Duy Nguyen

April/12/2019

The Mystery of Mary

In the article, Active Availability to the Word of God, the author Herbert Alphonso, S.I.

studies the Mystery of Mary in the light of the Word of God based on Vatican II’s Lumen

Gentium Chapter VIII. His objective is to show how the mystery of Mary fits into the mystery of

Jesus and the mystery of the Church. In this essay, I will analyze how the author unveils the

mystery of Mary to lead us to be open and responsive to God’s will and to show us how devotion

to Mary is essential to our Christian faith.

The author begins by describing the perfect image of Mary with Apostolic Exhortation,

Verbum Domini by Pope Benedict XVI: the complete obedient faith, the openness to God and

others, and the attentive and active listener. Because of her assent, she allows the incarnation of

the Word. She is the image of the Church. She is known as the Mother of the Word and the

Mother of faith. But before author can explain the mystery of Mary, he must first define the

mystery of Jesus, which is cause of all mysteries.

The Mystery of Jesus is the mystery of a “unique mediator between God and human

beings.” 1 The author cites Scripture (1 Timothy 2:5) to show that the man Christ Jesus is our

mediator. This mystery is further elaborated by referencing the death and crucifixion of Jesus in

the Gospel of John. When Jesus was being pierced in his side by the soldier, blood and water

1
Herbert Alphonso, "Active Availability to the Word of God: The Mystery of Mary in the Mystery of Jesus
Christ and the Mystery of the Church," Gregorianum 93, no. 2 (2012): 372.
came out. The author sees blood as a symbol of “sacrifice, of self-gift and self-surrender.”2 It is

a sign of God giving himself and all of his gifts to us completely. He describes water as the

symbol of God’s gifts, including the Holy Spirit and the gift of God himself. God had brought

forth water from the rock for the people in the desert to quench their thirst.3 This time, God will

make sure that we will never thirst again. Nowhere is it more apparent than through the

Scripture of Ezekiel 47; the rivers of living water come forth from the right side of the temple.

The author wants to emphasize that Jesus is the ever-lasting living water; whoever comes to him

shall never thirst but have eternal life. By relating the water from the pierced side of Jesus back

to Ezekiel 47, the author shows us how Scripture is being fulfilled. As a result, the mystery of

God is a mystery of his gifts given us so that we may have eternal life.

Having defined the Mystery of Jesus, the author goes right back to Scripture of St. John

to give us more context on the mystery of Mary. Mary is called by two names: “Woman” and

“Mother.” We have the promised woman of Genesis 3, the woman of the wedding feast of Cana,

the woman at the foot of the cross, and finally the woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12.

Like the pieces of a puzzle, the author connects them all to the beautiful canvas of the mystery of

Mary. He points out that the woman at the wedding feast of Cana and at the foot of the Cross

refer directly to Mary, whereas that the woman of Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 refer to the

people of God. Like Jesus, Mary gives herself completely in worship and obedience to the will

of God the Father. Mary “reflects and mirrors the entire mystery of her Son in her own life.”4

Since we are the “seed of the woman,”5 the redeemed people of God are summed up in the

2
Herbert Alphonso, "Active Availability to the Word of God: The Mystery of Mary in the Mystery of Jesus
Christ and the Mystery of the Church," Gregorianum 93, no. 2 (2012): 371-372.
3
Alphonso, 372
4
Alphonso, 374
5
Herbert Alphonso, "Active Availability to the Word of God: The Mystery of Mary in the Mystery of Jesus
Christ and the Mystery of the Church," Gregorianum 93, no. 2 (2012): 374.
mystery of Mary. Simply put, the mystery of Mary becomes our mystery and the mystery of the

Church. As a result, the author states that the mystery of Mary is seen both in the mystery of

Jesus and the mystery of the church.

The logic structure of the paper is simple yet well-organized. The author makes use of

the univocal, equivocal, and analogical terms to paint the role of Mary more vivid and in-depth.

First, the term of Mary is used univocally and definitively as the Mother of God and the most

perfect human being. In her perfect worship and obedience, she allows the incarnation of the

Word. Second, the author employs an equivocal technique to explain the word “Woman.” He

references Scripture from Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 to equivocally address the term Woman

as Mary and the people of God. Similarly, referencing Scripture from John 19:27, the term

“Mother” is used analogically as the Mother of Jesus, our Mother, and the Mother of the Church.

