Mary,the New Eve

Long before the “son of Arathorn, and am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dúnadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil’s son of Gondor “, or the “King in the North, King Beyond the Wall, Lord of Winterfell, the White Wolf, the Undead”, or “the unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Dragons” were conceived, created and written, there came the “new Eve conceived without original sin, the Ark of the Covenant, help of the afflicted, Queen of heaven, the Mother of God”. And of course, who would forget “the son of David, the new Adam, the Lamb of God, redeemer of sinners, savior of mankind, the Messiah”?

Mankind has shown a great range of creativity in naming various individuals of good and brutal nature throughout history. The Catholic Church has a ton of those, actually. Immaculada Concepcion, spiritual vessel, Mater Misericordiae, Virgen Dolorosa, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, Our Lady of Aranzazu, Our Lady of Light, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. It’s a long and almost an endless list of names and titles, all of which are given to the simplest yet most obedient and faithful woman ever known to mankind – the Blessed Virgin Mary. She was a humble woman blessed by God to carry our Savior in her womb. Her obedience, faith, and commitment to God and His Son were so great the Catholic Church honor and love her so dearly.

There’s a number of Mary’s in the Bible so before we talk about her various names and titles, let’s make sure we’re not confusing her with the other Mary’s that we see in the procession especially during the Holy Week. Examples of which are Mary of Magdalia, Mary of Bethany, Mary the Mother of James the Less, and Mary of Cleophas. Mary Magdalene was mentioned I the Gospels of Luke and Mark where Jesus freed her from being possessed by demons. Mary of Bethany was Lazarus’ sister. Mary, James’ mother, was one of the women who went to Jesus’ tomb after He was crucified. And there was Mary Cleophas, one of the women at the foot of the Cross next to Mary, mother of Christ, and Mary Magdalene.

Marian images (same with images of Christ and Joseph) illustrate significant biblical events, name or describe place of apparition, or express our devotion to the Blessed Mother.

One great example Id’ like to mention is the image of Mater Dolorosa which shows us a grieving Mary. When I was around five years old, I was quite shorter than the other kids of my age. And there was this huge image of Mater Dolorosa in the right side of the small chapel-turned-Church in my hometown.  I remember asking myself, “why is she crying?” Mater Dolorosa depicts our Mother’s grief. It could have been her fright when Simeon told her that her “child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;’ and that “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul”; her fear when they had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s order to slay babies not older than two years old in Bethlehem; and her sorrow witnessing her son beaten, scourged, and crucified to death in the Cross.

Our Lady of the Assumption illustrates the event when Mary was assumed into Heaven.Centuries later, her apparitions gave her more names such as Our Lady of Lourdes, France for she appeared to Bernadette in Lourdes; Our Lady of Fatima for she appeared to Lucia in Fatima, Portugal; Our Lady of Aranzazu for she appeared to Rodrigo in a thorn-bush.  These apparitions brought blessings and conversion of souls, And because of these, the Church considered her Our Lady of Light, giving us hope in the darkest days of our lives. She’s Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces. She intercedes for our sake. She is Our Lady of Perpetual Help. And there goes the long list of titular devotion and various referential names of our Mother.

So, who is Mary, then?

Mary has been called many names. She was born of purity; conceived without original sin. She was there to start the redemption of mankind the moment she accepted God’s blessing to carry His Son. And when man’s faith grows weak, especially during times of crisis, she was there to kindle the fire of their faith. She’s a mother always looking after her children and keeping her family, the Church built by Christ, together. (Lea Basilio)