Women of faith and courage

Mothers are often portrayed in both fictional and nonfictional literature in ways that reflect the complex demands they face in life. This literature often captures our imagination by portraying women of strength who face hardships and challenges with determination, strength, and a selfless love for the well-being of their children. This is indeed a significant part of being a mother – facing the adversities of life and preparing children to withstand them. For Catholics, the Blessed Virgin Mary is an inspiring model of both determination and joy who is not protected from the sorrow and anguish of being a mother.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1172 emphasizes the maternal importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church which stems from her care of Jesus, her Son, by stating that the “Holy Church honors the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, with a special love. She is inseparably linked with the saving work of her Son. In her, the Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image that which she desires and hopes wholly to be." The Gospel of John provides the account of the moment she becomes a mother to Jesus’ disciples and thus the Church, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son. “ Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” (John 19: 26-27)  [CCC 964]

In his 1965 encyclical, Mense Maio, Pope Paul VI recognized May as the month for the Marian devotions, “May is a month which the piety of the faithful has long dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God.  …  For this is the month during which Christians, in their churches and their homes, offer the Virgin Mother more fervent and loving acts of homage and veneration; and it is the month in which a greater abundance of God's merciful gifts comes down to us from our Mother's throne.” 

Many of our parishes are named after Mary, others offer the Rosary daily during the month of May and they could erect an altar with a statute or a picture of Mary as a reminder of this Marian month.  It is a long-standing tradition to crown the statue of Mary during May to honour her faithfulness.  Additionally, the Feast of Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, was instituted by Pope Francis in 2018 and is celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost.  Mary’s example of trust, faith, and strength inspire us in the living of our faith.  

These devotions encourage us to imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary’s virtues in our own lives and to think of the women of faith and courage who nurture and inspire us – firstly, our mothers and grandmothers.  They have a vital, even irreplaceable, role in our lives.  Their love, faith, courage, strength, and humility guide us through the experiences of life so that we can follow God’s call and live our lives in service to others.  And then we think of the women who are maternal figures in our lives, the women who devote themselves to living an authentic and courageous witness of faith through acts of sacrificial love.

In his Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete Et Exsultate, On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World, Pope Francis writes about women of faith saying, “Within these various forms, I would stress too that the “genius of woman” is seen in feminine styles of holiness, which are an essential means of reflecting God’s holiness in this world. Indeed, in times when women tended to be most ignored or overlooked, the Holy Spirit raised up saints whose attractiveness produced new spiritual vigour and important reforms in the Church. We can mention Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Saint Bridget, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. But I think too of all those unknown or forgotten women who, each in her own way, sustained and transformed families and communities by the power of their witness.”  (GE, 12)
​
In this month of Marian devotion, let us pray for and honour the women in our lives and in our Faith Tradition who have “sustained and transformed families and communities by the power of their witness.” (GE, 12)

Most Rev. William T. McGrattan, Bishop of Calgary

---

Most Reverend W. T. McGrattan, D.D., Bishop of Calgary
May 2019

Picture: Rest on The Flight into Egypt, c. 1510 by Gerard David​