How Mary Points To Jesus

by Joe Cady

People often have a hard time understanding why Catholics make such a big deal about Mary. They sometimes think that in Catholicism, Mary is placed on the same level as Jesus; as if, for Catholics, Mary is something like a 4th person of the Trinity (would that be a quadrinity?). But that is not the case, at all! Yes, it’s true that Mary is given a great deal of honor in Catholicism, but, believe it or not, everything we say and do in relation to the Blessed Virgin Mary has far more to do with Jesus than it does Mary. Our veneration of Mary (which is NOT the same as adoration or worship, which belongs to God alone) doesn’t take attention away from Jesus, because everything that is honorable and praiseworthy in Mary is the result of Jesus’ saving power and God’s gracious gifts. When we honor Mary, we are just honoring the work of God in her. And this, by the way, is true of all the veneration we give to the saints. In celebrating their lives of holiness, we are really just celebrating the God who has done such wonderful things in them.

Think of this in terms of parents and their children. If I drop my kids off at a friend’s house to play for the afternoon and then, upon picking them up, am told how respectful, polite, and kind they are, I don’t get jealous or think that this compliment takes anything away from me. No, I’m proud and happy to hear it. Why? Because, (hopefully) they are the way they are as a result of how I’ve raised them, how I’ve tried to teach them to behave. My children are being acknowledged and praised for doing something that I have worked hard to achieve in them, and when this is celebrated, it is an affirmation of the work I’ve done. Now, if that’s the case with me as a very imperfect parent, how much more must that be the case with God. When we honor the holiness and fidelity of Mary (or any of the saints) we are acknowledging the love and goodness of God, and celebrating the work of God’s grace in her mind, heart, and soul. This doesn’t take anything away from God because we know that it is only because of God that she is worthy of honor in the first place.

It’s sort of like the moon. We know that the moon, while it appears to be filled with light, produces no light of its own. Rather, it merely reflects the light of the sun – it is because of the sun that the moon appears so luminous. In a similar way, Mary doesn’t produce her own light, but rather, reflects the light of the Son. It is because of Jesus Christ that Mary is filled with so much light. So, just as when we see the moon we are reminded of the movement and location of the sun, when we look to Mary, we are reminded of the glory, power, and beauty of Jesus’ saving work.

Mary is “blessed” because she has “been blessed”, she is worthy of honor because “the Lord has done great things for me.” Our devotion to and veneration of Mary, therefore, always points to Jesus. Even our official teachings about Mary point to Jesus. For example, when we refer to Mary as the “Mother of God” this says far more about Jesus than it does Mary. It is no disputed fact that Mary was the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, so there’s no question that she’s the mother of Jesus. But… when we say that she is the Mother of God, we are saying something very precise about who her son is. This title of Mary proclaims, without confusion, that Jesus of Nazareth, while being fully man is not merely man, but rather that he is God dwelling among us in the flesh.

Likewise, even the Church’s teachings on the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption communicate profound truths about the saving mission of Jesus Christ. The dogma of the Immaculate conception states that “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin” (CCC 491). Now, there’s an entire semester course packed into this one (long) sentence, but for our purposes, the idea here is that by a unique gift of God, Jesus’ mother, at the very moment of her conception, was filled with and sanctified by the saving grace of her Son. And it is this “fullness of grace” in Mary that marks her as “immaculate”. Now, again, this leaves a lot of questions open, questions we don’t have time to get into today. But, with regard to how this points to Jesus, the basic idea is that God has done in Mary what God is ultimately in the business of doing in the heart and soul of every single person. God’s desire is for all of us to be “full of grace” and “free from all stain of sin” – as St. Paul says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him” (Eph 1:1). Mary is simply a beacon or signpost of what redeemed life looks like, receiving in a unique and preemptive way the saving power of her Son. The Immaculate Conception proclaims not only the saving power of God, but also reveals the fruit of salvation – a life of purity, holiness, and restoration.

Similarly, the dogma of the Assumption (that, at the end of her earthly life, Mary was taken up, body and soul, into heavenly glory) points to the ultimate end of Jesus’s saving work. Just as Christ was risen and ascended into heaven, God desires all people to experience the saving power of Jesus and enter into the fulness of life in resurrected glory. Mary, therefore, is simply an image and forerunner of this reality. In Mary we see what all Christians are destined for. Again, like the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption raises questions that will have to wait for another time. But the point, for our purposes, is to show how in each of these doctrines about Mary, it is the saving work of Jesus Christ that is being proclaimed and celebrated.

Yes, Catholics think Mary is special, but it’s because we believe that God has achieved something special in and through her. She is the mother of our Lord, the one who first said “yes” to the announcement of the Gospel. Mary is “most blessed among women” because she is so uniquely blessed by God. But our attention to Mary is never just about her. When we look to Mary, what we should see is the saving power of her Son. When we seek to imitate Mary, what we are imitating is her fidelity and commitment to Jesus. And when we pray to Mary, what we are seeking is the help and support to love Jesus more faithfully and trust in God more fully. Do not be afraid to draw close to Mary, she will lead you to Jesus. As St. Maximilian Kolbe said, “Never be afraid of loving Mary too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”