Mary, The First Charismatic
What does Mary teach us about the Holy Spirit? What is her relationship with Him? Like all Christians, Mary is a “temple of the Holy Spirit” but the Holy Spirit dwells in her more than in any other person except Jesus; Mary knows the Spirit and His power. Only Mary may be called the “spouse of the Holy Spirit”. Only her union with the Holy Spirit brought forth the Son of God, Jesus Christ, into the world in physical, incarnate form.
As Catholics we look at Mary as the Mother of God but we also need to remember that she was a layperson. Mary was a young woman of prayer who allowed the Holy Spirit to speak to her in depths of her being, until her heart welled up with praise and thanksgiving to God: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
She was present to God in prayer and she was open to the Spirit of God, and because she was open, the Holy Spirit came to her and what has happened the whole world has changed. Because one young girl has said “yes” to God’s request, and her “yes” was not just a spare of the moment “yes” her “yes” is Eternal. She continued to say “yes” to God throughout her life on earth and now her life in Heaven. When she said “yes” to the Archangel Gabriel, the Holy Spirit was able to overshadow her to conceive the Son of God in her womb. Wherever Mary went, her mere presence called forth a movement or action of the Holy Spirit in others like her cousin Elizabeth. The climax of the work of the Holy Spirit through Mary, was her presence with the apostles on the eve of Pentecost. It was through Mary’s “yes” that the Old Testament prophecies of the people were at last fulfilled!
THE CROSS ROADS
Pentecost was the cross roads in the history of salvation and of the role
of the Holy Spirit in salvation. Pentecost was the fulfillment and an
end of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the Spirit came upon the
few privileged people, it came upon individuals. It was not there always;
it came because of a specific time, and place, or for a particular function.
Whether it was to a Prophet of the Old Testament, whether it was Moses,
the Spirit came upon that particular person, and that particular person
had received the gift for that particular event, it wasn’t constant.
The Spirit came on one person, filling him with wisdom and artistic ability
(Exodus3l:3; 35:31); it came on another and he was infused with the prophetic
charism (Micah3:8); it came on yet another and he received extraordinary
powers in governing (lsaiahl 1:2) or of discernment in judging. (Daniell3:45-46)
But at Pentecost, it was different. At Pentecost the Spirit was given to everyone, the Spirit is constant, the Spirit is alive and active. This is the great gift that Jesus and the Father had promised. Jesus describes the gift of the Holy Spirit as the “promise of my Father” and ‘power from on high” (Luke24:49) He tells his apostles about the Spirit of truth (Johnl4:17) who will lead and guide them and give them words to say when they are brought before governors and kings (Matthew lO:18-20). He calls the Spirit the Counsellor, or Advocate (John l4:25), “rivers of living water welling up to eternal life (John7:38-39).
Because you have been baptized, you have received the Holy Spirit, its there in your life, and its present to the day that you die. But is the Spirit active in you? There is a different between receiving the Spirit in Baptism, Confirmation or any of the Sacraments, and releasing the grace of the Spirit. Many people have not released the Spirit in their lives — nor released the powers of the Sacraments in their lives. [story of Caroline]
But despite Jesus’ announcement and descriptions of this greatest of gift the Holy Spirit, the average person still finds it easier to relate in a personal way to Mary than the Holy Spirit. Mary is a mother, a model mother of mercy and compassion. The Holy Spirit remains somewhat faceless and elusive. It is difficult to have a close personal relationship with this person of the trinity who is imagined primarily as an impersonal force, like the biblical images of the wind and fire or as the peaceful dove as the “still small voice” that nudges the conscience. That is why I think it is easier to have a devotion to the person of Mary, our mother, than to the Holy Spirit, and why it is easier to pray to Mary, who is a redeemed human being, than to the Holy Spirit, who is God.
HOLY SPIRIT IN MARY’S LIFE
One conclusion you could draw from the Biblical evidence about Mary is
simple: Where Mary is, there is the Holy Spirit. Whether it is through
her intercession or simply through her presence, Mary, in whom the Holy
Spirit dwells in a special way, evokes the Holy Spirit in others. What
we know about Mary from the scripture also tells us about the operation
of the Holy Spirit in her life. The action of the Holy Spirit makes her
unique and special in God’s plan of salvation. All those to whom
Mary was sent after the Holy Spirit had come upon her, were in their turn
touched, or inspired, by the Holy Spirit (Luke l :41, 2:27).
In the scene in Luke’s Gospel following the Annunciation, Mary rose and visited her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was an older barren woman who was now also miraculously with child by God’s power. When Mary greeted Elizabeth, ‘the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:40-42). Here is indicated an important truth about Mary: her presence evokes the presence of the Holy Spirit in others. When Elizabeth heard Mary, John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb and Elizabeth was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and immediately uttered a prophecy.
Something similar happened when Jesus was presented in the temple. When Simeon, who had been “inspired by the Spirit” to come to the temple, saw Joseph, Mary and the child Jesus there, he took Jesus in his arms and burst into a prophetic prayer of praise. He then turned to Mary and prophesised about the Son and about the sword that would pierce her own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts might be revealed. Anna, an elderly prophetess, also approached the Holy Family, gave thanks to God, and “spoke of (the child) to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:22-28).
