11. MOTHER OF NEW WORLD

In number 241 of the encyclical Laudato Sì, Pope Francis states that in Mary's glorified body, thanks to her assumption into Heaven, a part of creation has already reached the fullness of its beauty. At first, it might seem that these words are only about Mary. To be resurrected with her body, just like Christ her son, is certainly a privilege of Mary. God's gifts to his Church, however, are always for the benefit of all! What is the benefit we also derive from Mary's glorification? The benefit for us is that as we look at Mary in glory, we see our destiny and are strengthened in faith, hope and charity.

The book of Revelation, in chapter 12, presents a vision at the center of which stands a mysterious woman:

"1. Then a great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2. She was pregnant and cried out in labor pains in childbirth. 3. Then another sign appeared in the sky: a huge red dragon, with seven heads, ten horns and on its heads seven diadems; 4. its tail dragged down one-third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth to devour the newborn child. 5. She gave birth to a male child, destined to rule all nations with an iron scepter, and the child was immediately raptured to God and to his throne. 6. Instead, the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a refuge for her to be nourished there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days."

Church tradition has seen in this woman alternately the concrete person of Mary and the personification of God's people, Israel and the Church. Through this image of struggle and victory, the believing community rereads the prophecy of Genesis regarding the woman and her offspring (Gen 3:15). This mysterious woman, then, is the New Eve, that is, the Woman par excellence: she is the Mother of the new world, the world redeemed by the Lord. In her, we contemplate, as in Judith, in Esther, in the Bride of the Song and in Mary, the vocation of the Church: the call to be co-workers and collaborators with God for the salvation of the world. Indeed, the birth of the Messiah is continuously actualized, in every believer as in Mary, through the incarnation of the Word and the action of the Spirit.

In the messianic birth described on this page, it is not that of Bethlehem but of Easter morning. The birth pains correspond to those of Calvary, where all creation was renewed in the birth of the Cross. The Son of the woman, therefore, is not only the Christ. In that child are represented all those who, reborn in Baptism, have become children of God, children of the Church and children of Mary (cf. Jn. 3:3-8; Mt. 18:3).

The woman's flight into the desert is a kind of new exodus. The desert, in fact, is a place of intimacy and divine protection: after the Lord's Passover, the time of the Church opened, a time of persecution, in which, however, the bread of life, the Word and the Eucharist never fails (cf. Hos 2:16-25).

We can look at this mysterious woman as an example of generativity and try to interpret the symbols that belong to her in this light. The woman, first of all, is clothed with the sun: that is, she is able to be fully herself in the light of God; she has nothing to hide (cf. Gen 2:25). Beneath her feet, which is the place Scripture reserves for defeated enemies, is the moon, a symbol of what in creation is unstable, because it is cyclical: to keep it under one's feet is to know and master one's own fruitfulness.

The woman is crowned with stars: the number 12 represents the tribes of Israel and also the apostles. This symbol therefore indicates the woman's dual membership in the ancient and new covenant with God. In the creation account, however, the stars represent the passage of time (cf. Gen. 1:16). The crown of stars, therefore, could also indicate the fact that the woman does not fear the passage of time but is at peace with it.

Finally, the woman does not fear the toil, the pain, that inevitably belongs to generation. Her courage speaks of her passion for life. The child she gives birth to, however, is immediately taken away from her, because it does not belong to her. The text, later on, speaks of numerous offspring, as if to say that freedom with regard to the people or works to which we have given life is a fundamental dimension of generativity (Rev. 12:17).

The author of Revelation, a few verses later, reveals the identity of the dragon: it is the ancient serpent, the tempter who, in the Genesis account, had deceived the woman into trying to take possession by force of what can only be received by gift: being equal to God, that is, being his children (Gen 3:5). According to the book of Genesis, one of the consequences of that gesture, which expresses a radical lack of trust in the Creator, is the tendency to take possession of one's neighbor as if it were one's own: the husband does it with his wife, the mother does it with her children, generating a chain of suffering that is very difficult to break (cf. Gen 3:16; 4:1). The vision of Revelation, therefore, is a text of struggle, streaked with the blood of history, but it is also a work of contemplation wrapped in a halo of light from which the happy ending emerges: the dragon cannot have the last word. In the end, every tear will be wiped away and death will be defeated forever (21:14).

The image of the woman in labor pains is probably the fruit of the prayer of a persecuted community, which together rereads the Scriptures and interprets them under the guidance of the Spirit, in the light of the Lord's Resurrection.

The author of the text, therefore, defines it as ‘prophecy’ (1:3; 22:7, 19), which in biblical language is above all interpretation of the signs of the times and a call for faithfulness to the present moment. The intention of the text, then, is to help us live with hope, to be optimistic without ignoring suffering, in the certainty that the evil one no longer has power over us and that the universe is in the hands of God the Father, who tirelessly cares for his creatures.

God has promised to redeem all creation from the threat of destruction and death. Mary's glorification is only the beginning of the glorification of the whole creation. We are destined to share in the glory of Mary and Jesus, along with all of creation. God has created everything. He will cherish and redeem because everything he has created is precious in his eyes and worthy of esteem. Now, however, creation is entrusted by God to our hands: what are we doing with it? How do we take care of so much beauty?

At the end of this year's journey, in which we have contemplated together the relationship between Mary and the believers' commitment to integral ecology, let us ask ourselves once again: what inspires our daily actions? What sustains us and encourages us to undertake and persevere in ecological conversion even when it costs effort? Don Bosco used to say that, in difficult times, "a piece of heaven fixes everything": Mary's glorious presence in our lives and in the life of the Church can be this piece of Heaven, this reminder of God's faithfulness that always fulfills his promises.

Linda Pocher FMA