Defending Mary: Part Four

Jesus Christ is the New Adam, the Lord of the New Creation ( I Cor. 15:45-49 ) and Mary the New Eve who undid what the first Eve had done. " The first Eve disobeyed God and thereby brought sin and death into the world. The New Eve, Mary, obeyed and believed God's message which was given to her at the Annunciation ( Lk .1 :26-38 ), and brought salvation and life to the world in her son, Jesus, who crushes the head of the serpent.

At Cana, the New Eve radically reverses the decision of the first Eve. The first woman led the first Adam to commit his first evil act in the garden. At Cana, the new woman leads the New Adam to perform His first glorious work.
The first Eve counseled Adam to defy God and eat the fruit. The New Eve brings the people’s needs to her Son and teaches the people to obey Him in faith - "Do whatever He tells you." John2:5 The first Eve was "the mother of all the living". By teaching the disciples and servants to believe in Jesus, the new Eve becomes the mother of the Church - "the children of God".

Yes, there are comparisons to the two weddings. In the first covenant, we witness the marriage union of a man and a woman, Adam and Eve. In the new covenant, we have a new man and a new woman present at a wedding feast.
True, Mary is Jesus’ mother, not His bride. But in order to understand the supernatural depths of biblical symbolism that John intends here, we need to set aside our "natural" ways of reading. "As the "woman," Mary becomes the locus of a host of biblical symbols and expectations - she is simultaneously: a daughter of Israel, the mother of the new people of God, and bride of God." This is a pay attention moment in the article. The headwaiter tastes the wine, his remarks to the "bridegroom" seem to be addressed to Jesus - "You have kept the good wine until now". John stresses this reading by following the headwaiters’ word immediately with this: "Jesus did this as the beginning of His signs."
The "sign" that John wants us to see here is that of God fulfilling His promise to come as a divine bridegroom to Israel and to be "wed" to His people in a new and everlasting covenant. 

Thinking back at Simeon's Blessing in Luke 1:34-35 - "And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed - and a sword will pierce even your own soul - to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." I can  not imagine the pain and sorrow our Mother was experiencing watching her son on his way through the passion. As a parent I would do anything to protect my children. Imagine what she was feeling, knowing what was going to happen and yet could not intervene. "No sooner has Jesus risen from his first fall than he meets his Blessed Mother, standing by the wayside where He is passing. With immense love Mary looks at Jesus, and Jesus at his Mother. Their eyes meet, and each heart pours into the other its own deep sorrow. Mary’s soul is steeped in bitter grief, the grief of Jesus Christ." Simeon’s prophecy has been fulfilled: thy own soul a sword shall pierce."

The Blessed Mother took her place in Salvation History as the first Christian. She is also the one disciple of Jesus who didn't flee or doubt when all the others fled and doubted, but who stayed and accepted to the very end the burden of being under the Cross. The gift of Mary to the Church was Jesus' last human act from the Cross.  He placed His mother's care in the hands of the only apostle present at the cross, the Apostle John, "Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman, this is your son.'  Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home."

Advent calls us to preparation, to strengthen our faith with the help of the Holy Spirit, to enter into that quiet place with the Child -- there we find true meaning in our life. It is a place where all that we are is revealed; it is a place in which the Day Star rises in the East, driving out the darkness, replacing it with an ineffable light of Love which can never be forgotten nor extinguished.

Mary urges us to enter into Advent, into "the Way." As we gaze with the eyes of faith upon that mystery which is anticipated in Advent, looking ahead toward the Child who lay in the manger,  Mary whispers: look at my Son. "Do whatever he tells you".