Angelus News | April 21, 2023 | Vol. 8 No

into death.
In Chapter 2, he speaks of himself
as the bridegroom who will be taken
away, a veiled allusion to his violent
death (Mark 2:20). In Chapter 3, his
enemies are plotting “against him to
put him to death” (Mark 3:6). As the
story advances, allusions to his suffering
become more frequent and more
direct. Halfway through the Gospel,
Jesus openly predicts his passion and
resurrection as he heads to Jerusalem
with his disciples.
Throughout, Jesus makes a point of
calling the disciples and pulling them
into his own life. Not because he
wants them to suffer, but because he’s
preparing them for the most important
experience of their lives.
Each time he speaks of his passion,
the disciples resist it, whether it’s
Peter rebuking Jesus (Mark 8:32),
the disciples quarreling about who
is the greatest (Mark 9:34, or James
and John seeking the places of honor
(Mark 10:37).
Undeterred, Jesus patiently explains
what kind of life he’s drawing them to:
one of denying themselves and following
him, giving priority to the small
and vulnerable among us (Mark 9:36),
taking the last place (Mark 9:35;
10:43), and receiving the kingdom
like a child (Mark 10:15). Becoming
servants, small and vulnerable, taking
the last place, Jesus invites them into
his own lifestyle, which he will exemplify
most fully on the cross.
Mary is no stranger to this path of
smallness, vulnerability, service, and
self-denial. In the annunciation scene,
she responds to God by saying “be
it done unto me according to your
word.” She understands that accepting
God’s plan means renouncing whatever
other plans she might have had.
For Mary, this means even giving
up the human ties with her only
son. When Jesus seemingly distances
himself from her during his public
ministry — “Who are my mother and
[my] brothers?” (Mark 3:33) — she
learns to die to the human bonds that
bind her to Jesus and to give rise to
a new way of relating to him. “My
mother and my brothers,” Jesus says,
“are those who hear the word of God
and act on it” (Luke 8:21).
When her 12-year-old Son, for whom
she and Joseph had anxiously looked
for three days, stated that he had to
be in his Father’s house, Mary and Joseph
did not understand what he said
to them (Luke 2:50). She struggles
with understanding God’s designs and
learns to accept what surpasses understanding,
a lesson she will undertake
again at the cross.
In a small but telling detail, St. Luke
tells us that she mentions Joseph first:
“Your father and I have been looking
for you” (Luke 2:48). Mentioning
Joseph first, she takes the last place.
Because she is so perfectly set on the
path of smallness, self-denial, service,
and childlike trust, Jesus wants us
to hold on to her — “Behold, your
mother” — as we enter our dying and
rising with Christ. She will intercede
for us when our wine runs short. And
she will encourage us — “Do whatever
he tells you” (John 2:5) — to help
bring about the new wine so that “we
too might live in newness of life.”
(Romans 6:4)
Because she is so perfectly set on the path of
smallness, self-denial, service, and childlike trust,
Jesus wants us to hold on to his mother as we
enter our dying and rising with Christ.
This is good news. This Easter, if
we’re struggling to be small, take the
last place, or trust in God; her Son
wants us to enter the Paschal Mystery
with his mother, holding on to her as
we live out our dying and rising with
Christ.
Father Slawomir Szkredka is the
coordinator of human formation at St.
John’s Seminary in Camarillo and the
author of the new book “Icon of Trust:
Mary in the Gospels of Luke and John”
(Sophia Institute Press, $13.95).
April 21, 2023 • ANGELUS • 25