Marie de Nazareth
To Jesus, through Mary
Jean Fouquet. The Trinity, the Virgin Mary, and All the Saints. Hours of Etienne Chevalier, 15th c. Wikimedia.
Meditating on the Virgin Mary throughout the centuries allowed a proper discipline to arise around Marian theology, called Mariology. Marian doctrine was developed over time by the Church, and can never be conceived apart from the mystery of Christ, the object of Christology. Marian doctrine is also present in Pneumatology, the discipline consecrated to the Holy Spirit. Similarly, a double link binds the Virgin Mary to the Father: she is His perfect creature, willed by God in view of the Incarnation of His Son, and she shares with the Father the privilege of calling Jesus her Son. Thus, the mystery of the Virgin Mary is profoundly Trinitarian and intimately linked to that of salvation, as emphasized by the Second Vatican Council.
The Church seeks to use God's way of looking in order to envisage Mary. She is in a sense "the king's secret." At the heart of the Holy Trinity, she is at one and the same time the only creature to be the Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son and the "Wife" of the Holy Spirit. Mary has been given the privilege of living the three strongest types of love (filiation—paternity/maternity—marriage) in plenitude with God.
Mary is the New Eve who shared the life and redeeming toil of the New Adam in an exceptional way (bearing Jesus in her womb for nine months, rearing Him in childhood and His 30 years of hidden life, remaining in continual spiritual communion during His public life and perfect communion after Christ's Ascension to Heaven). She has spent more time with Jesus than all the other creatures combined.
She is the Mother of Christ who is the Head of the Church, and since Mary has a unique maternal vocation towards all mankind, she is also the Mother of His Body the Church.
Mary's life was in all truth a perfect "fiat" and God bequeathed to her special glory exceeding that of any other creature. Mary is the Queen of the Heavens and the Earth, but she is above all the Mother of God and the Mother of mankind. God wants us to approach Him through Mary, as He came to the earth through His Mother. It is very difficult to speak about Mary without decreasing her brilliance and her greatness.
The Akathist Hymn chanted in Orthodox Churches eloquently sings the praises of the Holy Mother:
Rejoice, you through whom joy shall shine. Rejoice, you the Redemption of the tears of Eve.
Rejoice, Height hard to climb for human thought. Rejoice, Depth hard to explore even for the eyes of Angels.
Rejoice, for you are the Throne of the King. Rejoice, for you sustained the Sustainer of all.
Rejoice, Star that causes the Sun to appear. Rejoice, Womb of the divine Incarnation.
Rejoice, you though whom creation is renewed. Rejoice, you whom the Creator is born a Babe...
To know more:
About Mary the New Eve, in the Marian Encyclopedia
References: Virgin Mary, Marian Doctrine, Mariology, Marian Privilege, Mystery
Organization of the “Doctrine”- section
This topic is examined from multiple perspectives. The investigation centers first on the person of Mary, then on different Marian dogmas, presented from both a chronological and thematic standpoint, next on Marian devotion, and lastly on the other elements of Christian teaching associated with the Virgin Mary and part of her great mystery.