We here at Makanalani want to wish all mothers everywhere the happiest of days today. It is you who are the foundation of everything good that people can do in this world & we believe that all mothers are blessed by the Lord. The love of mothers is truly a blessing from God.
We’ve been, over the last few weeks, telling the stories of mothers of the Bible, & what could be more fitting for today than the story of that most holy of mothers, the Blessed Virgin Mary?
We all know of the visit by the Holy Spirit, when Mary was told of her blessing, of the birth of Jesus & of Mary as she stood in anguish before the cross, but what of the rest of her life? Mary is one of the few women of the Bible whose story we know in detail from the time she was a girl to her old age.
She was born in Nazareth in Galilee & resided there in her own house with her parents. She eventually became betrothed to Joseph & it was during that time that Gabriel came to her & let her know that she would be conceiving a son through the Holy Spirit. We also love her response. It is poignant & shows her great devotion to God:
“I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
— Luke 1:35
Understand that this took no small level of courage, more so even than it would today. She was a virgin, & engaged to be married… but she never hesitated to accept her place in God’s plan.
Alas, Joseph was not so understanding, at least not at first. He wasn’t told right away & the marriage had been solemnized when he found out that his wife was, well, more pregnant than she should be. He made plans to divorce her, but was visited by an angel in a dream & told to joyfully take Mary to wife, which he did, giving up all his doubts about her story.
Yesterday we told you about Mary’s visit to her also pregnant relative, Elizabeth & how Elizabeth’s baby, who would be John the Baptist, jumped for joy in his mother’s womb when Mary greeted Elizabeth, so, one could imagine, this was actually the first meeting of these men who would forever change the world.
Things did not go completely smoothly after that. The very pregnant Mary & Joseph has to travel to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census & it was in that little town of Bethlehem that Mary gave birth to Our Lord.
As Jesus grew, we heard of Mary again. When Jesus was twelve he got lost, as little boys will, when his family were returning from celebrating Passover in Jerusalem. She & Joseph looked & looked & finally found him in the temple with all the priests & rabbis.
It was Mary too who suggested that Jesus perform his first miracle at the wedding in Cana when he turned the water into wine.
We don’t see much more of Mary until that horrible time of the crucifixion. What a horrible day that must have been for her personally, as well as for the world.
She was among the eleven apostles when they returned from Mount Olive. She then went on, according to Acts, to be a devout member of the early Christian community. She lived out her days in prayer & in helping others learn the holy message brought by her son.
