Mary’s mission: divine motherhood and universal maternity

A missão de Maria: maternidade divina e universal

The election and divine vocation have as their content the maternity of Mary, mother of that singular person who is Jesus. This maternity represents the meaning of her historically-salvific mission and the culmination of her election and vocation. This maternity goes beyond the individual person of Mary and assigns her a communal role.

According to the account of the Annunciation, it can be observed that it contains two different revelations that follow the angelic words of messianic joy. The first is the text of Lc 1:30-33, which recalls the fulfillment of Israel’s hope: the “you will conceive” (v. 31), proper to feminine life, is linked to Israel’s hopes (vv. 32-33) so that her womanly life may revolve around messianic events that take place in dialogue between her freedom and that God before whom she “found favor” (v. 30).

The second revelation concerns the passage from Lk 1:35-38. Introduced by a question from Mary, which aims to show how God is greater than any man. Here the feminine role of conceiving is transcended to give way to the Spirit, the true actor of this event. Mary is called to go beyond human messianism proper to creation in order to open herself to the Spirit (v. 35), and this implies an inversion of the usual human logic (vv. 36-37). Hope always involves human participation, but its outcome is no longer a mere human measure.

The creative action of the Spirit is realized in the birth of Jesus (Lk 2:1-7) and is revealed to the shepherds and the wise men who reflect on the disturbance of Jerusalem. In the story of Mary, this transcendent work of the Spirit finds space both in these surprising events and in the reception of the Word to meditate upon it (Lk 2:19,51), assimilate it, and proclaim it in all its depth (Lk 1:51-53).

The mission that Mary is called to fulfill thus passes through the Word that penetrates hearts (Lc 2:35. At 2:37) and the Spirit, by the Ruah and the dabar, the two hands of God. The Spirit illuminates and introduces to the truth of the Word those who are not yet able to bear its weight (Jo 16:12. 14:17). From the Spirit comes the perception of the novelty of the Word that only divine love can originate (Jo 14:26. 15:26. 16:13-14). Guided by the Spirit, Mary meditates on the Word until she finds in it the human space for its understanding and testimony.

Maria aparece para nós como a forma, isto é, o modelo de vida de cada cristão.

Exploração adicional:

– Consulte a Encíclica Redemptoris Mater de João Paulo II, dedicada inteiramente à missão materna de Maria na economia da salvação. – Explore Mariologia, Teologia mariana, Aparições marianas e a Pós-Graduação em Mariologia.