Mary the Crux of Covenant

The world today is in deep turmoil due to the communal violence and many other social and ethical ills. Today the human being in the world is preoccupied with the rat race of power, prestige and possession. As a result societies and states are losing the sense of values, morality and God. Thus, God has become a rare phenomenon in life, reduced to a concept in the modern and technological world. God is a concept, thought of only in times of need, danger, ill health, favors, jobs and rituals. Otherwise God is kept in the back seat as if he is a stranger to life. 

And to add fuel to the fire and to make things worse, the technology, scientism, new age thinkers, materialism, consumerism, individualism have crept into societies crumpling down the edifices of human values, social relations and the dignity of the families. This is seen very much when the youth and the students isolate themselves while using the latest technologies and social networks. It is no wonder that relationships have become very suspicious and inauthentic. Some so to the extent of making their identity with fake identities and some are threatened to reveal their real identity presuming danger. We can see this drastic change in societies as people are going away from Mandirs to Malls, Families to Restaurants, Class Rooms to Cafes, Priests to Celebrities, Masjid to Markets and Temples to trade  centers, etc. Therefore, the words of Kant are very true “the shallowness of the present age and of the decay of profound science; the doubt, security, indifference and criticism are the thoughts of this age. To this age of criticism everything is subjected, the sacredness of religion and authority of legislation become the subjects of suspicion.”

Today life in the cities, the sky scrapers, posh hotels like, esteemed restaurants, Glittering theatres, spacious Malls and luxurious mansions etc. are the common residence of the rich. The poor people are compartmentalized to the railway tracks, railway stations, fly-overs, road dividers, temples, slums and to the streets. All this reflects how God, Religion and values are eclipsed by the Google world as they have become irrelevant, insipid and dull to modern people. Therefore, at this crucial time the apostolic letter of the Holy Father Porta Fidei insists that the world is drastically in need of people of faith and witnesses who are enlightened in mind and heart by the word of God.  

Down the history we see philosophy at three levels: Egoistic Philosophy, Covenantal Philosophy (Catholics) and Anonymous Philosophy. All these philosophical quarries tried their best to explain what exactly the truth is. Western philosophy was more of egological, where ‘I think: I am and I think it is.’ The world is what I make of it. Hence, it is very ego-centric. The life in the cities is lived enclosed from the other and indulging in comfort zones and cocoons of individualism and consumerism. Thus life in this new age is changed as if we are indifferent to God. To put it simply we have reached even to the extent of living as if there is no God or as if God doesn’t exist.

The covenantal philosophy says that, God is not our choice as we think. It is not we electing and affirming God. In Judaism and Christianity God is seen as He is in search of man and our duty is to respond to his invitation. So it is God who takes the initiative in creation, sustaining and in salvation. With this initiative, He continues to seek humankind, asking us to turn to Him. He seeks us although we are busy like Eve and Adam satisfying ourselves and indulging with the apple of egoism, power, prestige and possession. Yet, God takes initiative to ask us, as he asked Eve and Adam Where are you? Gen 3: 9. He asks us, as he asked Cain Where is your brother? Gen 4:9.

We remember that, His initiative is greater than the human response. He is ever faithful to us, in spite of our unfaithfulness. Therefore his salvific plan is covenant that differs from the Contract. In this covenantal project we see 1 John 4: 10, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he has first loved us.”

The covenantal notion of God’s salvific plan entails a new horizon of the truth and reality. Jesus showed a new horizon by offering another cheek. This is the notion of responding to open the new horizons of which the other is ignorant. This way of opening a new horizon is not so easy to live and practice because it is not normal but it is very noble. It is noble because it is not a slave response but an extraordinary way of seeing the truth from the other dimension, like, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela and John Paul II who lived such life. So, our task is not to see whether God is with us or not but whether we are with GOD.

Why am I saying all this? Because, it is the same case with the young girl Mary, which God had chosen as His mother. We must be clear that it was not Mary who chose God and Jesus to be conceived in her womb. Instead it was the will of God the Father. Now we are clear that it is God who takes initiative and we only respond. Therefore we see Mary responding to God completely, in the words “I am the hand maid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your will.”

How did Mary become the crux of the covenant? Mary is the crux of the covenant because, it is through her response and through her Yes, she opened the doors of salvation, which were closed by our first parents. Mary is not at all an extraordinary woman. She is a normal woman. But what distinguishes her from other women is her qualities and the values of heart, her humility, simplicity, charity and prayer life. Her life will teach us that humility is the condition of a prayerful life. With this attitude of humility Mary went to assist her cousin Elizabeth in need. With her sensitivity she realized the need at the wedding at Cana.

Her qualities of heart like humility, charity, sensitivity, gratitude are admirable. She is therefore honored by her devotees with numerous titles like, star of the sea, seat of wisdom and the queen of heaven etc. Mary though very young, had an extraordinary faith. She knew well that if Joseph came to know of her pregnancy and if he handed her over for adultery she would be stoned to death according to the law. If Joseph, on the contrary, did not offer her, but only divorced her, she would be thrown out of the house as no parent would keep their daughter who has committed such a crime in the house. Humanly speaking she had only one alternative. But she trusted in Yahweh and accepted the offer. Thus, she used her prudence in the extraordinary call of God.  In Mary’s case, her faith in God enabled her to accept God’s will in spite of great danger.  Thus, she teaches us that to have faith doesn’t mean to avoid problems and troubles but to encounter them and cope with the reality.

What is my life of faith as a Christian? Am I ready to accept God’s will in my regard, no matter what the future life in this world will bring for me?

Today Mary asks us to begin counting the blessings of God. Because, Mary, as the crux of the covenant realized that it is His Mercy and Love which brought her Immaculate Conception and glorious coronation.

I would like to bring to your notice of the Questions of our covenantal God to our First Parents and Cain. Where are you? & Where is your brother?                        Thank You - Naresh Neelam.