THROUGH UNTRUE
Today, Sept. 8, marks the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, perhaps the first human being who proved that a woman can be the best man for the job.
The Bible tells us that God made man after His image (Genesis 1:27). For ages, the word “man” in that passage was interpreted as “male.” The human race was called “mankind.” Literature, philosophy, and the arts have glorified the masculine gender to the point of divinizing it.
Ancient and medieval sculptors idealized male bodily proportions. Women were considered beautiful if their bodies approximated a man’s physique. Virtue, honor, common sense, and intelligence were man-based, man-oriented, and man-regulated. Excellence in sports was gauged by the extent of man’s reach, height, speed, endurance, and stride.
Historical records also show that men (and very rarely women) fought the great wars, built empires, established world religions, constructed splendid churches and architecture, composed timeless operas and symphonies, and colonized, enslaved and sold people.
In most plays, movies, and literary works, the main protagonists were men who, despite their obvious flaws of character, were potent arguments for male superiority. Of course, there were also women like Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, Cassandra, Cleopatra, and Anna Karenina, but they survive in our memories more as martyrs and victims of fate.
And then came the Blessed Virgin Mary who helped us see that maleness and masculinity do not exhaustively express the dignity of a human being. For, the same biblical passage quoted above continues with “In the image of God He created them, male and female” (Genesis 1:27). She also answered our need for a feminine mediation of the divine.
We, Filipino Catholics have a special love for Mary. Although we worship God alone, we venerate her for being the mother of our Savior Jesus Christ and for being a relatable model of holiness because just like us, she is a human being. We also love her for being a constant intercessor during the many upheavals that have shaped our nation's history. This earned us the title “El Pueblo Amante de Maria” (A People who love Mary).
People allergic to any form of Marian veneration criticize us Catholics as elevating Mary into a goddess. Although such criticism is oftentimes misplaced, this should invite us to review current Marian beliefs and devotional practices. Mary would be the first to object to being divinized and be treated like God. In fact, Mary taught us through her sublime example that it is by being truly human that we can best express God's divine image in each of us.
Several years ago, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines published a pastoral letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary titled “Ang Mahal na Birhen: Mary in Philippine Life Today.” It would be well for us, Catholics to read this document, if only to help us retrieve authentic Marian devotions buried under tons of pietistic accretions.
In the age of dialogue and ecumenism, the person and story of Mary teach us lessons that support divergent faith perspectives. During the Annunciation, Mary’s total obedience to the will of God’s reinforces the absolute singularity of Jesus’s mediatory role emphasized by members of non-Catholic denominations. At the wedding at Cana, she shows us that she does not dispense grace on her own, but solely through the merits of Jesus, her Son.
Most importantly, when she visited her cousin Elizabeth, despite being pregnant herself (Luke 1:39-45), she taught those who say, “Ako’y katolikong sarado; may kandado pa kamo” (‘As a Catholic, I am a locked vault that keeps my faith inside’) that faith is not a private possession. Mary showed us that authentic faith compels us to bring it out of the private, individual, and spiritual realm and into the everyday realities we encounter. When we collectively bing our faith into the social, economic, and political arena, it becomes a potent force for social transformation.