The glories of Mary are for the sake of Jesus, Mary: Day 036

The glories of Mary are for the sake of Jesus

Mary has a mission to fulfill, declares Blessed John Henry Newman. Her graces and glories are not for her own sake, but for that of her Son.

The glories of Mary are for the sake of Jesus. We praise and bless her as the first of creatures, so that we may confess him as our sole Creator. Mary is exalted for the sake of Jesus. It was fitting that she, as being a creature, though the first of creatures, should have an office of ministry.

She, as others, came into the world to do a work; she had a mission to fulfill. Her grace and her glory are not for her own sake, but for her Maker’s; and to her is committed the custody of the Incarnation. This is her appointed office: “A virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel” (see Is 7:14). As she was once on earth, and was personally the guardian of her divine Child, as she carried him in her womb, folded him in her embrace, and nursed him at her breast, so now, and to the latest hour of the Church, do her glories and the devotion paid her proclaim and define the right faith concerning him as God and Man.

Every church which is dedicated to her, every altar which is raised under her invocation, every image which represents her, every litany in her praise, every Hail Mary for her continual memory, only remind us that there was One who, though he was all-blessed from all eternity, yet for the sake of sinners “did not shrink from the Virgin’s womb.” Thus she is the Turris Davidica, as the Church calls her, “the Tower of David”; the high and strong defense of the King of the true Israel. —Blessed John Henry Newman, “The Glories of Mary for the Sake of Her Son”

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Some insist that Mary is too highly honored when churches are dedicated to her, images displayed of her, liturgical praises sung to her, and prayers offered to her. How do these expressions of Marian devotion point ultimately to Jesus?

CLOSING PRAYER
From a prayer of St. Faustina: Lord, we unite ourselves with your immaculate mother, for then our hymn will be more pleasing to you, because she is chosen from among men and angels. Through her, as through a pure crystal, your mercy was passed on to us.

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