THREE  IMAGES  OF  MARY

The title of my reflection for tonight is, “Three Images of Mary.”

The gospel story - Luke 2: 22-35 - which I picked for this evening ends with the words, “a sword will pierce your own soul so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.”

Millions and millions of people down through the ages have knelt, sat, stood before an image of Mary - or said the rosary - made a novena - and laid bare their thoughts to her - to themselves and to our God.

So the title of my thoughts for tonight is, “Three Images of Mary.”

THREE IMAGES

The first image will be the favorite image of Mary for Pope Francis: Our Lady of the Knots.

The second image will be that of Our Lady or Our Mother of Perpetual Help - the cause and main focus of  tonight’s service.

The third image will be your favorite image of Mary - the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus, our Mother Mary, the Patron of this church - St. Mary’s Church, Annapolis, Maryland.

FIRST IMAGE: OUR LADY OF THE KNOTS

Pope Francis has made known to us his favorite image of Mary, Our Lady of the Knots - or better "Mary, Untier of the Knots."

He saw it in Austria when he was studying in Europe as a Jesuit from Argentina.

It’s a Baroque painting that goes back to around 1700 - painted by Johann Georg Schmidtner.

It’s in St. Peter am Perlach’s Church in Augsburg, Germany.

Like the painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, it has angels in the painting - but a lot more than the Perpetual Help ikon. It also has stars. A thread runs down the center of the picture. Mary’s foot is on the knotted snake - from Genesis 3:15.

Below that are small figures: a man walking along with his dog and an angel. Authorities say it’s the angel Raphael accompanying Tobias on his way to ask Sarah to be his wife.

A further explanation for the figures at the bottom of the painting is the story that the benefactor of the painting wanted the story told about his grandfather being guided by the Archangel Raphael to see a priest - Father Jacob Rem - when he was having marriage problems that needed to be unknotted.

But the main story is central image of Mary untying our knots.

And that’s what I hear Pope Francis pushing when he got back to Argentina and promoted this picture of Mary - and that’s the grab I picked up - from those who like this image of Mary.

Pray to her to untie your knots - in family, at work, in parishes, in life, wherever. 

Things can get knotted up.

We’ve all have had knots in our shoes laces, our rosaries or what have you.

SECOND IMAGE: OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP

Another pope, Pope Pius IX - in 1865 - asked us Redemptorists to promote this image of Our Lady or Our Mother of Perpetual Help - and that we did - all around the world - especially through the Wednesday Novena.

We are celebrating 150 years of doing this around the world beginning this week. The image of our Lady of Perpetual Help is Rome - and Father Tizio and so many other Redemptorists are there at this time on that pilgrimage - and they hope to see other Redemptorist holy places as well.

As you know the Icon goes back to at least 1499 - to the island of Crete where it was for years. Then it was stolen and brought to Rome and ended up in a church - where the Redemptorists built a church and our headquarters years later. So that’s how it came into our lives.

It has two angels in the painting: Gabriel and Michael. The third of those archangels is Raphael.  That could be a tie in with Mary, Untier of the Knots, painting.

Another tie in is our need for help when we are knotted up.

For the sake of transparency, I grew up in  Brooklyn and our parish and church was  Our Lady of Perpetual Help - OLPH.

For the sake of transparency, my first job in life was that of candle boy at OLPH.

Mrs. O’Leary needed help. So two boys would do the candles  every Sunday Morning - every Wednesday afternoon and evening - at the Novena - and every Saturday afternoon and evening at confessions time.

We would take out on metal cookie trays - fresh 10 cent candles - they lasted 2 hours of so - whatever it was - and we wore leather hand ball gloves - that were filled with wax - and with a metal gadget, pick the square metal wick holder - all that was left from the burnt out candle - and put in a new candle in the red glass candle holder - that was on the candle rack - sort of like the ones in this church right before us.

They paid us $2.50 cents a week. There it was my first lesson in life. “Don’t work for the church. They don’t pay well.”

