Maternal figure par excellence, mysterious healer, the Virgin Mary inspires devotion like no other woman on Earth.
Pray for the intercession of the Virgin Mary and devotion to it are global phenomena. The concept of Mary as an intercessor before Jesus Christ begins with the miracle of wine at the wedding at Cana, when, according to the Gospel of John, the Virgin says: Do not have wine?, and in that way induces Jesus to perform his first miracle.
In 431 A.D., during the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus, Mary was officially declared Theotokos, Mother of God. Since then, no woman has been as exalted as she. And as a universal symbol of maternal love, suffering and sacrifice, the Virgin is, many times, the touchstone of our need for meaning, a more accessible link with the supernatural than the formal teachings of the Church, and her mantle offers security and protection. On one occasion, asking Pope Francis what Mary meant to him, the pontiff replied: She is my mother.
His reported appearances, almost always visions of very poor children living in isolated or conflict regions, have intensified the mystery and aura of the Virgin Mary. And when it has been impossible for children to give up their stories – specifically, descriptions accompanied by unexplained signs, such as spinning suns or springs that sprout, their portento grows.
Maria is everywhere. The image of The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the most reproduced female representations in Mexico. Each year, Maria attracts millions of pilgrims to altars such as Fatima, in Portugal, and Knock, in Ireland. The Virgin inspired the creation of many masterpieces of art and architecture, as well as poems, liturgies and music. And she is also the spiritual confidant of billions of people.
Muslims and Christians consider her holy over all women and the Koran quotes Maryam’s name more times than the Bible mentions Mary. In fact, Mary only speaks four times in the New Testament, beginning in the Annunciation, when, according to the Gospel of Luke, the archangel Gabriel appears to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of the Most High, and Mary responds to her Here is the servant of the Lord His only long speech, also in Luke, is the poetic Magnificat, who delivers at the beginning of his pregnancy: Praise my soul the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, because he has laid eyes on the smallness of Your slave From now on, will all generations call me blessed.
And yes they have.
The Bible states that he lived in Nazareth, at the time when the Romans controlled Jewish territory. After Maria became pregnant, her fiancé, the carpenter Joseph, considered abandoning her until an angel appeared to him in dreams to tell her not to. The birth of Jesus is mentioned only in two gospels, those of Luke and Matthew. Instead, Mark and John refer to Jesus’ mother several times.
In her dissertation on sacred theology at the Mariano Institute, María Enriqueta García explains that the Virgin brings us Jesus, the light of the world, in the same way that Jewish mothers light candles on the Sabbath. Mary’s relationship with us it’s not any relationship, it is a sacred.
