The Solemnity
of Mary Help of Christians
May
24, 2025
Mary
Help of Christians... such sweet words to the ears
of any Salesian! The Madonna of Don Bosco, Mary Help of Christians, is
celebrated today with such joy and gratitude for the guidance and providence
the Church feels through her.
Sometimes I have thought (as
I still do), hailing from a country like India, where we live our daily lives
with a majority who are not Christians, that the title Mary Help of Christians,
is a bit too exclusivistic, sectarian or even fanatical. But we know that the
term has a historical significance that cannot be denied or forgotten. It is
not just a title, but an expression of faith of a people from a particular
period of time, who experienced God's closeness through the special
interventions of the Mother of God.
Mary Help of Christians as a
title has been attributed to our Mother since the 2nd century. The invocation
Mary Help of Christians, Pray for us... could go as far back as John Chrysostom
in the 4th century. However, historically it is popularised from the 16th
century; and in today's experience, it is identified with a spirituality lived
and transmitted by Don Bosco to his sons and daughters. Considering the
historical significance of the title, directly linked to the battle of Lepanto
in the 16th century and the Pope's exile in the 19th century, we tend to think
today that this title is revived as the fight against the Catholic Church
deepens in the world. We can understand this title from three perspectives – in
history, in the Church and from that of our faith!
IN HISTORY... In history we
have seen persons, groups, the people of God, saints and saintly leaders of the
people of God, founders of religious congregations and martyr witnesses to
faith, relating in a very special and personal manner to the Blessed Mother of
God. Apart from the fact that Jesus himself presented her to us as our Mother,
Mary has stood by every follower and friend of her Son and proved a great
protection to them in their lives. Don Bosco is one such, who experienced the
constant guidance, benevolence and protection of our Blessed Mother and invoked
her with this title: Immaculate Mary, Help of Christians. His experience of an
ever-present mother, especially when the anti-Catholic Waldensians were against
him, led him to argue about the Mother Help of Christians. And for a Salesian
today, this experience is not simply handed down by Don Bosco as tradition, but
lived and shared daily with the presence of this Mother, so close and caring.
IN THE CHURCH... As people
of God and specially as Catholic Church we have a special gratitude and filial
love for our Blessed Mother because we have been and we are privileged
followers of her Son; yes, privileged, special and blessed! How much we have
experienced this! We need to only feel sorry for those of our own fellow
pilgrims in faith, who miss this lovely, loving and lovable mother. The
children might disregard their mother and hardly care for her, but the mother
would always consider them her children, and consider so with compassion and
concern. As Bishop Fulton Sheen would say, we need to be compassionate about our
non-Catholic brethren who are like “motherless children”!
IN FAITH... Mary, the Mother
of Christ and our Blessed Mother, has an enormous role to play within the
salvific plan of God. As the first reading suggests, God had in God's holy will
a 'woman' who would usher in the salvation of humanity as a chosen instrument
of God. St. Paul refers to this plan in his letter to the Galatians: (4:4) when
the fullness of time came God sent God's son through a 'woman'... that is the
'woman' that Jesus is interacting with in the Gospel! What a lovely message
from the Word, proposing to us a great model in cooperating with the eternal
plan of God. The Message from our Blessed mother is a further explication of
this model: 'Do whatever he tells you'.
The episode of Cana is an
event par excellence that speaks to us of a mother so sensitive and concerned
for us. She intercedes with her Son and instructs the people on how to relate
to Him - do whatever the Lord says. This is exactly the role she plays today as
well.
Mary proves to be a mother
and a help to those who are with Christ! The key is to be with Christ: being
with Christ is the focus here. Our Blessed Mother will never be happy with us
coming to her and stopping with her - she desires to and she vows to take us to
the Son and that is where our salvation lies. It would do well for us never to
lose sight of this loving desire of our Blessed Mother, that we hold her hand
and walk to Jesus. And on this journey, she is certainly our mother and our
help! Today, let us thank this mother of ours, and learn from her the art of
living close to her Son!
May Mary Help of Christians
help us Christians of today to live our faith to the full! Amen.