The second lesson was the unconscious lesson that people were praying for help. They were worried about sons in Korea. They were worried about marriages. They were worried about sick parents. They were praying to Mary for help.

It took me a while to get that the number one prayer in the world is the word, “Help!”

I am knotted up, “Help.”

I am worried, “Help.”

I need a job, “Help!”

I need a husband, “Help.”

I need a wife, “Help!”

It wasn’t till many years later that I read in the English Classic Spiritual Book, The Cloud of Unknowing, that a person in a burning building doesn’t need to be taught what to say, when he or she is in that building. If it’s on fire, scream, “Help.”

It took me time to figure out what that book was saying: When it comes to God and life, learn the short words - the one syllable words and get to know them. God. Sin. Help.

In time I figured out prayer can be summed up in 4 prayers - each a short basic word: Help. Sorry. Thanks and Wow.

In time I figured out that we need to use those 4 words not only with God, but also with each other every day: Help, Sorry. Thanks. And Wow.

If we can’t say them to each other, how can we say them to God.

Tonight I’m stressing Help.

St. Alphonsus said that this was the key to our salvation: prayer of asking for help.

It’s the first step - asking for help - then getting the wisdom to do what’s next. I love the saying, “Pray for potatoes, but pick up a shovel.”

Light a candle, but then go to the want ads.

And everyone who has seen the movie, My Cousin Vinny, knows that Vinny didn’t like help. He had to do everything on his own. He didn’t want help - till he realize he needed his girlfriend, Mona Lisa Vito. He needed an old Judge friend in New York. Judge Molloy.

THIRD IMAGE: OUR IMAGE OF MARY

The third image of Mary  is your image of Mary.

What is your favorite image of Mary?

Tell each other. Lay bare as the gospel reading I picked at the beginning - the thoughts you have about Mary in your spiritual life.

 A few days ago I was talking to Father Bob Wojtek about this talk and I told him I was looking for images of Mary that told a story: like Mary, the Untier of Knots. That’s a story. You see the big string right down through the center of the picture.

The picture of OLPH is also story. It has Jesus scared and running so fast to Mary - that his sandal falls off as he leaps into her arms.

It’s a scene and a moment that has happened to every kid that has ever lived. We get scared at times. Where’s mommy? We stress and still bite our thumb nails at times.

Help!

So I told Father Bob I was looking for images of Mary with something in her hands and he says, “The Child.”

I laughed at the obvious.

Surprise. There are many, many,  statues and images of Mary that have the child in her arms - or the dead Christ, the Pieta, the Sorrowful Mother, images.

But I was looking for something else to come up with for  my third image of Mary besides the one Pope Pius 9^th told us Redemptorists to promote, OLPH, and  the one Pope Francis pushed in Argentina and Latin America, the Untier of the Knots.

I could not come up with a third, so I came up with this idea.

Get a piece of paper and a pen - or crayons - or clay  - and make one’s own  image of Mary - but make it a story - like so many images of Mary.

In doing this myself, I came up with two first draft  images. But I’m not an artist.

The first would be a bronze of Mary  standing there - lifting up the hem of her garment and pointing to Jesus to touch the hem of his garment as the gospel story puts it and her mouth and her face is yelling, “Ahem. Touch the hem of his garment and be healed.”

That’s our theology of Mary. She is not God - she points us to Jesus and he can help us enter deeper and deeper into the story of God - into the trinity.

The second image would also be a bronze or a painting and Mary is standing there next to 6 large water jars - pointing to Jesus, “Work a miracle. This marriage is out of wine.”

CONCLUSION

Want a great job description on how to do life well? It’s “help!”  It’s a nice short word like “love” but it’s loaded with the call to act.

As the song goes, “Don’t talk about love, show me.”

Isn’t that what Mary did in the gospels, and all through the years in our church? 

Better: hasn't she been a perpetual help, perpetually?