RCIA week 8

It's been two months since beginning RCIA. Time moves so fast. I was pleased to see several people there that have missed in the past few weeks. I took my rosaries with me to class tonight and had the deacon bless them. It was very fitting since we discussed Mary tonight.

On Mary...

I am learning what a great Saint she is. I know that many protestants and several people that eventually convert to the Catholic faith have problems with Mary. I have never had problems with the doctrines of the Church in regard to her, but I guess my issue is more of a relationship issue. Perhaps it stems from my own relationship with my mother.

Now to get a little personal....

I'm not saying I had a bad relationship with my mother. We were simply not close. I loved my mother, but I can't remember telling her that. I don't remember her saying those words to me either. It was just understood by the fact that she took care of us. My mother was an admirable person. She went through a lot of things. My parents almost divorced at one point, but she stuck things out. She worked a full time job leaving at 5:30 in the mornings and didn't get home until 5:00 p.m. and still cooked supper every night. She always did extra things especially when it involved baking for my classes as a child. I always had a special birthday cake made and decorated by her. She would make costumes for my sister. In her last year I saw great faith in her spirit and she was remarkable in the face of death. And as I think about all of that, especially in light of it being almost two years since her passing, I am beginning to understand what an amazing role Mary played.

I can't fathom the kinds of things that Mary had to deal with like she did with such amazing grace. My son is the most important thing to me. I would do anything for him. For years I would wake up in the middle of the night and go check on him just to make sure he was still o.k. I admit that even now I check on him from time to time. It's just a mother's instinct. But can you imagine knowing that you must witness your child's death. Not only death, but a horrible, agonizing death. Even the fact that she accepted God's will when she said yes to God's will during the visit from Gabriel. She risked getting stoned to death by accepting the task of carrying a child as a virgin. Can you imagine that kind of faith?

Some people may think that because she was immaculately conceived (remember this refers to her conception, not that of Christ) and was born without the stain of original sin, then she had it easy. Quite the contrary because she could identify with humans and their sufferings more than we who are born with sin can ever do. Her perfection ultimately opens up her to more suffering. Yet, she does everything because of her faith in God. It's the kind of faith that we should strive to have.

Her selfless act of accepting the will of God by carrying God himself in human form is so very deserving of our adoration. Who better to ask for carrying our prayers to God than she who is the Mother of God. I know some may have problems with this concept, but she is the mother of Christ who is equally human and divine. He is not more of one or the other. Because of that, Mary is truly the Mother of God in his human form. She is not the mother of God our Creator, but Christ who is the second person of the Trinity.

There are many misconceptions about Mary that I would like to clear up, but time prevents me from it in this post. I will cover in another post the concepts of the Immaculate Conception, Mary as ever-virgin, and the apparitions attributed to Mary.

But for now, I'm am learning what a wonderful woman she was and am thankful that she is there in Heaven to intercede for us. She is a wonderful guide as our moral compass. She leads us to Christ through her example as a Christian, a mother, and in so many other roles.