Feast of the Visitation (BCP)

Tonight we celebrate the Feast of the Visitation when the unborn John the Baptist leaps and rejoices as he recognises the nearness of Christ. This is one of several festivals marking the special place of Mary in the life of the church. A very special woman, in an institution that can at times seem to be dominated by men.

The role of women in another male dominated institution was a hot news topic last week with the appointment of Jaqui Smith as Home Secretary. Does this mark an important new development for women in government and will a woman Home Secretary act any differently from a man? We shall see.

Mary is portrayed by Luke as the mother of Christ, the first believer and as a representative of the Church. Popular Christian piety built upon the biblical accounts and by the fourth century Mary had been given the important title ‘Theotokos’, Mother of God. The middle ages were the high water mark of devotion to Mary as a merciful, Queen of heaven, pleading for sinners to a distant and judgemental Christ.

European travellers to pre-reformation England noted how many Churches were named after her and spoke of England as, ‘Mary’s dowry’. But it was not to last. The reformation focus on salvation by faith alone and the growing trend across Europe to doubt any fanciful beliefs brought an end to much Marian devotion. Interestingly, recent Roman Catholic teaching on Mary has returned to scripture and the earliest traditions of the church.

So what, if anything, can Mary offer to our own prayer life?

Essentially, I think that we should get over our inherited suspicions of Mary and need to rediscover her for ourselves.

As a peasant girl who opened herself up to the implications of God’s love, who rejected male power structures and risked being abandoned by those closest to her, who became a refugee, who suffered pain and tragic loss in her life and yet through all this- was woman of faith.

We see this most starkly in the Magnificat that we have said together tonight. A radical prophecy that we rarely take seriously. In it Mary proclaims God’s revolutionary love for the world. Perhaps most striking of all is Mary’s faith in what God has already achieved in Christ, even before he is born. “He hath shewed strength with his arm”, “He hath filled the hungry with good things”. It is a faith we would do well to imitate.

Listening to Woman’s hour last week, the conclusion was that we should not wait for Jacqui Smith to single-handedly rebuild our communities. To create such a superwoman is merely to await her fall from grace- and office. There is a similar danger with Marian devotion. A form of cosmic projection with which Freud would have a field day.

So let’s not put Mary on a divine pedestal, however, we would do well to meditate upon her faith and the Magnificat in particular and, like her, to treasure in our hearts God’s radical promises.

Amen.