Fall-Winter 2013-2014

I ’d like you to imagine for a moment that You are the eternal Son of God. All powerful, possess- ing all wisdom and goodness, and full of mercy. As God, You know that the world You created will fall, and so with the other two persons of the Blessed Trinity, You devised a plan ahead of time to save the world. The plan is this: You will enter into the world, sacrificially love fallen mankind, forgive them, and elevate them to a life of grace and sonship with Your Father. Specifically, You are going to take on human nature, become a man, establish a Church, sacrifice Yourself as a victim, rise from the dead, and send fallen mankind the Holy Spirit to sanctify them and bring them to paradise. But You are not a magical God. You are not going to enter the world already devel- oped and 33 years old. No. You are going to enter the world through a woman. That woman will be Your mother. Now, remember, You are God. A mother fit for the Son of God Would You who are all-powerful, having the capability of fashioning Your own mother, make her have any flaws whatsoever? If You had the power to create Your own mother, would you make her any- thing less than a masterpiece of feminine beauty and genius? I didn’t think so. Any good son would desire that his mother have the super- lative of every virtue: the most kind, loving, humble, gentle, merciful, tender, and compassionate of all creatures. She would have the most of every- thing good and lovely. She would, in fact, be the most holy human person who ever lived; she would be conceived and born immaculate. Nothing would compare with her, and outside of the Holy Trinity, no one would be greater than she is. I would want her to have every privilege possible: sinless, immaculate, virgin, mother, queen, princess, and pattern of creation and human perfection. Plus, if I were God, I would figure out some way of making her not just My mother, but the mother of everyone. Such a wonderful mother should be shared with everyone. In coming into the world to save us, the Eternal Word prepared a worthy dwelling place for His Incarnation to take place. He made His own mother. And she is a masterpiece. And what makes this mystery even more amazing is that Jesus actually figured out a way of sharing the masterpiece of Mary’s 26 M arian h elper • F all /W inter 2013 • www.marian.org THE WOMAN OF OUR DREAMS Discover why Mary is the perfect mother, daughter, and spouse. Excerpted from the Marian Press title Under the Mantle: Marian Thoughts from a 21st Century Priest . by Fr. Donald H. Calloway, MIC M arian a rcHives As the Son of God, if You could create Your own mother, would You make her anything less than a masterpiece of feminine beauty and genius?