Last week at Connor's soccer practice, I was standing by the fence with another parent who had moved to the U.S. from Korea a few years ago. He said that he owed his Christian faith to a wonderful Baptist preacher in Lousianna whom he and his family met shortly after they arrived. Now in NC, they have found a new church home, this time for Korean Baptist believers. And he had a question for me, "Can you tell me what Catholics believe about Mary?"
I said that we honor Mary because she is the mother of Christ. We do not believe that she is God, but in response to our prayers, she can and will intercede for us before the throne of her son Jesus.
And then he asked me where she is mentioned in the Bible, and we talked about some of the passages found in Genesis (in response to the sin of Adam and Eve, God promised a Savior, born of a woman, who would crush the head of the serpent), the Gospel of Luke (when the Angel Gabriel came to get Mary's consent to bear a child whom she would name Jesus and the miracle at the wedding feast of Cana when Mary told Jesus that they had run out of wine and then told them to "Do whatever He tells you"), in the Gospel of John (when from the cross Jesus says to His beloved diciple, "Behold your mother" and with that the apostle John took her into his heart and into his home...as all Christians are invited through him to do), and Revelation (when the woman appeared in the sky clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet who was pregnant and in labor while the dragon waited to devour her child.) With that, he thanked me and then our attention returned to the action on the soccer field.
Thirty two years ago when I was a freshman at UNC, I was asked a similar question and I had no answer for my roommate who wanted to know if Catholics worship Mary. It had never occurred to me to think critically about my faith, instead I just knew and accepted the fact that I was Catholic. It was not until I was challenged by people wanting to know more of what we believed that I began to question and seek answers to the teachings of the Catholic faith. And for that I am so grateful! So many of us carry what we learned as children into our adulthood until we fear we have somehow outgrown our childhood beliefs. And so we must go through a second conversion in which we inform our adult minds and accept anew the faith that will sustain us through the ups and downs in this life.
And that brings me back to Mary. I knew of her presence in the Biblical accounts, but have since learned that she has appeared through the years in visions to various groups of people around the world. Some of the names I have personally come to know her by are Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexico), Our Lady of the Americas (North, Central and South America), Our Lady of La Van (Vietnam), Our Lady of Kibeho (Rwanda), Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Grace, Our Lady of Sorrows, and so many more.
Last fall I sought her intercession under the title of Our Lady Undoer of Knots (Germany) which I heard about when I purchased her statue and novena booklet at a local conference. In return for her help in finding Father Symeon a position as a diocesean priest with a U.S. Bishop, I promised to make a pilgrimage in thanksgiving to the U.S. Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in August 2013. The promise tied in with my desire to walk the Camino in Spain, a thirty day 500 mile pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. James. This walk is much shorter, only three days walking from the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in NJ to the National Polish Shrine near Philadelphia. And I wanted to somehow talk Fr. Symeon into walking with me.
Just a few weeks later, Fr. Symeon did land a position with the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston in West Virgina. And I found myself fulfilling my promise this August, not to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Pennsylvania, but to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Poland! It is the top pilgrimage site in a country devoted to the Blessed Virgin and the place of the miraculous image of the Black Madonna, venerated by the people for the Blessed Mother's answer to their prayers in times of great oppression.
And then I realized afterward that I not only visited the shrine with Fr. Symeon at my side, but we were there on August 2, his Ordination Anniversary too! As we stood with the kids in front of the blessed image and heard mass being said, I brought with me my many intentions and those of everyone whom we would meet on our trip and all who would ask it about it later or read my blog (And since God is outside of time and space, you can go ahead and offer your prayer intentions right now.) And I asked Mary to protect us and guide us and teach us to follow her son.
And in yet another surprise from God, I realized as I sat down to write about this experience today, that it is August 26th, none other than The Feast of Our Lady of Czestochowa....now that is simply amazing!
Our Lady of Czestochowa, pray for us!
Reference: http://www.theholyrosary.org/maryundoerknots
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