OUR OCEAN OF DIVINE GRACE

THE MOST HOLY NAME OF MARY

1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13,17-18; Lk 6:43-49

Our Common Inheritance

God offers himself to us in the Incarnation of his Eternal Word, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, as our common inheritance and our salvation from sin and evil. The same God, who is goodness and rich in mercy, prepared a common foundation or receptacle in our human nature for his Word. We have always referred to the fall in Gen 3:15 as the moment when God promised to rebuild the corrupted human nature through the woman and her offspring. Since what God promised to accomplish through the woman and her Son is the common salvation of all peoples, the woman and her Son constitute our common inheritance or wealth. The name which the woman of promise received, therefore, points to this common inheritance. The name of Mary has been understood variously; but the most suitable and nearest to what the Blessed Virgin Mary stands for is ‘from the ocean or sea of grace’, or ‘ocean of grace.’ Saint Luis de Montfort favoured the latter meaning, for it is in accord with the angelic salutation in Lk 1:28 ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.’

Mary was full of grace for our salvation. If we use our common and frequent meaning of grace as the presence of God with us to accomplish the divine will, then ‘the Lord is with you’ means the same as ‘full of grace.’ Therefore, we celebrate the most holy name of Mary as our common inheritance. The name of Mary, and her person, stand for our salvation, which is accomplished through the real presence of God with us. The name prophesied for her Son, Emmanuel—God is with us—also confirms the meaning of Mary. If she is full of grace, she can only bring forth God’s presence for our salvation. We receive this divine wealth as our inheritance from the Blessed Virgin Mary. She shares our common humanity, and through our common faith in God, we share her gift of grace or divine presence. This is meaningful from Saint Paul's argument for our oneness in Jesus Christ through our sharing the cup of his blood in faith. “The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a communion with the body of Christ. The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share in this one loaf.” Our eating of the body and drinking of the blood of Jesus Christ in faith make us one body with him in the Holy Spirit. It also makes us inherit the origin of the body, which is Mary, and all that she stands for. We either have communion with Mary, the woman, or with the devil, her enemy. There are only two communions.

We therefore have two origins: our origin as sinners, and our origin as redeemed children of God. But we cannot proceed from these two origins at the same time, but only from one. If we choose the sinful origin, then we have something in common with the ancient serpent, who is at war with the woman. If we choose the holy origin, then we have something in common with the woman, Mary, who is instituted as an enemy of the devil. Our Lord’s teaching is clear on this. “There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles.” Our mother, Mary, is the ocean of grace from which we draw grace for good works. Everything human in her is characterised by obedience to God. So all who listen and obey the will of God are of the same spirit and stock with her. “Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and acts on them—I will show you what he is like. He is like the man who when he built his house dug, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built.” The river of evil cannot overwhelm the ocean of grace, Mary, on which God has established us in Jesus Christ. What the Lord has given us as our inheritance is what we offer in thanksgiving to him. “How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me? The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the Lord’s name. A thanksgiving sacrifice I make; I will call on the Lord name.”

Let us pray: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, for all who celebrate the glorious Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she may obtain your merciful favour. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.