By Sister Teresa Christine, O.C.D.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples were left with the promise that the Holy Spirit would come to them, but it seems that they were afraid, and they hid in the upper room. They prayed, they waited, and they were comforted by the presence of Mary… she was with them. She who knew Jesus more closely and intimately than all, and knew the disciples so well. They must have been so comforted by her presence!
In the Catechism, we read: “On the day of Pentecost when the seven weeks of Easter had come to an end, Christ’s Passover is fulfilled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.” Christ’s passion, death and resurrection are fulfilled in this outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church; and Mary is there in the center of this infant Church, as she has been there at the center of the mysteries of the Incarnation.
When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, Mary became the Mother of the Church, and she is now mother to each believer down the ages. Catholicism is often misunderstood in the way we relate to Mary, but we know well that she is not the source of grace or life herself; she is only a creature. Mary is “the masterwork of the mission of the Son and Spirit in the fullness of time” (CCC 721). Her mission is bound up in the mission of her Son, giving us one pure image of a perfect response to grace. Mary embodies humanity in its truest, most exalted form.
The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Gift of God. Yet, Mary is also a gift of God to each of His children. She walks with us, helping us to open our own hearts to the Holy Spirit at work within us. She is with us in our own places of waiting, of fear, of uncertainty. She is there with us to help us welcome and receive the work of God in His Holy Spirit; she is always there with one goal, to lead us to her Son.
