“The Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name” (Luke 1:49)
Here is a sort of quiz question: name ten people of acknowledged greatness: a great composer, a great artist, a great poet, a great novelist, a great engineer, a great scientist, a great inventor, a great campaigner for social justice, a great political leader, a great philosopher, a great musician.
Do this quickly, the first name that comes into your head, and your list might sound something like mine:
Beethoven, Michelangelo, Wordsworth, Dickens, Brunel, Rutherford, Edison, Wilberforce, Churchill, and Aristotle.
Well there’s no right or wrong answer, and there may be as many different lists as there are people here but if I were a gambling man I’d be prepared to bet that most lists would like be much like mine: and this list of the great and the good, as many of you may have noticed is made up entirely of white men of European birth or descent.
I wonder how many of you had more than one or two women in your list? And yet it is entirely possible:
a great composer: Hildegard von Bingen
a great artist: Elizabeth Siddal
a great poet: Sylvia Plath
a great novelist: Jane Austen
a great engineer: Emily Roebling
a great scientist: Marie Curie
a great inventor: Beulah Louise Henry
a great campaigner: Rosa Parks
a great political leader: Boudicca
a great philosopher: Hypatia of Alexandria
And of course there are lots of others who could have been included.
We are being encouraged nowadays to rediscover those who were great and yet almost forgotten, not only women of course, but also those born or having a heritage outside Europe and those from other backgrounds. The debate sometimes centres round names in school textbooks, public statues, and faces on banknotes.
With this debate going on, sometimes in a controversial and very heated way, as Catholics we might feel a little less uncomfortable than others, perhaps even a little smug. Great figures in our history and amongst our saints are capable, intelligent, often impressive women: Hildegard of Bingen, Hilda of Whitby, Catherine of Siena, St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (St Edith Stein). And of course, at the very centre of our faith, and our life of prayer and liturgy is Our Blessed Lady herself, The Immaculate Conception, the Mother of God. And it is her who we celebrate today, her assumption into heaven, her sharing already in the Resurrection.
But perhaps when we consider Our Lady among the great and good there there is something of problem. Certainly she is famous. Certainly she is a notable figure in the Christian story. But can we really say that Mary is amongst the Great, alongside those with so many extraordinary abilities, accomplishments and achievements?
It was as a young jewish girl that she became pregnant with Jesus of Nazareth. No doubt she knew her faith, but she was probably unschooled, probably never learnt to read or write. She invented nothing, built nothing, nor created any works of art; she composed nothing, led nothing, campaigned for nothing. There is no record of her expressing views or ideas or opinions. Her words which are recorded for us in scripture are very few. All she did, really, was become and be a Mother. Like so many others. She was, surely, very Ordinary.
And yet, herein lies her greatness. The greatness to which God called her. The greatness which he works in her.
You see, in a way, there is almost nothing you can say about Mary that you cannot say about ourselves.
Like her, we are created by God, chosen by God from the first moments of our existence. Like her, he has given us a work to do. God brings us, like her, from this sinful world into his plan of salvation. Through baptism and the Eucharist, Christ dwells in us, much as he dwelt in her. Like her, we pray for others. Like her, we are called to share in the resurrection life.
She is humanity, protected and perfected.
She did not need to do great works, she just had to be, So that we can say with her: Let it be done to me according to your word … he has looked upon his lowly servant … the Almighty has done great things for me.
The Great and the Good works, the achievements of humanity, these are the works of God himself, in us. These are the wonders of his grace.
It was just as St Catherine of Siena said “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”
Mary was who she was meant to be, and she sets the world on fire!
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