HOLY SPIRIT CHANGES
When the Spirit of God descends upon you, your life changes, it’s
not a one—day event. The annunciation was not a one day-event, the
Holy Spirit came upon Mary at the annunciation, the fruits of the Spirit
took nine months to grow in her life, in her womb. She didn’t just
sit down and say, Oh! The Holy Spirit came to me.last night, I must hide,
I can’t go out in the street, and what people will say about me.
Mary received the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit in her womb, and then
went out. She went out to visit Elizabeth it was in going out and starting
to use the gift of the Spirit that the Spirit continued to grow in her.
She becomes more and more aware of the growth of the Spirit in her life.
When I step out and allow God to use that gift of the Spirit that he has given to me, only then can I grow. It is the same in marriage it’s the same with any of the Sacraments. Mary is teaching us all the time how to allow the Spirit to be active in our lives, and how to be a Charismatic. How to release the Holy Spirit in all aspects of your life, and all the time she is trying to teach us that there are tremendous Charisms of the Spirit in your lives. We need to learn from her. When you receive the Holy Spirit you must be like Mary, and you must say “yes”. It is not a “yes” for today, it is a “yes’ forever. I am reminded of the Parable of the Sower [Luke8:4-8J many receive the Spirit, but how do you receive it?
Many of our people have become very selfish with the Holy Spirit. They will come to prayer meetings only to receive and not to give. Also I will go to prayer meetings were I am not known nor going to be challenged. When Mary received the Holy Spirit, she didn’t hide she went out, to evangelize. Many of us here today are hiding. We are hiding from the work of the Holy Spirit; we are hiding from the “yes” and the commitment we made to the Spirit of God. It is very easy to go the cathedral on Friday night, because nobody knows me, it is easy to be in a big crowd. God is not going to turn around to you and say, “I give you the Spirit of God to hide in the cathedral. He will show you your own Parish, he will show you the people you are working with, the places you are living and will say, and “where is the Holy Spirit”? What are you doing to make my Spirit known?
MARY “V” THE HOLY SPIRIT
In spite of this fruitful harmony between Mary and the Holy Spirit, some
Christians see only difficulty and confusion here. Some Catholics with
deep Marian devotion do not understand Mary as the ultimate example of
a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led Christian and may even reject any particular
devotion to the Holy Spirit. Many Christians with great devotion to and
zeal for the Holy Spirit and the Spirit filled Christian life see no particular
need to learn from Mary about the Spirit or to seek her powerful intercession
and loving care. In her life, Mary didn’t block the work of the
Holy Spirit, and she is not going to start now.
You might say that Mary was baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of her conception and then, at the moment she said “yes” that she became both the bride of the Holy Spirit and, through him, the Mother of God, Jesus began to dwell within Mary at the moment the Holy Spirit overshadowed her at the annunciation.
As I speak to you today, I get this feeling of heartache, of a wounded heart — I do believe today, that our Mother’s heart is wounded. The reason her heart is wounded is because two of her children are having a misunderstanding with each other. If these two children, can come together and be united there would be such an explosion of God’s grace and power that this world has never seen before. Two of her children are fighting and she is being torn apart. On the one hand we have the Legion of Mary, or other Marian movements, who have Mary as the center of their lives — and on the other hand you have the Charismatic’s who don’t want to have anything to do with the Rosary etc. We are pushing the Mother of God’s heart apart. Because, the Legionaries, and Marian movements are one side of a coin, and the Charismatic are the other side of the same coin. There is only one coin, the Mother of God.
The Marian movements, if we deny the Holy Spirit, are we denying the Annunciation, we are denying the power of the Holy Spirit, living in Mary. The Holy Spirit and Mary are one. They are one because they create Fife, which is Jesus Christ. Until that day we can come together and become as one — we are going to be divided and we are going nowhere.
When that day comes, and we come together, we are going to have a force, a powerful force that is unstoppable — because Mary the Mother of God will be standing in front and leading her children in a charge right through evil. She has stood on the head of evil, she has conquered evil - she is out walking with her Son Jesus and they are out there in front and we need to follow them— we need to come together, and say that Mary the Mother of God, is our Mother. We have divided her instead of uniting her. We have caused division in Churches instead of unity, trouble instead of peace — we can be answerable to God, not for bringing unity — but disunity
RENEWAL
The Holy Father has already said very, very clearly, this is the “New
Pentecost” this is the time for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This is the time, a new Spring time in the Church and the out pouring
of the Holy Spirit is on you, the lay people: you are the future of the
Renewal Movement and you are the New Pentecost, you have been brought
up, educated and have been trained so that you can help to empower the
Church, our Nation, Bishops, Priest and everyone of us.
Renewal is rooted in the bible, in the Church, in the Sacraments, in the Second Vatican Council documents and in the recent documents from John Paul 11. Renewal involves all aspects of family life, from Parents to children and all aspects of parish life. Mary the Mother of God, the first Charismatic, is willing to show you how to let the Holy Spirit work and empower your life. READINGS Actsl 1-8 Acts2: 1-41 Ephesians4: 17