I cannot let May pass by without a post on the Blessed Virgin Mary. I’ve always been particularly intrigued by the concept of Mary as “first disciple” and how she was, in a unique way, the original follower of her Son. I wanted to find out more about the Church’s view on this topic, so I researched Pope Paul VI’s Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus. It offers a nice summary of this title:
The Virgin Mary has always been proposed to the faithful by the Church as an example to be imitated, not precisely in the type of life she led, and much less for the socio-cultural background in which she lived and which today scarcely exists anywhere. She is held up as an example to the faithful rather for the way in which, in her own particular life, she fully and responsibly accepted the will of God (cf. Lk. 1:38), because she heard the word of God and acted on it, and because charity and a spirit of service were the driving force of her actions. She is worthy of imitation because she was the first and the most perfect of Christ’s disciples. All of this has a permanent and universal exemplary value.
Photo by Jonathan Bennett (From Our Lady of Consolation Shrine, Carey, OH)
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