LETTER FROM BISHOP STEVE

The prayer that we call the Hail Mary leads us into the depths of the mystery of God and the mystery of who we are called to be as disciples.

Each time we pray it we begin by repeating the words the angel Gabriel (a name which means “God is my strength”) spoke to Mary at the Annunciation - Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. These words are an affirmation of the graces that were given to Mary for her to conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and bear him who is her son and the Son of God. Mary is the one who gives life to him who is Life-Giver. The Annunciation is also an affirmation of the call to each of us to allow Christ to take flesh in us, to live in him as he lives in us. By our baptism each of us share in the life of Christ.

The prayer then moves to the words Elizabeth spoke to Mary at the Visitation: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus. Again these words are an affirmation of he whom Mary carried in her womb. But the Visitation is also an affirmation of the call to each of us to share in the mission of Jesus, to be bearers of the Christ to all whom we encounter. By our baptism each of us share in the mission of Christ. We then ask Mary to pray for us: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Once again we affirm that Mary’s son is true God and true man. For our non-Catholic Christian brothers and sisters our seeking of Mary’s intercession can be a challenge for St Paul wrote to Timothy, there is only one mediator between God and humanity, himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as a ransom for them all (1 Tim 2:5-6). Our Catholic understanding is that as we share in Christ’s life and mission so we also share in his mediatorship. So we pray for each other and we ask others to pray for us. And this is what

the saints do. Our sharing in the life and mission and mediatorship with Jesus do not end with Jesus. Mary and all the other saints want what Christ wants, our salvation, so at the end of our earthly journey we might be together as one living in the fullness of Christ.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage (Heb 12:1-3).

BY OUR BAPTISM EACH OF US SHARE IN THE MEDIATORSHIP OF CHRIST IN THIS LIFE AND IN THE LIFE TO COME.

Mary stands before us as the model of Christian discipleship in so many ways. Given to us as our mother by Jesus as he hung on the cross may she inspire us in our following of her Son, so we might more fully live his life, mission and mediatorship until we come to the fullness of all he has won for us. She stands before us as an example of how we might live our diocesan vision statement.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.