Our Images of Mary
By Andre Audette
The Catholic world has many different images and names for Mary: Queen of Heaven, Star of the Sea, Mother of God, and many others. My favorite image for Mary is a more unusual one: the magnifying glass.
Mary’s Magnificat, where she rejoices at the news that she would bear God’s Son, is named after the text in Luke’s Gospel where Mary proclaims, “my soul magnifies the Lord.” What does it mean to magnify the Lord?
One function of magnifying glasses is to enlarge something to make it more visible. Certainly, Mary does this! Her actions – her entire life! – were devoted to making Christ more visible to the world. Whether it is the Wedding at Cana, where she reminds us to “do whatever He tells you,” at the foot of the Cross, where she tenderly and courageously cared for Jesus in His agony, or at the first Pentecost, where she was joyfully present at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s work was to help people see Jesus for who He is.
Another use for magnifying glasses can be to concentrate light. In 2021, a house in Delton, WI burned to the ground because a large crystal ball in the window intensified the energy of the sun and concentrated it on a flammable item. Far from destruction, Mary harnesses the intense and burning love of the Son and concentrates it on our hearts. Though the light of Christ is all around us, Mary can help us focus the light to illumine the darkness that tries to crowd it out.
Magnifying glasses cannot do either of these functions well if they are not pure and clean. Fortunately, because of her Immaculate Conception and faithful humility, Mary never obscures our sight of Christ. She does not take the glory for herself but directs us straight to Jesus. Mary could easily have magnified herself; after all, she was chosen to bear God Incarnate! But instead of heading straight to social media to humblebrag about her angelic news, she immediately magnifies the Lord.
If you look at the images of Mary in our four parishes, you can see many of the different ways that she magnifies the Lord. At St. John the Evangelist, the statue of Mary has her hand stretched out in a way that points to and invites you to the altar. Holy Trinity’s statue of Mary gazes upward, reminding us of our goal to join her and Jesus in heaven. St. Joseph’s statue of Mary is stepping on a snake, reminding us of our need to turn away from sin so that we can better know Christ. And at Our Lady of Lourdes, you can find Mary appearing to St. Bernadette, a sign of Mary’s continued guidance on how to follow Jesus.
Mary is an example for us of how to live a holy life and be a magnifying glass for Christ. Like Mary, today choose one way to make Christ more visible and to concentrate His love in the area of your life where you need it most.