Mary our Mother
By St.
Aelred, abbot
Let us come
to his bride, his mother, his perfect handmaid, for the blessed Mary is all of
this.
But what
are we to do for her? What kind of gifts
show we offer her? Would that we could
at least return what we are in duty bound to do, for we owe her honor and
service, we owe her love and praise. We
owe her honor, for she is the mother of our Lord. He who fails to honor the
mother clearly dishonors the son. Also,
Scripture says: Honor your father and
your mother.
What then,
my brothers, shall we say? Is she not
our mother? Yes, my brothers, she is indeed
our mother, for through her we have been born, not for the world but for God.
Once we all
lay in death, as you know and believe, in sin, in darkness, in misery. In death, because we had lost the Lord; in
sin, because of our corruption; in darkness, for we were without the light of
wisdom, and thus had perished utterly.
But the we
were born, far better than through Eve, through Mary the blessed, because Christ
was born of her. We have recovered new
life in place of sin, immortality instead of mortality, light in place of darkness.
She is our
mother—the mother of our life, the mother of our incarnation, the mother of our
light. As the Apostle says of our Lord, he became for us by God’s power our wisdom
and justice, and holiness and redemption.
She then,
as mother of Christ, is the mother of our wisdom and justice, of our holiness
and redemption. She is more our mother
than the mother of our flesh. Our birth
from her is better, for from her is born our holiness, our wisdom, our justice,
our sanctification, our redemption.
Praise the Lord in his holy ones, says the Scriptures. If our Lord is to be praised in those holy
ones through whom he brings to being deeds of power and miracles, how much more is he to be praised in her in
whom he fashioned himself, who is wonderful beyond all wonders.
Happy are you, holy
Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise;
from your womb Christ
the Sun of Justice has risen.
Through him we have salvation and deliverance.
Sermon
taken from the Liturgy of the Hours
