The Gospel Image of Our Lady at the Foot of the Cross
Article written by Fr. Stephen Sanchez, OCD
We come together as Christians, as Catholics, and as Carmelites to celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. It is a celebration for us on many levels.
For Carmelites, through meditation on the first reading, from I Kings 18, we see in that small white cloud rising from the sea, which brings a downpour of rain to end the three-year drought, a prefigurement of our Lady.
The Blessed Virgin Mary is that small, pure white cloud, that Immaculate cloud that rises from the sea of humanity and it is through her that the God’s Living Word takes His flesh and showers down God’s grace on all of humanity. However, it is to the gospel image of Mary that we turn to today as Carmelites.
Mother of the Church
The Gospel image chosen to celebrate the Patronage of Mary of the Order is one that we find in the Gospel of John. After the Wedding at Cana, we do not see Mary again until the scene at the foot of the Cross. What does this account mean for us as Carmelites? Why did the Order choose this scene over and above other scenes? We venerate Mary as the model contemplative whom we are to imitate, but what does this image in this gospel offer for our understanding of that imitation to which we are called?
This image of Mary is one of close affiliation with the work of redemption. She is the woman of faith. She is the faithful handmaiden of Yahweh, the faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. She is the image of the faithful disciple who enters into the Mystery of God’s Revelation, of the one who confides and does not question God’s faithful commitment to the People that He has chosen.
In I Kings 18, during a three-year drought, God reveals himself against the 450 prophets of Baal, sending a consuming fire on Elijah’s water-soaked offering. Elijah then slaughters all the prophets of Baal. Declaring to Israel’s wicked King Ahab that he hears “the approaching sound of rain,” Elijah climbs to the top of Mount Carmel, where he bows down.
Seven times, he sends his servant to look out to sea. The seventh time, the servant returns reporting that he sees a “cloud, small as a man’s hand, rising from the sea.” Based on the tiny cloud, Elijah foretells the ensuing torrents of rain.
Mary culminates her pilgrimage of faith at the foot of the cross with Jesus as he fulfills the scriptures. Even at this moment, Mary is loyal in her perseverance. She remains Virginal; she is the exemplary disciple. Her faithfulness and loyalty to God bring her to this supreme suffering in the motherly union, to the sacrifice of her Son. As Abraham offered Isaac, Mary offers Jesus in loving consent. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council state: “She brought the Victim that she herself had brought forth.” She trusts in God even in this moment when her senses tell her otherwise. When the feeling of desolation invades her—she remains faithful. She confides in the abiding Presence of the One. She contemplates God’s Mystery as it unfolds in and around her.
Mother of the Community of Believers
At the foot of the Cross, as the Lord entrusts His disciple to her and her to His disciple, she becomes the Mother of the Community of Believers. She becomes the Mother of the beloved disciples for whom the Lord has offered Himself as ransom, as their Redeemer. Yet, even as Mother of the Church, she remains the woman of faith. She contemplates the work of Redemption as it unfolds in and around us.
Through this maternity of the community of believers, Mary becomes the model of the image of the Church. The community sees in Mary the promise fulfilled, which the community still holds in its center, in its heart. It is this faith-filled love and devotion that Mary has for doing God’s will that we are called to contemplate and imitate, for true devotion to Our Lady is one of admiration and imitation. As Christians, Catholics, and Carmelites, whether living within the special grace of the cloister or in Apostolic service to the Church and the world at large, am I able, in imitation of Mary, to allow God to unfold His mystery of salvation for the Church and for me?
The Spirit within us that cries out Abba
As God unfolds His mystery for me, am I able to remain in a stance of confidence in His Abiding Love and Presence? In imitation of Mary, am I able to own my filial relationship with The Father that Jesus won for me, and allow that sonship with the Father to bring forth in my life, and through me into the world, the beatitudes of the New Kingdom to which I belong? Am I able to stand with Mary at the foot of the cross and trust in God: in his Infinite and Incomprehensible Wisdom, that far surpasses my limited knowing?
Our Imitation is one of faith, not one of sure knowledge. Our faith is that we trust that what we see “darkly as in a mirror” will be made known to us in time. To “contemplate” is to turn to God with a loving gaze, the gaze of a child who trusts in the goodness of the Father. We lift up to the Lord the mystery of redemption that surrounds us. We call upon Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, our Patroness, to watch over the ways of her children, the siblings of her Son, and to guide and draw our steps after her. In the same path of faith, in the same path of confidence in the Abiding Presence of God, we journey towards the summit of Glory: Christ the Lord.
Article first published in the Apostolate of the Little Flower Vol. 86, No. 2
The Superior of the Province of St. Thérèse since 2017, Fr. Stephen Sanchez, OCD, spent his early years in San Antonio. Joining the Carmelites in 1983, he earned his B.A. from St. Mary’s University and a Master of Divinity from Oblate School of Theology, followed by an intensive course in the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross in Avila, Spain. He was ordained as a priest at the Basilica in 1992. For the past 15 years, he served in Dallas as superior of Mt. Carmel Center and as adjunct spiritual director for Holy Trinity Seminary. He has also been involved in the formation program for the permanent diaconate program of the diocese there.
