Mary, the Mother of our Lord

I'll never forget the St. Mary day, in 2006, when I was walking across Spain. I didn't realize it was the 15th of August, but about noontime, as I entered a tiny village west of Leon, there were throngs of people walking out of their doorways and crowding the steps of the local church. At first I figured it was a funeral procession, but the mood was too light for death. I noticed a number of women wearing blue, and also that children were carrying flowers. A wedding? No, not at noon. Then I remembered: it's the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin!

In our creeds only two people, besides Jesus, are mentioned. One is Pontius Pilate, and the other is Mary. 

I think of Mary as a role model, a pattern to follow in my response to God. She was a woman whose life said "yes" to God, who called herself God's servant, who praised God for turning the world upside down, who joined others in prayer. I like to think of her inspiring me to open my heart in a way that's similar to how she opened hers.

The Episcopal Church is all over the map when it comes to Mary's role in worship. Some of us have rosaries, and most of us know the "Hail Mary" a traditional prayer, from Scripture, asking Mary to add her prayers to our own, interceding for us. In our Prayer Book we find the "Song of Mary" in the Thanksgiving for the Birth or Adoption of a Child (p. 439), and we acknowledge in our calendar several days commemorating her life: the 25th of March (the Annunciation, when Gabriel tells her she is to bear God's child; the 31st of May, when Mary visits with her cousin Elizabeth and the child in her womb leaps; the 15th of August (today, her feast day); and 2 February the day Mary & Joseph presented Jesus in the temple. 

Let us pray.

Almighty God, 

of your saving grace 

you called Mary of Nazareth 

to be the mother of your only begotten Son: 

Inspire us by the same grace 

to follow her example of 

bearing God to the world. 

We pray through Jesus Christ her son our Savior. Amen.

Collect for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Godbearer, from Holy Women, Holy Men, p. 729