Marian Devotion: Its Right Ordering and Development

(Sharing at the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on 17 Dec 2011)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Early this year, in introducing our sharing theme, Mary and the Church, we mentioned adopting the right attitude in devotion to Mary. Pope Paul VI (1974) noted how the Church expresses in various attitudes of devotion its many relationships with Mary. So, at the end of the series now, let us see what constitutes “right attitude” in exercising Marian devotion. Besides providing a solid basis for our exercise of piety, it would greatly help promote Marian devotion. For guidelines on this, I will draw mainly from Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation, Marialis Cultus (MC).

Firstly, the exercise of piety towards Mary should clearly express its Trinitarian and Christological nature. “In the Virgin Mary everything is relative to Christ and dependent upon Him.” Besides being particularly Christ-centred, it should also reflect God’s plan (MC, #25) of Mary’s origin and the Incarnation of the divine Wisdom (Pius IX, 1854 as cited in Paul VI, 1974). This will help towards full knowledge of the Son of God and increase worship due to Him. Prominence is also due to the Person and life-giving work of the Holy Spirit in the history of salvation.

Secondly, the honour given to the Mother of the Lord should clearly show her place in the Church, i.e. “the highest after Christ and yet very close to us.” (LG, #54) This can be through symbolisms of church building architecture and images showing Mary’s place in the mystery of the Church. Examples are paintings of the Anunciation or the icon of the Theotokos often found in European churches. (MC, #28) The faithful can be led to appreciate Mary’s special dignity by highlighting the fundamental concepts of the Church as the Family, People or Kingdom of God, and the Mystical Body of Christ. They will then also realise that both the Church and Mary collaborate to give birth to the Mystical Body of Christ; that the Church’s action in the world extends Mary’s concern for the poor and the weak, for peace and social harmony and for mankind’s salvation merited by Christ’s death. Thus, love for the Church will become love for Mary and vice versa, since both must exist together. (MC, #28)

The characteristics mentioned were based on Mary’s relationship with the Holy Trinity and with the Church. To highlight the bond uniting us to Mary, Christ’s Mother and our Mother in the communion of saints, Pope Paul VI gave four more guidelines for Marian devotion.

For one, it should be biblical, but the biblical imprint should not be merely a skilful selection of texts and symbols from the Sacred Scriptures. Rather, texts of prayers and chants should be inspired and drawn from the Bible. Above all, devotion to the Virgin should be instilled with the great themes of the Christian message. Then only will the faithful be enlightened by the divine word and be inspired to live according to Christ’s teachings. (MC, #30)

Secondly, the devotions should draw inspiration from sacred liturgy and direct the faithful towards it. He emphasised that Marian devotions should not be suppressed, but neither should they be merged into the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which should be preserved as the summit of the Christian community’s gathering. (MC, #31)

Thirdly, Marian devotion should reflect the Church’s concerns, among which especially is the restoration of Christian unity. Thus, while preserving its uniqueness, it must carefully avoid misleading exaggeration or abolish any expression of cult contradicting true Catholic doctrine. (MC, #32 cf. LG, #67)

Finally, some people may find it difficult to see Mary, the Virgin of Nazareth, as a model in current social and intellectual settings. Marian devotion may seem to be old-fashioned to them. (MC, #34) Concerning this, Pope Paul VI observed that

1) the Church has always proposed imitating Mary not in her ancient type of life, but rather in her fully and responsibly accepting God’s will, in her charity and in her spirit of service. It is because she was the first and most perfect of Christ’s disciples. (MC, #35)

2) this difficulty is due to some disconnection between Mary’s image in popular writings and Gospel accounts or doctrinal data about her (MC, #36). However, we should compare human science ideas and this disparity, and guided by the Holy Spirit, verify knowledge of reality with the Scriptures. Then will we be able to see how Mary mirrors the expectations of men and women of our time and how she is the perfect model of the Lord’s disciple. (MC, #37)

Other incorrect attitudes of piety are those that emphasise on external practices without serious commitment, and searches for extraordinary phenomena. (MC, #38)

Finally, the ultimate purpose of devotion to the Blessed Virgin is to glorify God and to lead Christians to commit to lives conforming absolutely to His will. (MC, #39)

References:

Paul VI. (2 February 1974). Marialis Cultus.

Vatican Council II. (21 November 1964). Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium.