Strength in Humanity

Armodoxy for Today: Power In Humanity

The Beatles’ song, “Let it Be” has a nice and warm spiritual tone to it for a few reasons. The opening chords set the tone of the song. The words of the refrain, “Let it Be” are the definition of the word “Amen.” There are a few references to Mother Mary. She “comes to me” and speaks “words of wisdom” according to the song. The connection with the Blessed Mother is an easy one to make but we find that it is a connection which we infer because of our prejudices. According to the song’s writer, Sir Paul McCartney, this Mother Mary reference is to his own mother, Mary Patricia McCartney, who he lost at an early age. The song is written about a dream in which his mother came to him with words of wisdom.

Our religious prejudices play a large part in how we perceive and interact with the world. Because St. Mary, the Asdvadzadzin is singled out in history to bear the Christ Child, we rightly commemorate her celebrations and feasts by focusing on her holiness. But the strength of St. Mary – as well as all the saints – is in her and their humanity.

Saints, including St. Mary, are not gods. They are not worshipped in the Armenian Church. Rather, they are venerated, that is, they are regarded with great respect and reverence. Because they are human, we can look at them as examples for our life. This is a very important function of saints. As people, they have all the frailties and difficulties that humans have. They had the same temptations and doubts that all of us have. The difference, however, is that they rose from their humanity to touch the divine. It so doing, they give us hope that we too can rise from our humanity and touch or share in the divine realm.

She was asked to bear a Child out of wedlock. The night she gave birth to the Child Jesus, there was no room for her in the inn, or in the world. She witnessed the murder of the innocent. She kept in her heart all the details of Jesus childhood. She was at the Foot of the Cross when the her Son was nailed to a Cross and destroyed by His own creation.

At the feast of Assumption we are invited to reflect on the Blessed Mother Mary, her struggles and challenges and how she overcame each of them to become “Blessed among women.” (Luke 1:42)

We pray from a prayer of the Church, We ask you, Holy Saint Mary, full of glory and birth-giver of God, Asdvadzadzin, to lift up our prayers to your beloved Son that He may forgive our sins. Amen.