Thomas Griffin 4/8/24
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I have grown in relationship to one of the most important women in world history, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Catholics celebrate the Annunciation as a major feast day. It normally falls on March 25th but this year it was moved to April 8th because March 25th fell during Holy Week.
The witness of Mary is something that Americans deeply desire to emulate, even if they do not realize it.
Bishop Fulton Sheen wrote a book on the significance of Mary entitled World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God. In it, he speaks about how Mary is the blueprint for humanity. The way she lived is how God drew it up for all of us. She is the prototype. She is the one we are meant to be like in life. There are countless reasons for this that have biblical roots and implications but we can highlight a few that can be applied to be helpful for all Americans.
First, Mary teaches us that sin is real. Mary is the only person to be born, other than Jesus Christ, and to never sin. She felt the full weight of sin and she would have been truly tempted to sin but she never gave into that temptation. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity” (CCC 1849).
While there are defenses of the sinless nature of Mary it is more important that we spend time acknowledging that we are broken; humanity is imperfect. Countless Americans today would reject the reality of sin. Most people believe that you cannot be in error if you believe what you are doing is right. Many also believe that, as my ethics professor in college once said, “as long as you are not hurting someone you are not doing anything wrong.”
We all fall short and speak to our loved ones in ways that we shouldn’t. We get impatient with our spouses and kids. We gossip about others that we cannot stand at work or we say something nasty that we can’t believe we uttered. Mary should remind us that we do not have it all together. We are not her. We are a work in progress and we cannot do it on our own. We need God; we need faith in something bigger than ourselves if we want to grow in becoming who we are meant to be.
Second, Mary reveals that we are called to carry the truth to all that we meet. Before she gave birth to Christ in a manger she carried him for 9 months in her womb. Ancient saints refer to Mary as the first tabernacle because Jesus dwelled inside of her. The tabernacles that sit in our churches rest next to a red candle. That candle flame flickers waiting for us to visit Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The more we do so the more we can become walking tabernacles that carry Jesus to a world that needs his way and his truth and his love.
We are called to be walking tabernacles of truth. That is why we speak up about unjust laws, politics that have gone astray and a culture that has lost its mind. We desire to bring truth and goodness to the world because, deep down, we desire to be like Mary. We do this by staying in the know about current events and problematic topics in our country. We do this by speaking our mind, in a compassionate way, to those that might disagree with us. All of these actions aid us to carry the truth like Mary did.
Finally, Mary shows us that we need God. We can easily become outraged by the state of affairs in the White House and in Washington because we know that so many decisions violate God’s law. The immorality found in the news and mainstream media is discouraging and troubling. With the eyes of faith we know that things have gone so sideways because we have neglected to remember the importance of God and the values that come with being people of faith.
If there is no God then we can write whatever truths we want into law. We can kill babies if it is convenient. We can call someone a woman who is literally a man. We can euthanize those that are elderly because they are difficult to take care of. We can even change Easter into Transgender Visibility Day.
If there is no God, there is no truth. If there is no truth then the powerful are the ones in charge of manufacturing the truth. If God is real, the truth is something given to us. Truth is something that we have to deal with even when it is uncomfortable. Mary reveals that if we keep God at the center of our lives we become who we are meant to be. We become a person who does what is being asked of them, even if it is challenging.
Today, let us have a Mary attitude. Let us shout to the world that we need her Son. Because only then will we be effective in fighting sin, carrying the truth, and championing the power of God in today’s world.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine.
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