PEOPLE of GOD
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The School of Mary In May, this month of Mary, we have been called to be re-consecrated to Our Lady. Here in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Archbishop John C. Wester announced that we will reBy Very Reverend Michael Demkovich, OP, consecrate the Archdiocese Episcopal Vicar for Doctrine & Life of Santa Fe to the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly under the titles of Our Lady of Peace, Nuestra Señora de la Paz, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Now as we long to gather again at the altar of the Lord in our many churches, we see that Mary as Mother of the Church has been drawing us in many unexpected ways “of faith, of silence, of attentive listening” to her Son. Theologically and pastorally this is a ripe moment for us to refocus the Church of Santa Fe’s devotion to Mary and restore the rich faith life of the archdiocese. In order to do this there needs to be our reclaiming of Mary as a woman of faith who said yes to the will of God. Her fiat voluntas tua (“Thy will be done”) echoes in every human heart encountering Christ’s call to do the will of the Father. One cannot ignore the fact that for some mysterious reason starting in the 16th century apparitions of Our Lady emerged and in almost all cases her appearance was to the weak, the oppressed, the needy, and the lowly. Today it is fair to ask what lesson is being taught over these last five centuries for the Church of Santa Fe? In Vatican II’s “Dogmatic Constitution of the Church” (Lumen Gentium) the Church has given a clear appreciation of the ongoing maternal role of Mary in the life of the Church. Paragraph 62 states: This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this salvific duty, but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she cares for the brethren of her Son, who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home. Therefore, the Blessed Virgin is invoked by the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix. This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator. So as we appreciate the Church of Santa Fe’s Marian devotion we must understand it as consistent with Mary’s “maternal vocation” and as part of her ongoing “salvific duty.” We may ask how the motherhood of Mary came to be manifested amid the colonial encounter in the New World and in so doing we are soon brought to her apparition in 1531 at Tepayac and her unique title as patroness of the Americas. The Guadalupe story is a valuable lens through which to see our archdiocesan devotion to Mary. It is the story of a poor, native, Mesoamerican peasant who encountered a woman by the hill of Tepayac outside of Mexico City. It took five different apparitions for
may 2020
