Her story

In October, many Catholics celebrate the month of the Rosary. And it is also in October when we celebrate the Feast of the Lady of the Pillar (Oct. 12). Catholics traditionally commemorate the first recorded apparition of the Virgin to St. James the Greater. She came at a time when the saint was experiencing difficulties in his mission. According to legend, he saw her appear on a pillar carried by angels. She then instructed him to build a shrine in her honor. He built a small chapel and at her behest set out for Jerusalem where he converted many people. A basilica now stands in that same spot where St. James built his chapel.

Mary has appeared many times since then. Some in grand and dramatic occurrences as in Fatima, Lourdes, and Guadalupe. Sometimes in completely obscure ways that only few people would have known. Her messages are sometimes grave, sometimes consoling, sometimes mysterious. Often she will repeat herself much like a mother who has to remind her errant children. Always, however, she calls us back to her, to take refuge in her motherly embrace.

What I find most interesting in these apparitions over the years is that Mary always appears in a different set of clothes and more often than not with a different title. Many times, the visionaries confess to being unable to describe her heavenly beauty even as they have a very keen eye on the type of clothes she wears. Many times, too, the visionaries say that Mary looks like she belongs to the same ethnic group or nationality as the visionaries. In effect, Mary seems to be able to change her physical features at will although all of the visionaries always say she appears as a young woman. Mary is the woman with many names, with many faces and…with many outfits. (Trust a woman to notice.)

While most people would find these shifting images confusing, I find them rather comforting. You see, sometimes it is easy to forget that Mary is a woman (just as it is sometimes easy to forget that the saints might have been someone’s neighbor or co-worker or cousin). And, women, over the centuries have often been considered as changeable, inconsistent and therefore unstable. A woman is associated with the moon because it changes so often much like a woman’s mind, men like to say. And because she has many roles to play in society.

But when I look at Mary, I see how all the best things about being a woman come together so perfectly. She is at once Mother and Virgin, Handmaid and Queen and “Cause of our Joy” and “Mother of Sorrows.” (And if I were to continue to write down all her beautiful titles, I would fill pages.)In Mary, I see how femininity is redeemed. Because when Mary gives a new name which she is to be called, she does not do so because she has changed her mind. She does so because in her, God’s graces flow so abundantly that one name is not enough—one name will never be enough. And each new name is not a matter of vanity or pride but rather a manifestation of God’s unending generosity.

Mary for all her different names and appearances (and outfits) is the one person in all of history who surpasses every human being (with the exception of Jesus—but He is also fully divine, after all) in her steadfast obedience to the Father’s will. The one person, who has loved, continues to love and is loved in ways we will never be able to fully grasp. She is the one woman, Fulton Sheen once said, that all women unknowingly long to become and all men are secretly longing to find.