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Mariologists often suggest cautions when discussing
Mary's role and presence within Christian theology. Here I refer to the work
of Rev. Bertrand Buby, S.M. who presents working principles for
presentations about Mary. I cite his wisdom here as an important prelude to
this reflection.
The Conciliar documents and papal statements of Paul
VI and John Paul II suggest several working principles which assist both the
faithful and the scholars in seeing Mary always in the history of salvation,
in her relationship to the supereminence of her Son Jesus Christ, and as a
primary model of what the Church is called to be in modern Society.
[1]
I believe that the three principles offered by
Buby correlate with the titles of Mary that we will be investigating.
Mother, disciple and woman can only be understood because of Mary's place in
salvation history (woman), her relationship to Jesus (mother) and being a
model for the Church (disciple).
In 1984 the African American Bishops published
an important pastoral letter for the American Church titled What We Have Seen and Heard
[2]. This document
offered four characteristics of Black Spirituality -- Biblical, Holistic,
Communitarian and Contemplative. It is the first characteristic, Biblical,
that interests us here. When we speak of Mary as Mother of the Lord we are
interested in what the Bible says about Mary. We all know that when we
participate in religious discussions with other African Americans, what the
Bible says is the important criteria for truth. With this in mind, I have
tried to focus these reflections on the appropriate scriptures. Three of the
Gospels, Matthew, Luke and John provide texts for us to examine to get to
know Mary. Mark's gospel does offer two texts for consideration (3:31-35 and
6:1-6), but these are set-aside since they also appear in the other synoptic
gospels[3]. Our inquiry begins with texts from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
that inform us about her role as the Mother of Jesus, the Lord.
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