Factoids about Mary, Mother of Jesus
Since it’s May and we just celebrated Mother’s Day, I thought I’d share a few bits of information on St. Mary pulled from my book about her. Here are ten of them . . .
1. Mary’s name in Hebrew was probably more like Miryam.
2. Since there was no man involved in Jesus’ conception, all his DNA was from Mary. He must have looked very much like her.
3. Mary’s last words in the Gospel were said at the wedding at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you.” This is called Mary’s commandment.
4. The Mississippi River was originally named Conception after the Immaculate Conception by Father Marquette, S.J., who explored the river in 1673.
5. Mary took ritual baths called mikvahs in which the entire body was immersed. These baths were required before entering the Temple, after coming in contact with the dead, blood, or something unclean, before weddings and after childbirth.
6. The full name of Columbus’s flagship, the Sancta Maria, is St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception. He had his crews pray the “Salve Regina” (Hail, Holy Queen) every night.
7. Mary’s journey to help her elderly pregnant relative, Elizabeth, took about three days. Mary was a pregnant teenager when she made the trip on stony sometimes uphill paths, probably in hot weather and with the threat of bandits.
8. When Mary received Communion, she was receiving the same body and blood that she had given Jesus at birth.
9. The Qur’an has more verses about Mary than the Bible. The title of its chapter 19 is “Mary.”
10. Between 1968 and 1971 Mary appeared often in Zeitoun, Cairo, Egypt, above a Coptic Orthodox Church. People of many faiths witnessed the apparitions.
St. Anselm said, “There’s never enough said or written about Mary.” What are your thoughts about her?
Globalized Prayer Intentions
In the hall of my home hangs an ancient map of the world. Whenever I look at it, I see a frowning face with eyes and a nose. (FYI: The ability of the human mind to see forms in things like clouds is called pareidolia.) This map reminds me to pray for people who are suffering in my country as well as in other countries. In my daily prayers are petitions for my family members and people I know. I admit I am negligent in including serious problems beyond the scope of my little world.
I don’t think that this is unusual. At Mass when the congregation voices its petitions, individuals pray for a sick son, an unemployed uncle, a neighbor who was in a car accident. Seldom is there mention of crises in other countries, or in our own for that matter. (Maybe it’s different at your church.)
A helpful practice would be to keep informed of current national and international problems in the news. Then list some of these on a card and keep it in our prayer book. So what would this list look like today? A peaceful solution to the escalating tension between Israel and Syria . . . comfort for the families of those who lost loved ones in India when the factory collapsed . . . justice for those involved in prominent murder cases, like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Amanda Knox, and Jodi Arias . . . peace between the Muslims and Christians in Tanzania . . . an end to the partisan gridlock in the US Congress . . . safety for the families and homes threatened by the California wildfires . . . healthy dialogue between the Sisters’ LCWR and the Vatican hierarchy. Actually we could be on our knees all day!
How do you pray for the world? What current situation do you consider greatly in need of prayer?
Heavenly Thoughts
The other day my mother and I were talking about heaven. In cartoons people in heaven are angels who sit on clouds playing harps all day. How boring for us who are used to TV, iPads, Kindles and the like! So what is heaven really like? According to Jesus, it has many mansions. He could have been speaking figuratively. St. Paul, who supposedly had a vision of heaven, was left speechless. All he could write about it was “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it ever entered the mind of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) (more…)
Conquering Fear
Do you know that someone counted that “Do not fear” occurs 365 times in the Bible? That’s one for every day of the year. Yes, fear is good in that it sometimes protects us from tragedy. But sometimes fear can be a straitjacket. I can think of times in my life when I was afraid to do something and missed out on a great adventure. For example, jumping in a hot air balloon on the spur of the moment. But there are other times when I overcame fear and was rewarded. Like the day shortly after turning eighteen when I entered the convent, which was a totally mysterious place. (I did cry all the way there. My mother said she felt like she was taking me to kindergarten all over again.) But that day was the beginning of a remarkable journey.
What if people gave in to their fears? What if Columbus didn’t dare cross the ocean? What if the first person to eat a tomato or a shrimp was too afraid to try it? What if my nephew the firefighter was too afraid to enter a burning house? What if God the Son said, “Become a human being? No thanks. It’s safer here in heaven”? For good reason Franklin Roosevelt advised, “The only thing we need to fear is fear itself.”
Scripture offers a wonderful story about a man who didn’t fear (Judges 6:1–7:25). God called lowly Gideon to save Israel from the Midianites. First Gideon had to be convinced that it was really God speaking. So God gave him two signs. After Gideon raised an army of 32,000 soldiers, God had him send the fearful ones home. Gideon was left with 10,000 soldiers. God further whittled the troops down to 300 men. Gideon supplied these men horns and jars with torches and had them surround the enemy camp. On a signal they blew their horns, broke the jars, and shouted. Some Midianites attacked one another; others fled. Gideon won the battle with no weapons and without a single casualty! He could have been scared stiff—maybe he was—but he trusted God.
Some people are afraid to fly in planes. Some are afraid to have a baby. Some are afraid to speak to an audience. Some are afraid to drive on highways. The list of fears is endless. Fears like these inhibit growth and a fulfilling life. Let’s pray to the Holy Spirit to activate the gift of courage in us and suppress our fears. Then, trusting in God, we can embark on what may turn out to be a thrilling adventure.
I just saw a quotation from Pope Francis: “Ask Jesus what he wants from you and be brave.”
What would you do if you didn’t fear?
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
In Times of Tragedy and Terror
Yesterday, April 15, my niece gave birth to my mother’s first great grandchild. And what kind of world is little Phoenix Thomas entering? Here we are, reeling from yet another senseless national tragedy. I feel like lamenting with the psalmist, “How long, O Lord? How long?” Isn’t it enough that we earthlings live in fear from earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and volcanoes? Still, some fellow human beings turn against us and add to our misery, sorrow, and apprehension. How many other creatures do this to their own? You would think that we humans, who are gifted with reason, would know better.
We understand that crimes against humanity are spawned by greed, hatred, misguided religious zeal, or mental illness. Yet, why they exist at all is unfathomable. No wonder John Henry Cardinal Newman concluded that some catastrophe at the beginning of the human race must have wrecked the good world God made—and the “very good” people he created. We refer to this universe-altering catastrophe as original sin.
Trusting in the promise of Jesus, we wait in hope for the new kingdom of peace and justice. Someday our sorry world will be reborn, phoenix-like. In the meantime, what do we do? We can help work to promote this kingdom in our own life and in our country. For example, as the priest advised in his homily this morning, we can make our motto “Not revenge, but reconciliation.” We can do our best to persuade our representatives to enact sane laws that protect our people. And in the face of such disasters as the Boston terrorist attack, we can cope with the evils and help one another cope. And we pray: for the victims, their families, and the perpetrators. We pray to our Creator with renewed vigor, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
