Small Catholic

I just happened to re-read both of these quotes recently and it struck me that there’s an essential connection:

The Gospel is certainly demanding. We know that Christ never permitted His disciples and those who listened to Him to entertain any illusions about this. On the contrary, he spread no effort in preparing them for every type of internal and external difficulty, always aware of the fact that they might well decide to abandon Him. Therefore, if He says, “Be not afraid!” he certainly does not say it in order to nullify in some way that which He has required. Rather, by these words He confirms the entire truth of the Gospel and all the demands it contains. At the same time, however, He reveals that His demands never exceed man’s abilities. If man accepts these demands with an attitude of faith, he will also find in the grace that God never fails to give him, the necessary strength to meet those demands. – Pope John Paul II Crossing the Threshold of Hope

Mary is the first disciple and the most perfect disciple, so of course she leads the way with her great yes. I find it interesting to read the above paragraph with that yes to God in place of the word “Gospel”.

George Weigel, quoting St. Bernard of Clairvaux just before this quote and von Balthasar below, really highlights the demands and the power of Mary’s yes. Perhaps instead of saying “whatever” when I let go of something that is frustrating and out of my control (and is not my responsibility), I can learn to say “Let it be.”

Mary’s martyrdom is thus a martyrdom of love, born of unfailing fidelity to the designs of Providence.

Nine centuries later, in a small book on the Rosary, The Threefold Garland, Hans Urs von Balthasar developed this insight by writing of how the essential form of Mary’s discipleship – her fiat– shaped her participation in the Passion and Death of her Son. Mary’s suffering on the Via Crucis, the Way to Calvary, is greater than anyone’s, Balthasar suggested, because it was a suffering built on her “Let it be.” There was nothing Mary could do for Jesus; thus “in her spirit,” Balthasar wrote, “she suffers from not being able to relive her Son of any suffering.” The suffering of Mary is a true martyrdom, because “she must leave the entire burden to him… and [she] darkly knows that this burden exceeds all the world’s weights.” In fidelity to the economy of salvation as designed by the Triune God, Mary “has to let it happen, and can only offer [God] this letting happen which as such cannot accomplish anything.” – George Weigel, Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches (Wednesday of Holy Week)