WHAT’S  YOUR  TAKE 

AND  THOUGHTS  ABOUT MARY? 

OR,  “WHY  MARY?”

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What’s Your Take and Thoughts About Mary?”

I’ve often asked that question about Mary. Feast days of Mary trigger that question.

Today, for example, is the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

CANDLE BOY

As a kid I was a candle boy at O.L.P.H. church in Brooklyn.  Every Wednesday we had a full church of people making the OLPH novena - with 5 services.  

Everyone there - it seemed - lit a candle.

They were the 10 cent type and lasted 2 hours or so. 

Then when these candles died or burnt out, we changed them. 

We candle boys would take  a pick type tool. We would  snap out the tin metal square that held the wick - then putting in a fresh candle.  

They paid us $2.50 a week - to work on Wednesday, Saturday afternoon and all morning long on Sunday.

Moral of the story: never work for the church.

In my lifetime I’ve seen in various churches that OLPH novena go from large crowds - and several services - with a sermon - to just a few prayers after Mass.

What’s with that? Is Mary only popular when people have sorrows?

When I look at paintings of Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows - I see ladies with sorrowful faces.  Has life become less sorrowful since post World War II moments in a big Catholic Church in Brooklyn N.Y.?

When I first got here to St. Mary’s Annapolis we had the OLPH novena and then that died.

In the meanwhile every Wednesday in Beclaren - in the Philippines - over 100,000 people go to the O.L.P.H. novena.  Why? What? How?

PAINTINGS AND STATUES

If you go to the big museums of the big cities of our world, you’ll find in the big rooms for classical paintings, big ornate gold framed paintings of Mary  - so too in the bedrooms of Catholics over 65 years of age you’lll find copies of some of these same masterpieces - like Our Lady of Sorrows by Murillo or the pieta by Michelangelo.

Mary. Mary holding Jesus as a baby. Mary holding Jesus on her lap after he is taken down from the cross.

If you watch the evening news, especially with all these young moms with kids escaping Syria, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, you’ll see mothers holding their children, alive and dead. Our Lady of Sorrows still haunts the streets of our world.

Is that what’s going on with Mary - and her presence in our lives as Catholics. She’s there. She’s always there - especially when the cross is dragged into our lives?

CONCLUSION: SO THE QUESTION

What’s your take on Mary? What are your thoughts on Mary?

That’s the title and the question of my homily this morning - on this feast of Our Lady of Sorrows?

When someone comes up to Our Lady of Perpetual Help picture here at St Mary’s - after or before lighting a candle in prayer - their back is to us. We don’t see their faces. Is their face a picture of Our Lady of Sorrows?  Are they here because their child is the sorrowful Jesus as well.

Is that what images of Mary are all about?

Here in this church - dedicated to Mary - St. Mary’s Church on Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis, Maryland - the question I’m asking is: “What is Mary about to you?”