Mary, I am proud to call her mother

I accepted Mary as my mother for a simple reason, Jesus gave her to us when he said " Here is your mother" (John 19:26-27). If I am to be a disciple close to Jesus' heart as the beloved disciple in the book of John, I must take Jesus' advice and take Mary to my home and treat her as my mother.

26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. (John 19:26-27)

There is so much of misunderstanding about Mary and how Catholics approach her, leading some to completely ignore her which I feel would be great loss as she is the perfect role model for any Christian. As Catholics, we do not worship her, as worship is for God alone. We honor her because God honored her. We love her because Jesus loved her. We must look to imitate her, in the way that she emptied herself so that God could work through her. Scripture unravels the importance of Mary in the history of salvation. Come, let us discover...

The blessed womb
When Mary, went to meet her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant at the time, Elizabeth experienced the Holy Spirit come upon her at the very sound of Mary's voice. This caused the child in her womb, to leap with joy, making it known to her that the woman standing before her was not just her cousin but the  mother of her Lord. It is for this reason she calls her 'blessed among women'.
We see something similar happen in the Old Testament where King David filled with the Holy Spirit was leaping and dancing in front to the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:16). The Ark of the Covenant was considered sacred because of what was inside it, the stone tablets on which the commandments were written, the rod of Aaron and a jar of manna. If the Ark of the Covenant is to be considered holy because it contained things given by God, how much more holy is the womb of Mary that carried God himself? She is the living Ark of the Covenant!

Allow me to draw out a bit of science to prove my point...
Studies show that the fetus send stem cells from its own body to its mother. These cells tend to heal and repair the mothers body. In this sense, Mary was the first to receive the body of Christ, making her the first to be delivered by the very son she delivered.

The first disciple
It could not have been easy for Mary to say 'yes' to God's will. She was very young and engaged to Joseph. The society she lived in, would have had an unwed girl stoned her to death for bearing a child. Who would believe her, if she told them that it was a child conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit? Yet, she didn't let the fear of death hinder God's will.

Mary was the first to go and proclaim the good news when she went to meet her cousin Elizabeth. And while most of Jesus' disciples spent 3 years with him during his earthly ministry, Mary spent all of his 33 years by his side. She must have been a great source of strength to the disciples after the ascension as they waited in the Upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit. She was the only one among them, who had already experienced the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit when she conceived Jesus.

Jesus honours Mary with the title 'woman'
It was the first Adam that brought death into the world due to disobedience and it was Jesus the new Adam who by his obedience brought everlasting life (1 Corinthians 15:21-22) However, are we forgetting that it was Eve, that took the first bite of disobeyed? The first Eve was called 'woman' (Gen2:22) as is Mary (John 2:4, 19:26). It was Eve, a virgin at the time, who listened to the word of a serpent and brought death to mankind but Mary, a virgin payed heed to the Word spoken by an angel and brought the redeemer into the world. While Eve became the mother of all living things, Mary becomes the mother of all those living in Christ.

A Queen
A King's mother was considered as Queen in the Davidic kingdom as Kings often had many wives and none would make a fitting Queen. While the King was in charge, the Queen also held a position of great honour as we see in 1Kings 2 where King Solomon greets his mother and has a throne bought for her to sit on his right. The Queen often heard the pleas of the people and brought them before the King to consider as we see Queen Bathsheba do on behalf of Solomon's brother.

If Jesus is our King, what does that make Mary?
In the Wedding Feast of Cana, Mary out of concern for the wedding party, approaches her son the King and tells him about their troubles. She didn't tell Jesus what to do, she trusted in his judgement and simply told the servants, "do whatever he tells you". She teaches us to patiently wait on the Lord as she takes our troubles to him.

Ever since I welcomed her into my home, a motherly warmth has returned which had been missing ever since my mom passed away. The more I reflect on Mary, the more I am encouraged to do the will of God. By honoring her, you only glorify the God who created her. He has given her as an example, so let us walk with her as she leads us to Jesus.