God is the Father of created things, and Mary, the mother of recreated things, gives birth to the One by whom all things have been created and redeemed.
Saint Anselm
Meditation with the icon of Perpetual Help
In the Christian tradition, especially in the Eastern tradition, icons are presented as windows that put us in contact with transcendence, that connect the material and spiritual realms, the natural and the supernatural. The icon of Perpetual Help, like the great majority of icons, represents those zones of holiness where the created is connected with its Creator, where heaven and earth meet; it is expressed in elements such as the golden colour, the angels, the large hand of Mary, etc. Some of the elements of this icon also refer us to the mystery of creation-redemption: the star, the sky, the flesh of Jesus, who enters the world through Mary.
As we focus our attention on Mary, we notice that she bears the One through whom the world was created and who, for our salvation, became incarnate in her virginal womb. On account of her maternity, she has been invoked as Queen of the Universe or Mother of Creation. Her fiat continues the work of creation and enables the work of redemption. For some commentators of the Icon, the young face of Jesus and his bare feet are the artistic expression of He who becomes human in Mary’s womb and who enters into human history and the history of the created world.
The Greek letters MP ƟY on the upper left and right proclaim Mary as Mother of God. Mary, who gives birth to Jesus, the Christ (Mt 1:16), the God of love who has willed to pitch his tent among us. She has borne in her womb the Creator, Him the one whom the heavens cannot contain. Some Byzantine icons refer to Mary as “Platytéra”, which literally means “she who is wide, more spacious than Heaven”. Thus, Mary’s large hands holding Jesus’ small hands can connect us to this truth.
The Icon of our Lady also refers us to a Redemption that embraces the whole cosmos. Mary’s creative “Yes” at the Annunciation can be described as a “cosmic Yes”. With her yes, Mary gives a yes to the redemption of the whole of creation. St. Anselm affirms that God is the Father of created things, and Mary, the mother of recreated things, gives birth to the One by whom all things have been created and redeemed. For “Mary has given birth to Him without whom absolutely nothing can be good” (Disc. 52; PL 158, 955-956).
Mother of all Creation
The mythical imagination of native peoples has established very close relationships with the created world, particularly with the Earth as a mother. These people have manifested a great sensitivity towards the capacity of the Earth to care for and nurture as a mother does. Pope Francis, in Querida Amazonia, has also appreciated this type of relationship between human beings and the Earth. He has pointed out that these relationships manifest to us the (cosmic) motherhood of Mary, the Mother of all, which contributes to the vital encounter with the Redeemer (QA 111). For this reason, “at the same time that we believe firmly in Jesus as the sole Redeemer of the world, we cultivate a deep devotion to his Mother. ” (Dear Amazonia 107).
From its origins, Christianity has spontaneously referred to Mary with the title of Mother. In fact, very early in the origins of Christianity the Christian community realized that it was not possible to reject this title without denying the revealed truth of the incarnate God. This means that when we invoke Mary as Mother of the Redeemer, we contemplate her at the same time as part of the mystery of Creation and Redemption since the mystery of Christ embraces the whole of Creation.
The category of mother always refers us to Mary. The diversity of Marian titles now offers us the possibility of focusing on particular aspects of Mary in the ecological sphere, such as “mother of creation” and “collaborator in the work of Redemption”. If Teilhard de Chardin has spoken of a cosmic Christ, in the same sense, it is possible to refer to the cosmic maternity of Mary and her role in the Redemptive work of Creation: if Mary is the “full of grace” who has been preserved from the sin that disintegrates the relationship between God and his creatures, being the mother of the Redeemer she is a “collaborator” in the work of her Son. Thus, if the Redemption of Jesus has cosmic effects, the motherhood of Mary has a similar scope. These emphases of our Marian devotion have important implications in the area of the care of the Common Home.
