May as Month of Mother Mary
May as Month of Mother Mary
The Pieta by Michelangelo, which depicts the Virgin Mary holding the body of her Son after his death, is an exquisite portrait of motherhood. Carved from a single slab of marble and unveiled in St Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee of 1500, the magnificent life-size sculpture presents a youthful and serene Virgin Mary in the midst of deep sorrow and brokenness. It is motherhood in its essential character with its share of difficulties and challenges as well its faith that gives inner strength to the human spirit. It captures the moment when her very soul is tried with the fearful questions about suffering and death and the disgusting doubts about love and eternity. Behind the youthfulness and serenity of this portrait are the bitterness and turbulence she has to undergo as a mother and as a believer.
As we dedicate this month of May to Mother Mary, we should see her motherly character as something we can all develop and share with others. The task of nurturing and caring is not exclusive to mothers. It is a responsibility which we should all assume as persons and as community. We have to avoid the trap of putting the burden on mothers of perpetuating stereo-types that these are mothers’ special roles and excuse ourselves from the responsibility of sharing in the life-giving, nurturing and reconciling functions that we have come to expect from mothers. To truly respect the qualities of motherhood, we must maintain that they are equally valid for all of us.
The Church is referred to as Mother Church. Becoming Church as a Sacrament of Christ is beyond gender or roles. We, as Church, are called upon to acquire and exercise the qualities of God’s love in our daily relationships, particularly in the family. To be Church is to combine all our gifts and talents in the pursuit of our common vision of a better world.
As branches of the same Vine, we have to be more involved in the collective task of motherhood to nurture, to care and educate the children and the young of our respective families and communities. As branches of the vine, we have to get the nourishment, our sense of care and our guidance from source of life and love in God. We have to abide in God and in one another.