May is a month especially dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Mary’s role in the life of the Church is a point on which many of our Protestant brethren are confused. They may accept the biblical text that all generations will call her blessed (Lk 1:38) but fail to understand the special place that Mary has in the hearts of many Catholics and in our traditional devotions.
When I am called upon to explain the role of the Blessed Mother in our faith, my “go-to” passage is the wedding at Cana, recounted in John 2:1-12.
Jesus and his mother are guests at a wedding when the couple runs out of wine. This would have been more than a minor embarrassment. Jewish marriage rituals at the time prescribed special courses of wine to be served; a lack of wine meant that the ritual could not be completed. The couple clearly have a problem. What does Mary do? She helps them by bringing their problem to the attention of her Son.
“They have no wine,” she says (Jn 2:3). Note the simplicity of her request. She does not tell Jesus what to do. She does not suggest how He might solve the problem. She does not, in fact, ask Him to do anything at all. She simply presents the problem to Him, trusting her Son to do what is best.
What a model she is for our own prayer! How often, when we are faced with difficulties, do we attempt to instruct God in how we want Him to solve our problems? Would that we might have the confidence of Mary to simply entrust our problems to Christ, knowing that He understands our needs, and how to meet them, better than we do ourselves.
Having presented the couple’s dilemma to her Son, Jesus responds to His mother by saying, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4). This may appear to us to be a rebuke, but it is not. In addressing his mother as “woman,” Jesus is not being rude, as it would be perceived if any of us were to call our mothers by that term. In Hebrew this was a term of respect, like “ma’am.” It is the same word Jesus uses to address His mother from the cross, when He says, “Woman, behold your son” (Jn 19:26). It is a term that reaches back to the Garden, to the title given to Eve: “This one shall be called ‘woman’ for out of man this one has been taken” (Gen 2:23).
The “hour” Jesus refers to is the hour of his passion. He is aware of what his mother is asking. He knows that if He obeys her request and manifests His divinity in this public way, it will set into motion a series of events leading to the cross. Is she ready for that? Is she ready to give up her Son for the sake of the world? The devoted and obedient Son will not leave His mother without her permission.
What is Mary’s answer? Speaking to the servers, she says only, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). Once more, her confidence in Jesus is complete. Whatever He decides to do must, by definition, be best. And we know the rest of the story. Jesus tells the servers to fill six stone jars with water. They do, but when they take the jars to the head waiter, he discovers them to be filled with such wine that he is amazed at its quality. John calls this “the beginning of His signs,” after which the disciples began to believe in Him (Jn 2:11).
Mary’s actions in this passage are illustrative of her ongoing role in the Church. What she does here for this couple she continues to do in heaven for us; she intercedes for our needs and points us to her Son. The most familiar Marian prayer is the Ave Maria or “Hail Mary.” The first part of the prayer is an address: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.” This combines the biblical greetings given to Our Lady by St. Gabriel (Lk 1:28) and St. Elizabeth (Lk 1:42). The second part of the prayer is our petition: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
In our prayers to Mary, we ask for her to intercede for us in our various needs, just as she interceded for the couple at Cana. We ask for her intercession during the two most important times of our lives: our last moment and this present moment. That’s when we need the help of Mary’s Son the most. This prayer also tells us why we ask Mary to intercede for us. She is holy, and the prayer of a righteous person is effective (Jas 5:16). And she is the Mother of God. God listens to His mother. Why should we think that to be true? Because the Bible tells us so.
“Do whatever He tells you.” These are Mary’s words to each one of us. She hears our prayers; let us hear her instructions. She does for us today the same thing she did at Cana. She points to her Son and says “Listen to Him,” just as the Father said at the transfiguration (Lk 9:35).
Mary wants what God wants, always. So we can’t go wrong by following her. And if we follow her, she will lead us to her Son, because she is always at His side. That’s what she does. That’s who she is. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate.