The world always needs Mary. It needs her example; it needs her holiness; and it needs her powerful prayers. But a good case can be made that, in the midst of the disorder, division and confusion that we currently see all around us, our broken world needs Mary now more than ever.
First of all, we need her because she reminds us of the often ignored or forgotten truth that we are all members of the same race — the human race. In Galatians 4 it says that when the fullness of time had come God sent his Son, born of Mary, to die for us “so that we might receive adoption.” The “we” in that text means “everybody” — without exception! The “we,” in other words, includes both the people we like and people we don’t like. It includes those little, microscopic people in the womb as well as those old, sick people in the local nursing home on the verge of death. It includes people of our ethnic and racial group and people of every other ethnic and racial group. Simply put, it includes everyone from natural conception to natural death. The opening line from the recently issued declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Dignitas Infinita,” says it beautifully: “Every human person possesses an infinite dignity, inalienably grounded in his or her very being, which prevails in and beyond every circumstance, state, or situation the person may ever encounter.”
We also need Mary now more than ever because she has the potential to be a kind of “bridge” between the three major religious groups in the world, which have at times been in conflict: Christians, Jews and Muslims. She has the potential to appeal to our Jewish brothers and sisters, given the fact that she herself was a Jew — as well as the greatest human person who ever lived. (Jesus, remember, was a divine Person, which places him in a different category.)
And she is already revered in Islam. Mary is the only woman mentioned by name in the Koran, and she’s mentioned over 30 times. The founder of Islam, Mohammad, believed that his daughter, Fatima, had the highest place in heaven — after the Virgin Mary.
We also need Mary because she shows us that it’s possible to love your enemies. We have no record of our Blessed Mother ever saying a hateful word to anyone or engaging in a spiteful or vengeful action toward anyone — even the people who murdered her only child. And we know for a fact that she never did those things because she was sinless.
We also need Mary because she shows us how to face the suffering in our lives with faith and trust in God. She gave us that lesson as she stood silently at the foot of her Son’s Cross with St. John.
We need Mary in a really big way because she shows us that purity is possible in a sex-obsessed culture like ours. Lest we forget, the pagan Roman Empire was not exactly “Romper Room.” It was decadent, materialistic and hedonistic. And yet Mary lived with a pure mind and heart — and body — in the midst of it all.
Ultimately, we need Mary because she, in a uniquely powerful way, points us to her Son, Jesus Christ, and tells us to “do whatever he tells you.”
If we want to help to change the world for the better, one of the best things we can do is to bring Mary into (or more fully into) our lives: seeking her intercession each day and allowing her example to inspire and guide us in every decision we make.
May we do that during this special month, which is dedicated to her, and throughout the entire year.
