I was scanning our church library one day and found a book that had been on my must-read list for almost a decade. It turned out to be a perfect spiritual book for my Lenten journey this year. In his book Jesus of Nazareth–Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, Pope Benedict XVI writes, “As pilgrims, we go up to him; as a pilgrim, he comes to us and takes us up with him in his ‘ascent’ to the cross and Resurrection, to the definitive Jerusalem that is already growing in the midst of this world in the communion that unites us with his body” (p.11).
The journey of a pilgrim is undoubtedly one that searches and tries even the most steadfast person. Though I have been on my faith journey for over two decades, I am still resistant when Jesus comes to me with a challenging ask. Though Jesus constantly proves his fidelity to me, my trust wavers. Mary’s trust, however, was as firm as a deeply rooted tree (Jer 17:7-8). While I resist the Lord’s requests, Mary receives. While I question and blame, Mary responds with a wholehearted yes: “Be it done unto me according to your word” (see Luke 1:38).
Mary exemplifies for me Pope Benedict’s vision of a pilgrim, one who is perfectly united to God as he comes to her and takes him up unto himself. She teaches us how to follow Jesus in both joyous occasions and by way of the cross. Her earthly pilgrimage is marked by four key moments that can teach us her way of surrender. Mary exemplifies for me Pope Benedict’s vision of a pilgrim as one who looks to Jesus and allows him to take her along the path that leads to communion with the Father. She shows me how to follow Jesus in both joyous occasions and by way of the cross; ultimately leading to our heavenly destiny.
Let’s look at the four key moments of Mary’s earthly pilgrimage that can teach us her way of surrendering to this spiritual pilgrimage.
First Moment: The Annunciation
Scripture doesn’t tell us what Mary was doing when the Archangel Gabriel visited her. She could have been praying in solitude or she might have been going about her daily tasks. Whatever her external activities were, it is evident that her interior disposition was attentive to the Lord, which allowed her to be open to the angel at his coming.
Her inner watchfulness is the first lesson I learned from Mary. If she had not been focused on the Lord’s work in her life, she might not have noticed his call. As pilgrims on the journey toward heaven, a journey already begun in our souls through our Baptism, she teaches us to have an ear open for the Lord deep in our hearts. No matter what the task at hand is, we are invited to stay attuned to the Lord’s work in our lives by receiving him in each moment and listening to him throughout each day.
Second Moment: The Wedding Feast at Cana
Mary wasn’t on silent retreats every weekend, even after her call to mother the Son of God. As far as we can tell, she followed the Lord by living daily life in community. Indeed, at the wedding feast at Cana, she shows us that the call to live in the world as followers of Jesus is characterized by our engagement in the lives of those around us.
Mary shows us the important role of the laity to bring the world’s needs and concerns to her son, Jesus. She reminds us that Jesus truly does care about each and every person’s daily needs and that he wants to be a part of their lives through our prayer and generosity.
Third Moment: The Way of the Cross
Mary feasts with her friends at Cana and she also comforts the afflicted. Her attentiveness to Jesus on the way of the cross is not only reserved for her most beloved son, but is extended to each one of us.
Mary teaches us that walking with those who suffer is an essential part of discipleship (Mt 25:35). God does not delight in human suffering, and we pilgrims are asked, like Mary, to remind our fellow travelers of God’s mercy and compassion.
Fourth Moment: The Empty Tomb
Sometimes life seems senseless and confusing. There are times when we might doubt the path we have chosen and feel despair at what could have been. Mary heard about the empty tomb, “What is at work, Lord?” she may have asked.
We often question God’s call and respond with distrust, but Mary ponders with complete hope. One might object that she didn’t have to wrestle with the realities of sin as we do. This is true, but she was even more aware of the sin that took the life of her son and her Lord. She was still present to the cruelty and senselessness that marred her baby’s face and ended the life that she had known as his mother and his disciple. Despite the darkness of the tomb, she trusted, and we know this because she stayed with the apostle John as Jesus commanded. She, in turn, invites us to stay connected to Jesus through his body, the Church, especially when life presents difficulties.
A Space for “Yes”
When I was in high school, my parents gifted me with two opportunities to attend World Youth Day with Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. I was committed to Jesus, but totally aloof, and certainly didn’t understand at the time the monumental significance of being in the presence of those two spiritual giants in an amazing experience of the universal Church. Both pilgrimages became, for me, religious vacations rather than intentional and wholehearted spiritual journeys.
In a number of places in Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict speaks about creation being made as a place to say, “yes”—a wholehearted “yes” that I at that time was not yet able to say to God. Mary is that perfect and sinless creation who alone was wholeheartedly able to say “yes.” She physically made space for God within her. She shows us that our earthly pilgrimage is already bound to our heavenly destiny. Mary carried Jesus deep within her womb, and we in the depths of our souls. Mary shows us that he has already come to us and beckons us to ascend with him back to the Father.
Receptivity is the difference between a life well lived and a dull and dreary one. Mary shows us the way between joy and sorrow. She teaches us the way, both clear and intentional, truly fully alive (Jn 10:10). She could sincerely respond, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” in the midst of the unknown. Mary teaches us that the way of the pilgrim is marked by joy. Mary teaches us how to be a space for “yes.”
Melissa M. Lucca is currently a Director of Religious Education, wife, and mother of two spunky boys. She holds an M.A. in Theology of the New Evangelization from the Augustine Institute. She loves a good adventure, but enjoys being outside laughing with her boys most.
Image: Fra Angelico, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
