Does the Virgin Mary appear?When a loved one departs, we reflect on his legacy, and those closest to him receive his belongings in a legal will or in an implicit agreement. Arriving at Calvary, stripped even of his clothes, with no assured burial place (only the one lent by Joseph of Arimathea), what would a will written by Jesus of Nazareth? Jesus' will is written in John 1926-27: "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.
The riches of the Virgin Mary
In Luke's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 26, the angel Gabriel is sent to Nazareth to interrupt 400 years of God's silence, with the words, "Rejoice, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Fear not, for you have found favor with God. You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, and he shall be called the Son of the Most High."
Mary would be entrusted with the most important being in creation to conceive, nurture, protect, form and launch him to his supernatural destiny. During all those years she kept in her heart a diary of memories that would later be consulted by disciples, evangelists and historians.
Let us remember what Luke 1:3 says: "After having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I have decided to write this account in an orderly fashion, dear Theophilus. In this way it will be possible to verify the soundness of the teachings we have received".
It is certain that Luke, the author of this Gospel between 59 and 63 AD, interviewed those who knew Mary personally in order to arrive at the origin of the story of Jesus and to corroborate its validity. Reading the Gospel of Luke, 1, 26-28, we realize that in the visit of the angel to Mary of Nazareth, the great importance of incorporating Mary in the history of salvation is revealed: she is the original witness of the divine origin of Jesus.
Without Mary's testimony, we would not have the evidence that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, who preached with wonders and miracles throughout the region, was not just another prophet, not just any other righteous or prodigious man, but the only true Son of God. Without Mary's testimony, our faith in the true essence and identity of Jesus Christ is shaken. No one else could testify that Jesus was the Son of God but the mother who conceived the Son of God.
We need the Virgin Mary
God meets his maiden in the arid land of upper Galilee. The angel Gabriel interrupts her life of spiritual quests to introduce her to a life of great supernatural encounters.
The presence of Mary in the Gospels can be read like verses in the psalms: each verse tells us a lot. Each intervention of Mary affirms a prophesied moment: she is the link between the messianic nostalgia and the promise of the Father; the link between the old covenant and the new covenant, between the children of the law and the children of grace.
If we follow Mary's footsteps and her presence in the Gospel, we notice prophetic marks that point to her son as the long-awaited Messiah.
The story begins with the miracle to St. Elizabeth who represented the children of the old covenant, of the Old Testament, whose hearts were infertile wombs that could not obtain or conceive the grace of God.
Mary represents the children of the New Covenant - hearts fertile and docile to the 'seed of God', the rebirth of a new history.
"Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." Luke 1:42. "Blessed are you for believing that the promises of God will be fulfilled in you.". This is an announcement of graces to come. Mary represents those who will believe even without having seen.
The Gospel of joy
Mary evangelizes by her example, teaching us to have unconditional trust in God, responding to every invitation and proposal, "let it be done to me according to Your word"; just as 30 years later Her son teaches us to pray, saying, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
In Mary begins this new-testament salvation history, and in her we are transported to the end of salvation history by being able to testify to what the angel promised her: that the Kingdom of Her son will have no end. In other words, He will be crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
We learn from Mary to live a faith without limits or obstacles. If there is anyone who could affirm to us that for our God there are no impossibilities, it is she. That is why we must dare to take steps of faith in complete trust. Mary's yes cancels out the no of so many who have rejected God's call in their lives.
Mary also evangelizes us in her magnificat of Luke 1:46-55 by assuring us that our emptinesses will be turned into favors, our sorrows into joys, the hunger of the hungry will be satisfied, the fallen will be lifted up with a strong arm, and the humble will be exalted.
The presence of Mary
Today we continue to need Mary's presence and visit so that children can jump for joy in their mothers' wombs and live.
We continue to need Mary's presence and discernment so that she may perceive our external deficiencies and our internal voids and, through her intercession, transform water into wine.
We continue to need Mary's presence and wisdom so that she may continue to evangelize us with word and silence, so that like her, we may feel full hope, manifest unconditional surrender, inexhaustible faith, courage in suffering, peace in adversity, a sense of gain in loss, and a supernatural purpose of life.
