8th Sunday after Penetecost Thought About Mary and Our Supernatural Life

Last Sunday we turned to Our Blessed Mother - our Mother. Let's build on that on this 8th Sunday after Pentecost.

We've entered August now. If memory serves correctly, it can be a tough stretch of hot humid weather in these parts (the Northeast). And it frequently reminds me of my own mother. 

We lived in an apartment in Jersey City. It was a cozy place. At first, we had no air conditioning. I remember well when we first got one. What a magical relief! My parents decided to put it into the bedroom where my brother and I slept, rather than in their own. They had to turn it up so the air would "spill over" into their own bedroom. Sweaty nights quickly morphed into chilly ones. From sleeping with the covers down, we had to bundle ourselves under a sheet and blanket. It was that cold. 

Where Mom comes in with all this: When we would walk to the supermarket in the dead of summer heat and humidity, we'd step out into market's air conditioning only to exit into the city jungle (weather wise) awaiting us. Mom would tell me to take a deep breath and fill up my lungs with the cold air of the supermarket before stepping into the heat. Said it would help keep me cool. I believed her. (Heck, maybe there was some truth to it!)

Mom's think of stuff like this when it comes to their kids. She put us first. 

So too does Our Blessed Mother put us first. Fr. Vassll-Phillips helps us to comprehend this in a concrete way today.

Whether it's hot and humid where you are or not, we can all take some time to thank Our Mother Mary for her loving solicitation. 

"All of us have been created to live a human/divine life, that is, a supernatural life – the life of sanctifying grace. This new life demands a second birth, a spiritual birth, and this we received at Baptism. But this new life of divine grace demands a parentage as well. In the supernatural order all Christians have God for their Father, deriving from Him their supernatural life and being. God, being the Author of Nature, draws us to Himself, by the “cords of Adam”, for He is not indifferent to the instinctive needs of human nature or the legitimate affections of the human heart. In fact, He elevates them, sanctifies them – supernaturalizes them. Therefore, the supernatural life of grace follows closely the analogy of natural life. As in its natural life the little child needs both a father and a mother for its perfect development, so in the mysterious life of grace a child of God finds itself enveloped, not only in a Father’s providence, but in a mother’s tender love as well. In His loving mercy, God has desired and arranged that we have a Mother as well as a Father in our spiritual life. Mary is that Mother. The Most Pure Virgin Mary, the holiest of God’s creatures, was chosen to fulfil this most exalted role. We are born of God and we are born of Mary, for all grace is transmitted to us through her. Mary is, in very truth, the Mother of our supernatural life. She is Our Mother in the full and literal meaning of the term. To Mary we owe everything in the supernatural order, as we do to our mother in the natural order.  

“God, therefore, has given us His Mother to be our Mother, and to care for us with a mother’s love. The statement that Our Lady is our mother is not merely a poetic expression – something which is a figure of speech. It is a strict truth, belonging to the supernatural order – to that order which is far more real, because more lasting than anything can be which will pass like a dream in the night. The Motherhood of Mary has its roots in time, but its promises are for eternity. We read in the life of St. Stanislaus Kostka that he would constantly repeat, with wonderful happiness, ‘Mater Dei, mater mei – God’s Mother is my mother’ – and we can, each of us, say the same.” (Fr. Vassall-Phillips, C.SS.R.)

Happy 8th Sunday after Pentecost!