Devotion for today: Hail, Woman

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there... When the wine ran short Mary said to Him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come." His mother told the servers, "Do whatever He tells you.’ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.  (John 2:1-7).

Continuing our look at Fulton Sheen’s commentary on what the Wedding Feast at Cana reveals to us about Mary, our Mother, we now proceed to the line where Jesus addresses His Mother as “Woman,” something that sounds as bit harsh and disrespectful to our 21^st century ears. Not so, my friends, not so! As you read this selection, know that Sheen writes this as though we are listening in on a private conversation Jesus is having with His Mother.

“To indicate the role that you will play in Redemption, I now bestow upon you that title of universal motherhood; I call you – Woman. It was to you that I referred when I said to Satan that I would put enmity between him and the Woman, between his brood of evil and you seed, which I am. That great title of Woman I dignify you with now. And I shall dignify you with it again when my hour comes and when I am unfurled upon the Cross, like a wounded eagle. We are in this work of redemption together. What is yours is mine. From this hour on, we are not just Mary and Jesus; we are the new Adam and the new Eve, beginning a new humanity, changing the water of sin into the wine of life.”

(Fulton J. Sheen, “The World’s First Love”, Ignatius Press, reprinted in 2011,  originally printed in 1952 by McGraw Hill)

Let us take a look at a few Bible passages which show us how Mary is the “Woman” in Genesis, at the Crucifixion, and in Revelation.

Genesis 2:23: The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

John 19:26: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

Revelation 12:1-6: A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth.  Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.  His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

Here we have our passages from the Bible which show three things: 1) Mary is the new Eve as Jesus is the new Adam; 2) Mary is the universal Mother of the Church; as she is given to John, so is she given to us. We are Jesus’ new family, and just as He chose His apostles to lead His new family, so He chose Mary to intercede for His new family, to love His new family, and to give an example of pure living to His new family; 3) Mary bears the means to wipe out Satan, from the world and from our lives. Turn to Mary as Satan attacks you and turn to Mary as you strive to grow in your love for her Son. The apostles and disciples, who wrote the New Testament, knew Jesus for only a few years; Mary knew Him His entire life. Rely on her, for just as, at the Cana Wedding, Christ performed a miracle at her request, so in your life, He will do the same.

“Dear children! Today I again invite you to devote your life to devote your life to me with love that I may be able to lead you with love. I love you, dear children, with a special love and I want to bring you all to heaven, to God. I want you to understand that this life is so short compared to that one in heaven. So dear children, decide for God again today. Only then shall I be able to show you how dear you are to me and how much I wish you were all saved and in heaven with me. Thank you for having responded to my call. (Medugorje, November 27, 1986)

Prayer: Mary, thank you for this motherly call! Mother of my Savior and Mother of Peace, today I surrender my life to you with love. As Jesus, dying on the cross, gave you also over to me, so do I give myself over to you now. Take me on your motherly lap! I want to love Jesus as you did, Mother. I want to learn with you how to listen to the Father’s word and do His will. Mary, with you I wish to learn how to love all people as my brothers and sisters because they are all yours. I devote myself to you that my prayer may be prayer of the heart in which I shall find peace, and love, and the strength of reconciliation….Let everything in me praise the Lord with you from now on! (Fr. Slavko Barbaric, O.F.M., Pray With the Heart!, Franciscan University Press, 1988)