As Jesus has the best Mother that anyone could ask for, he wants the same for us. The author

shows that it is God’s will that Mary be our Mother and we, in turn, be her children. Since we

are the people of God who constitute the Church, the author argues that Mary is also the Mother

of the Church.

Having completed the basic framework on the mysteries, author continues to look at how

we can be associated with Jesus’ redemption and to “carry on the mystery of redemption in the

Church and the world.”6 The answer is simply to follow the example of Mary: give in totally to

God, his word, and his will. The role of Mary in the mystery of redemption is highlighted ever

more clearly. The author argues that devotion to Mary is an essential element of our Christian

faith. We are the people of the New Testament. We have been taught to make a paschal

6
Alphonso, 375
passage from “flesh” to “spirit” and from “slavery” to “freedom.”7 Jesus himself shows us that

we can be his brother, his sister, and his mother by doing “the will of the Father in heaven.”8

The author points out how we can be so caught up in the purely and earthly Mother that we do

not realize that term Mother is meant analogically, in an inner spiritual sense. Similarly, the term

Virgin Mary does not only mean “bodily virginity” but also spiritual virginity. This analogical

use of virginity shows how Mary is totally available with “an undivided heart to God, his word,

and his will.”9 She carries the meaning of divine motherhood to its fullest expression by being

open and available to the will of God.

Because the article is centered on Mary and how she can be a model for our Christian

life, the author again walks us contemplatively through the Scripture passages of Luke, from the

annunciation, visitation and nativity of our Lord to the foot of the Cross. The annunciation

shows Mary’s “active availability to the Word of God,”10 which is central to her mystery. The

visit to her cousin Elizabeth shows the mystery of her faith. Filled with the Word, she does not

hold it for herself but she goes out to “dispense the Word and the graces of the Word.”11 In the

words of Sts. Ambrose and Augustine: “Before Mary conceived the Word in her body, she had

conceived him already by faith.”12 The Word of God continues to be praised and glorified in the

simplicity of Mary and her Magnificat.

Next the author illustrates how Mary carries out the will of God. In the Birth of the Lord,

she is continually being tested in her obedience and availability to God’s will and the Word of

7
Herbert Alphonso, "Active Availability to the Word of God: The Mystery of Mary in the Mystery of Jesus
Christ and the Mystery of the Church," Gregorianum 93, no. 2 (2012): 374.
8
Alphonso, 377
9
Alphonso, 378
10
Alphonso, 379
11
Alphonso, 379
12
Alphonso, 379
God. As a young mother, she had to make the long and treacherous journey from Nazareth down

to Bethlehem to find only a stable for the birth of her son.13 In the presentation of Jesus in the

temple, Mary receives the prophecy of Simeon of the seven sorrows by which “the thoughts of

many hearts may be revealed.”14 The author presents that Mary is representing us as the people

of God. As a true disciple of Jesus, she helps lead by her example. She continues to allow

herself to be shaped by the Will of God. I find it fascinating that the author contemplatively

walks the readers through the journey of Mary, from the joy of the annunciation to the seven

sorrows that she must endure. His goal is to give us a deeper understanding and appreciation for

the mystery of Mary. In seeing Mary’s life, we can mirror it to our own lives and learn to be

obedient to the will of God.

Overall, I agree with the author that devotion to Our Lady is an essential element of our

Christian faith. It is as simple as being open to the will of God. We do not have to be afraid

because the mother of God, also our Mother, has already gone before us. All we have to do is to

look up to her and follow her lead. What can be more beautifully summarized than her Fiat: “Be

it done to me according to thy word.” Mary is the lens in which the Word of God is being

magnified in her perfect obedience and worship. She is most closely associated with the mystery

of Jesus Christ and redemption. She is the mystery of the Church. She is our mystery.

Bibliography

13
Herbert Alphonso, "Active Availability to the Word of God: The Mystery of Mary in the Mystery of Jesus
Christ and the Mystery of the Church," Gregorianum 93, no. 2 (2012): 374.
14
Alphonso, 381
Alphonso, Herbert. "Active Availability to the Word of God: The Mystery of Mary in the

Mystery of Jesus Christ and the Mystery of the Church." Gregorianum 93, no. 2 (2012):

369-85. Accessed April 1, 2019. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44322285.