Holy Mary, the World's Most Powerful Woman - New Evangelizers

Someone unexpected was on the cover of the December 2015 issue of National Geographic: not a global political leader, nor an idol of pop culture, but the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is not every day that we see our Lord’s mother on the front page of a major magazine. Yet there she was. Moreover, National Geographic called her the World’s Most Powerful Woman. [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/virgin-mary-text]

Indeed, she is powerful. In the west, she is called Holy Mother of God. In the east, she is called Theotokos — God-bearer. Yet she does not give herself airs: to the Angel Gabriel, she spoke of herself as the Lord’s hand-maiden, a lowly servant-girl who serves at his beck and call. At the wedding at Cana, she did not give her own commands, but pointed to Jesus, saying “Do whatever he tells you” [John 2:5]. Why? Because Holy Mary is not full of herself, she is full of God. She bears Jesus to us, asking us to do what he tells us. Because of her, we, too, can come to know and love Jesus, and in loving him, become the people God intends us to be. This is why we can say, in the words of the angel: “Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

Holy Mary, the Mother of God, is the greatest of all the saints. The saints were filled with God’s grace, but the Blessed Virgin Mary was full of God who is Grace: Jesus, God become incarnate as a human being. The saints have been the means of bringing Jesus to many people all over the world, but Mary the Most Holy Theotokos has been the means of bringing Jesus himself into the world. Indeed, Holy Mary is the most powerful woman in the world, for through her, God gave us his only Son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Copyright 2016, Agapios Theophilus

Agapios Theophilus

Agapios Theophilus is the "nom de plume" of a catholic layman who has loved Jesus from when, as a young boy in the 1970s, he first learned about him. His First Communion, at the age of seven, was the happiest day of his life, and he celebrates its anniversary each year. He lives in a large city with his beloved wife, two wonderful children, and an affectionate orange and white cat. He has no formal qualifications whatsoever to write about Jesus: he writes only because he has been given the great gift of knowing and loving him, and he would like others to come to know and love him too. See Agapios' posts at https://sites.google.com/view/agapios-theophilus and follow Agapios on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/a9apios