Meet Your Mother: {Or Love Her More}

By Dr. Mark Miravalle

Ever wonder why so many people pay so much attention to Mary, the Mother of Jesus? From the most ancient traditions of Mary in Christianity to the “Hail Mary” pass in American football, the Mother of Jesus has pervaded most world cultures for the last two thousand years.

But could the Mother of Jesus also be your mother?

That’s the question explored in the exciting new book, Meet Your Mother. This easy-read pocket book on Mary covers all the major teachings about the Mother of Jesus, but is particularly written for the person who has little or no background knowledge about her.

Authored by Dr. Mark Miravalle, (a professor who has taught and written about Mary for over 25 years), Meet Your Mother is the perfect little book to introduce someone to the life and truth about Jesus’ Mother, but also to renew a person’s existing knowledge and love for the woman believed to have brought Jesus into the world, and who Jesus gave personally to every human being with his dying words, “This is your mother.”

Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction of Meet Your Mother:

This little book is about your Mother. I know, you might not see her as that right now, but that’s the point of the book—to meet her, if you do not already know her, and if you do already know her, to love her more... Now, please consider reading on, even if you do not consider Jesus to be your best friend, and/or if you don’t presently believe Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is your spiritual mother. I would be honored if you would at least give me the chance to try to explain why I believe you do, in fact, have the most beautiful and the most perfect mother in the world – a maternal gift of love and sacrifice from the dying Jesus, personally, to you. If nothing else, you may have a new understanding of why well over 1.5 billion people living today do believe they have the Mother of Jesus as their own spiritual mother as well. And beyond Catholics and Orthodox Christians, there are millions and millions of other members of our human family, including many Protestant Christians, Muslims, and other world religions who give a special place of honor to the Mother of Jesus.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Faith & Family Publications
• Release date: Oct 29, 2013

Book preview

Introduction

More Than Know Her Better

Motherhood—extraordinary! Motherhood is celebrated as a universally good thing in an age which oftentimes denies that there is anything universally good. A mother’s sacrifice; a mother’s care; a mother’s persevering plea, even when her children may be far from ideal, are all manifestations of what makes motherhood such a universal, across the cultures, across the ages, good. Nothing in the natural order of things beats a mother’s love .

That’s why it’s so painful to see children who do not appreciate authentic motherhood. Sure, there are, sadly, instances when motherhood is not what it should be, but even then most people can still have an appreciation of what motherhood should be and usually is—a human love which is oftentimes the closest thing we get to divine love, to unconditional love.

This little book is about your Mother. I know, you might not see her as that right now, but that’s the point of the book—to meet her, if you do not already know her, and if you do already know her, to love her more.

The natural reaction to meeting the mother of the friend you love most is to love the mother of your dearest friend. Wouldn’t it be strange to start off with the attitude of fear or danger towards your dearest friend’s mother, or even the idea that if you do end up loving the mother of your dearest friend, that this love for your friend’s mother will interfere or compete with your love for your best friend? All of this would be out of order and unfounded, especially when you never heard a single negative word about your best friend’s mother from your best friend!

Jesus, I believe, should be your Best Friend (and already is, I believe, from his side of the relationship). Jesus, I further believe, gave you his own mother to be your mother, when he said from the cross: This is your mother! (Jn. 19:26).

Now, please consider reading on, even if you do not consider Jesus to be your best friend, and/or if you don’t presently believe Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is your spiritual mother. I would be honored if you would at least give me the chance to try to explain why I believe you do, in fact, have the most beautiful and the most perfect mother in the world – a maternal gift of love and sacrifice from the dying Jesus, personally, to you. If nothing else, you may have a new understanding of why well over 1.5 billion people living today do believe they have the Mother of Jesus as their own spiritual mother as well. And beyond Catholics and Orthodox Christians, there are millions and millions of other members of our human family, including many Protestant Christians, Muslims, and other world religions who give a special place of honor to the Mother of Jesus.

What if you have already met your spiritual mother? What if, like John the beloved disciple, you have already brought Mary into your own home (Jn. 19:27)? Then I invite you to read on so that you may love her better (that’s why the book has a subtitle—for you!).

You can’t love someone you don’t know. You can’t entrust yourself to someone you don’t know. We will explore in these few pages the truth about Mary as it is revealed in the Gospels and in the Tradition of Christianity. The more you truly know the Mother of Jesus, the more you will truly love the Mother of Jesus.

