Sep 23 Sat
Tomorrow's feast is Our Lady of Ransom (de la Merced). Under this invocation, a religious order dedicated to the rescue of Christians enslaved by the Muslims began in the twelfth century. The feast soon spread throughout the whole Church, to ask our Mother's powerful intercession to free souls from sin, which is the worst slavery, and to entrust to her the material and spiritual needs of her children.
To the children of God in Opus Dei, today's feast recalls a moment when our Mother's protection over the Work was manifest, under the invocation of Our Lady of Ransom. It took place in Barcelona in 1946, when the Founder was preparing to undertake his first trip to Rome to seek pontifical approval for the Work. Saint Josemaría was well aware of the difficulties he faced, since Opus Dei was so new in the life of the Church, and there were no suitable canonical channels for it. Before embarking, he went to pray before the shrine of Our Lady of Ransom, and our Lady heard his trusting filial petition.
Jesus, in agony on the Cross, entrusted our Lady to the care of St John: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold, your son! Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”
The identity of a disciple of Christ is expressed in a special way precisely through this filial devotion to the Mother of Christ. Entrusting himself to Mary in a filial manner, the Christian, like the Apostle John, 'welcomes' the Mother of Christ 'into his own home' and brings her into everything that makes up his inner life.
This feast invites us to consider Mary's role as Intercessor before God. We acknowledge our own lack of means, and turn trustingly to our Lady, “going to her without hesitation, especially when we have no one else to turn to. This may sound like self-interest on our part. It is, of course; but then don't all mothers know that we, children, tend to be somewhat self-interested, and that we often turn to them only as a last resort? They know this very well, but it doesn't really worry them. That comes with being a mother, and their disinterested love is able to discern, through our apparent selfishness, our filial affection and our trusting confidence.”
At Cana in Galilee there is shown only one concrete aspect of human need, apparently a small one of little importance ('They have no wine'). But it has symbolic value: this coming to the aid of human needs means, at the same time, bringing those needs within the area of Christ's mission and power of salvation. Thus, there is a mediation: Mary places herself between her Son and all of us, in the reality of our needs, and sufferings.
Image: Our Lady of Ransom (de la Merced) of Seville.
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