate through which salvation comes,
because Christ is our salvation and He comes through Mary. De Montfort reiterates
the Christocentric, that is the Christ centered nature and purpose of this true
devotion to Mary:
If then we are
establishing sound devotion to our Blessed Lady, it is only in order to
establish devotion to our Lord more perfectly, by providing a smooth but
certain way of reaching Jesus Christ. If devotion to our Lady distracted us
from our Lord, we would have to reject it as an illusion of the devil. But this
is far from being the case. As I have already shown and will show again later
on, this devotion is necessary, simply and solely because it is a way of
reaching Jesus perfectly, loving him tenderly, and serving him faithfully.[2]
So indeed this true devotion
is not only Mariology par excellence,
but Christology par excellence. Of
course there are many who refute this, and we shall briefly address those whom
De Montfort calls ‘scrupulous devotees’ of our Lady.
De Monfort on Scrupulous Devotees to our Lady
Scrupulous devotees are those who imagine they are
slighting the Son by honouring the Mother. They fear that by exalting Mary they
are belittling Jesus…They do not want us to speak too often of her or to pray
so often to her.
Here are some
of the things they say: "What is the good of all these rosaries,
confraternities and exterior devotions to our Lady? …We should go directly to
Jesus, since he is our sole Mediator. We must preach Jesus; that is sound
devotion." There is some truth in what they say, but the inference they
draw to prevent devotion to our Lady is very insidious. It is a subtle snare of
the evil one... For we never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his
Mother, and we honour her simply and solely to honour him all the more
perfectly.
[For this
reason] the Church, with the Holy Spirit, [as spoken by St. Elizabeth and as
recorded in Scripture] blesses our Lady first, then Jesus, "Blessed art
thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." [Lk 1:42]. Not
that Mary is greater than Jesus, or even equal to him - that would be an
intolerable heresy. But in order to bless Jesus more perfectly we should first
bless Mary.
Having explored the ‘what’ of
Mariology, and having briefly touched upon its ‘why’ –through a defense of the
lived study of true devotion to Mary– let us now consider the living testimony
of those who were closest to Jesus and Mary whilst they lived their mortal life
on earth.
 |
| The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56). |
St. Joseph and John the Masters of Christology and Mariology:
Following in Their Footsteps
Authentic Mariology or Marian
studies is, as we have explored, by its very nature Christocentric; because of
all studies and devotions, that which pertains to Mary, leads us most directly
and draws us most near to the one whom our Lady is inseparable –Jesus Himself.
After all, let us consider the men who were nearest and most intimate with our
Lord whilst He lived His mortal life on earth: Joseph who raised the Lord Jesus
as a child, and who loved Him as a most affectionate father; and John the
Beloved who was especially close to our Lord who drew him nigh to rest on his
breast at the Last Supper (Jn 13:23). It is no coincidence that these same very
men –Joseph and John- were besides Jesus Himself, the closest to our Lady
whilst She lived Her mortal life on earth.[3][1] We can easily
perceive how Joseph was the closest to our Lady whilst She lived on earth, for
he was Her spouse, and was the chosen instrument of the Father through whom was
cast the protecting shadow, that permitted Mary to conceive the Word in safety.
John the Beloved was clearly most intimate with our Lady for besides the
various Church traditions which seem to indicate this fact, in the Gospel of
John we read that from the day of the crucifixion John took Mary into his house
as his own mother in the stead of Christ (Jn 19:72). This is a remarkably clear
indicator that John was most intimate to our Lady, since out of all the men on
the face of the earth in that time, and out of all the Apostles, he was the one
who was chosen to be in a special way the son of Mary and for Mary to be his
mother.
 |
| Our Lady of Knock: An apparition in which Joseph, Mary and John appeared, along with a lamb and a cross on an altar, symbolising Jesus (left to right). |
It can be said that the
intimacy Joseph and John had with Jesus intensified their relationship and
devotion to Mary; and in turn the intimacy they had with Mary intensified their
bond of intimacy with Jesus. Therefore we can aptly say that Joseph first and
foremost, followed by St. John (at least during Jesus’ and Mary’s earthly life,
since other saints may have surpassed the degree of his union since then) are
the masters of Christology and Mariology. For in knowledge of the head, and in
wisdom of the heart, these men knew and loved Jesus and Mary beyond all other
men. Nor could they have been masters of Christology if they were not masters
of Mariology. For with the magnifying glass of their Mariology, they came to
behold with ever greater clarity and depth the wonders of Christ. It is true
that “Jesus, our Saviour, true God and true man must be the ultimate end of all
our other devotions [and studies]; otherwise they would be false and
misleading.”[4] Yet
this is precisely the ultimate end of Mariology, for Mariology is the ladder
which leads to Christ, and without it, one’s Christology, one’s understanding
of Christ, is limited to the extent that one can only know Christ so much when
one is standing at the base of the ladder looking up. Through Mariology,
through study of and devotion to Mary, we come to climb this ladder. Yet we
must not hesitate and cease to climb this ladder of Mariology, stopping
‘half-way’ in our devotion and in the boldness and depth of our Marian
understandings. For by doing so in fear, thinking that we are slighting or
doing a disservice to Jesus by honouring Mary and studying the marvels the
Trinity have and continue to operate in Her, we are in fact doing a disservice
to Jesus by our very hesitation in climbing this Mariological ladder. “For we
never give more honour to Jesus than when we honour his Mother, and we honour
her simply and solely to honour him all the more perfectly. We go to her only
as a way [-the perfect way-] leading to the goal we seek – Jesus, her Son.”[5] So
as we have said, through Mariology, through study of and devotion to Mary, we
come to climb She the Ladder which leads to Jesus, and in so doing we follow in
the footsteps of Joseph and John, and thus become like them – in, with, and
through Mary – intimate companions of our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems
appropriate to end with an excerpt from True Devotion to Mary:
As this devotion
essentially consists in a state of soul, it will not be understood in the same
way by everyone. Some - the great majority - will stop short at the threshold
and go no further. Others - not many - will take but one step into its
interior. Who will take a second step? Who will take a third? Finally who will
remain in it permanently? Only the one to whom the Spirit of Jesus reveals the
secret. The Holy Spirit himself will lead this faithful soul from strength to
strength, from grace to grace, from light to light, until at length he attains
transformation into Jesus in the fullness of his age on earth and of his glory
in heaven.[6]
[1] Louis Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, Montfort Publications, New York: 2009, Part
1, Introduction, 1.
[2] Ibid., Part 1, 62.
[3] Saint Joseph was not only the closest to our Lady
whilst She lived on earth, but He is also –besides Christ- the nearest and most
intimate with our Lady in paradise; for no man can be raised to a higher
dignity than that which was bestowed on Saint Joseph.
[6] Ibid., Part 1, 119.
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