In the Church May is traditionally Mary’s month. In Australia it is also when we celebrate Mother’s Day.
Very little is known about the historical Mary and the incidents where she is included are always, rightly, in relationship to Jesus, discipleship and mission.
The Fourth Gospel (John) being used on Sundays this May, provides examples of discipleship for women as well as men. Women are given quite a prominent place in this narrative with the evangelist beginning and ending Jesus’ public ministry with a story about two women, the mother of Jesus, and Mary of Bethany. 
Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t make Mary an important figure at all and simply reports that Jesus was born. But it is in Luke’s Gospel that Mary is portrayed as an independent agent co-operating with God in the drama of Jesus’ birth, accepting it freely and meditating upon the meaning of his future mission. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, reflects the writer’s sensitivity to women of his time as members of the poor and the downtrodden, seeing in Mary the ideal of true liberation and discipleship.
Traditional Mariology has used Mary to justify and support the patriarchal mentality that has marginalized and oppressed women down through the ages. But in various countries in Latin America and in Asia, since the 1960s, Mary has been identified with the poor and oppressed and her role as first disciple in the Church re-emphasised. Therefore she has come to be seen as a participant in the women’s struggle for liberation, as distinct from the patient, subordinated and long-suffering woman/mother.
While it is not always possible to determine how Mary functions exactly in the spirituality of the women throughout parts of Asia and Latin America, a new figure of Mary is emerging, especially among the poor. She is seen as being in solidarity with them as they seek a new societal order. She is not seen exclusively in terms of her role as mother but in relation to the reign of God.
But Mary is also for all of us, women and men, whatever our circumstances. The insights into Mary coming from other parts of the Church can shed light on aspects of our own enslavements and impoverishments, made the more insidious because often they aren’t so obvious. The rich symbolic depiction of what God does for Mary can help us translate this truth into the reality of our own lives as we seek to live out our call to discipleship.
(Go http://goo.gl/ZtRaQI)
Prayer:
We celebrate the example of women who transform their own lives
and the lives of others by answering Christ’s call to feed those who are hungry
and give drink to those who thirst.
Mary, mother of us all, the urgent cries of the hungry can still be heard today –
call us to answer, help us to hear.
Inspire us and move us,
as we battle to bring about a better world.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus, your Son, Amen.
Source: Linda Jones https://www.coc.org/files/advent%204%20122213.pdf
By Jack Evans
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