Mary, Leading us to the Kingdom of God.

Most Catholics know that Mary was the virgin foretold of in Isaiah 7:14; “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”.  However, her encounters with the Holy Spirit are often subordinated to the prophecy.  In Biblical scholarship, the Holy Spirit coming upon a person is called Charisma.  Because these persons rose to leadership positions, they are called Charismatic Leaders.  Usually, images of Samson or David conducting violent escapades against the enemies of Israel come to mind  But, Mary must be considered a Charismatic Leader as well.  She received the Spirit twice.  At the conception of the Messiah, as recorded in Luke 1:35; “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”  Likewise, Mary was with the Apostles, on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to her and the Apostles.  In Acts 2:1-4, we read; “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”. (Acts 2:1-4)  For skeptics who question Mary’s presence at this birth of the Church, Acts 1:14 specifically states the Mary was in the upper room as well.

Therefore, using the earlier Biblical Charismatic Leaders as a model, Mary is to assume a leadership role in the new Christian Church.  This leadership is not diminished by the Mary not appearing in the Bible after the record in Acts.

From the Marian Library Newsletter; The Holy Spirit is the guardian of hope in the human heart, so it is appropriate that hope be given special attention in 1998, especially "a better appreciation of the signs of hope present in the last part of this century." Mary was the woman docile to the voice of the Spirit, the woman who was "hoping against hope." In Mary, the Church sees a "sign of certain hope." (LG 68) Vatican II speaks of Mary as "molded, so to speak, by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature." (LG 56)

The Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary makes many references to the Holy Spirit and Mary. At the Annunciation, Mary received "the angel's message in faith and conceived by the power of the Spirit" ; she was formed by the Holy Spirit "to be a new creation."  Attentive to the voice of the Spirit, her heart was the "home of the Eternal Word, the sanctuary of the Spirit."  The Holy Spirit continues the mission of giving birth to Christ in believers through the Virgin Mary. St. Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort wrote, "Mary is the great mold of God, fashioned by the Holy Spirit to give human nature to a man who is God by the hypostatic union, and through grace to make persons who are like to God." (The Secret of Mary, 18) 

Therefore, we can understand that as “a new creation” Mary’s role in the Church begun with Jesus and His words to John on the Cross making Mary the mother of all Christians (John 19:25-27); “ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[b] here is your son,”  and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home”.  This shows that Mary is tasked to look after all he succeeding generations of Christians.  Her leadership is current and ongoing.  In this way, Mary is completing and continuing the Old Testament Charismatic Leaders by leading us, the New Israel, to the Kingdom of God.