The title of Mother of Creation helps us to contemplate the eternal Word of the Father who, in becoming flesh, chooses Mary’s womb and, through her, makes all creation partakers in the work of redemption. The Second Vatican Council attributed to Mary the function of “type”, that is to say, “figure” of the Church, with regard to her immaculate holiness which in many ways is manifested in the Church. Referring back to the original creation, where God saw that everything he had made was good (cf. Gen 1:31), Mary could represent the archetype not only of humanity but also of a redeemed nature; she is the icon of the common destiny that the Earth and humanity share. John Paul II expresses it in these words: “Mary, at the side of her Son, is the most perfect image of freedom and of the liberation of humanity and of the universe. It is to her as Mother and Model that the Church must look in order to understand in its completeness the meaning of her own mission.”
Mary-Mother, full of grace from the first moment of her existence, reveals to us the vocation of the human being and the vocation of the whole natural world. As the first to be redeemed, grace and nature are intertwined in her. That is to say, she is completely natural, inasmuch as she is the original creature that God willed in in Paradise. If original sin is understood as the rupture of the relationship between God and his creation, in Mary’s immaculate nature there is no such rupture. And that is why she is like the original garden, the natural paradise, the uncontaminated forest, the earthly paradise which we all long for.
Indeed, nature reveals to us some of the virtues that are already realized in Mary. When we refer, for example, to a virgin and uncontaminated forest, we think of that ideal state that offers us that sense of wholeness, of security, and of being protected and at home. In many other ways Mary, as Virgin and Mother, can help us to articulate the effects and benefits of the Redemption on the created world, translating them into concrete actions for the healing of a wounded world. The devotion to Mary, Mother of the Created, can be an effective antidote to environmental degradation because she reflects to us the harmony between nature and grace that we need to reestablish for our Common Home.
Elevada al cielo, es Madre y Reina de todo lo creado. En su cuerpo glorificado, junto con Cristo resucitado, parte de la creación alcanzó toda la plenitud de su hermosura. Ella no sólo guarda en su corazón toda la vida de Jesús, que «conservaba» cuidadosamente (cf Lc 2,19.51), sino que también comprende ahora el sentido de todas las cosas. Por eso podemos pedirle que nos ayude a mirar este mundo con ojos más sabios. (LS 241)
Questions for reflection
- Mary, as a woman of our people, can help us understand how creative and redemptive work is accomplished in us. Moreover, she can help us understand our dignity, as well as the dignity of other redeemed creatures. How might our Marian devotion articulate environmental concerns?
- In Mary’s mission as Mother of the Redeemer, we can contemplate the archetype of the redemptive mission where God uses human mediation to accomplish his redemptive work. How can Mary’s creative “Yes” also inspire us to understand our vocation as collaborators in the redemptive work that embraces the whole of creation?
- Marian titles such as Mother of the Creator or Mother of all Creation open up possibilities for us to explore the “ecological” accents of Marian devotion. How could we present these accents in our preaching?
Pope Francis’ Prayer to the Mother of the Amazon Region
Mother of life,
in your maternal womb, Jesus took flesh,
the Lord of all that exists.
Risen, he transfigured you by his light
and made you the Queen of all creation.
For that reason, we ask you, Mary, to reign
in the beating heart of Amazonia.
Show yourself the Mother of all creatures,
in the beauty of the flowers, the rivers,
the great river that courses through it
and all the life pulsing in its forests.
Tenderly care for this explosion of beauty.
Ask Jesus to pour out all his love
on the men and women who dwell there,
that they may know how to appreciate and care for it.
Bring your Son to birth in their hearts,
so that he can shine forth in the Amazon region,
in its peoples and in its cultures,
by the light of his word,
by his consoling love,
by his message of fraternity and justice.
And at every Eucharist,
may all this awe and wonder be lifted up
to the glory of the Father.
Mother, look upon the poor of the Amazon region,
for their home is being destroyed by petty interests.
How much pain and misery,
how much neglect and abuse there is
in this blessed land
overflowing with life!
Touch the hearts of the powerful,
for, even though we sense that the hour is late,
you call us to save
what is still alive.
Mother whose heart is pierced,
who yourself suffer in your mistreated sons and daughters,
and in the wounds inflicted on nature,
reign in the Amazon,
together with your Son.
Reign so that no one else can claim lordship
over the handiwork of God.
We trust in you, Mother of life.
Do not abandon us
in this dark hour.
Amen.