That’s why the subtitle of this little work is not Or Know Her Better. Why not? Because my hope here is not just more knowledge about Mary, but more love of Mary.

Rest assured that our love for the Mother of Jesus will never equal the infinite love Jesus has for his Mother. While it is true that some people could have some type of disordered, fanatical attachment to Mary (one that is not based on the Christian truth about her, but rather some religious error or psychological abnormality), this actually would not be too much love, but actually too little love, based on a mistake. You cannot love Mary too much as it will never match Jesus’ love for her. True love for Mary will also always result in greater love for Jesus, not the terrible mistake of making Mary a type of goddess. No one is more saddened with this type of idolatry of Mary than Mary herself.

So now, let us explore the whole truth about Mary.

We will take a look at the major Christian teachings about Mary (the dogmas and doctrines about her) and how they all lead up to her role as the world’s spiritual mother: the mother who suffers for us; the mother who nourishes us; the mother who pleads for us—the three basic acts of motherly love that all good mothers do for their children.

We will also glimpse into the area of Marian apparitions or appearances of Mary. Why is the Mother of Jesus reportedly appearing all over the world? What is her basic message? We’ll take a brief look at some of the most important apparitions in this universally designated Age of Mary and read samples from the actual Marian messages themselves.

My friend, as a Professor of Theology and Mariology from Franciscan University of Steubenville, I can guarantee you that everything that follows in these pages about Mary is considered orthodox or doctrinally sound from a Catholic point of view. But I also believe that Mary is not just spiritual mother of Catholic or Orthodox Christians, but the spiritual mother of each and every person in our precious human family. I pray that in some small way, your reading of this little work will lead you to possibly consider the same conclusion.

Now, if you think you really don’t have the time to read all of this little book on Mary (it’s just a little book, after all), you have the option to skip the first five chapters, and go right to Chapter 6: This Is Your Mother, but I don’t really advise it. Why? Because the first five chapters (they’re really small chapters, after all) tell you about Mary’s relationship with Jesus and her own special gifts which were given to her by God. This is important, because who Mary is and what her relationship is to Jesus is really the foundation of her relationship, I believe, with you.

Once, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was seated on a plane next to a woman who was a heartfelt admirer of the saint from Calcutta. After some brief conversation, the lady turned to the Blessed Teresa and said: Mother, I greatly respect all you do for the poor and your witness to charity. But I just can’t understand your devotion to Mary. Mother Teresa looked at her with her usual radiant smile and responded, "My dear, it is simple. No Mary, No Jesus."

May we know and love Mary more, that we may know and love Jesus more.

Dr. Mark Miravalle

Professor of Theology and Mariology

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Chapter 1

The Whole Truth About Mary

Let’s begin with you making a guess: I’d like you to guess who you think the author of the following series of quotes about Mary are from:

We are all children of Mary...Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the mother of us all. If Christ is ours, his mother is also ours—She, the Lady above heaven and earth...Here passes the woman who is raised far above all women, indeed above the whole human race…No woman is like unto thee! Thou art more than an empress or a queen…blessed above all nobility, wisdom, or saintliness.¹

Who did you guess? If you are Catholic, you may have guessed one of the great Marian saints, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, or even the more recent Marian author, St. Maximilian Kolbe. If you’re not familiar with Catholic authors, you may have guessed some Catholic pope, or even the globally popular Blessed John Paul II, renowned for his great love of Mary. Any of the above guesses would have missed the mark.

The answer: Martin Luther, the Father of Protestant Christianity.

Love and appreciation of Mary can be found within a great and sometimes surprising beauty of diversity of peoples and cultures.

Many people are not aware that the Mother of Jesus is also the most favored woman in the religion of Islam. Mary is the only woman who has an entire chapter dedicated to her in the Qur’an (the principal religious text of Islam), and is more revered than any woman related to Mohammed, their first prophet, including Mohammed’s mother, wives or daughters (one of whom happens to be named Fatima). Although Muslim believers do not believe Jesus is divine but only a great prophet, they nonetheless accept beliefs similar to Mary’s Immaculate Conception, her virgin conception and birth of Jesus, her Assumption, and even her intercession.

What, then, is the truth about Mary, the whole truth about