Mary—Perfect Reflection of Christ’s Light

During a homily for the feast of the Immaculate Conception in 2014, a priest provided the best analogy to describe the significance of Mary. He stated, “The best way to experience the light of Christ is through the atmosphere of Mary!” In other words, sometimes the truth of Jesus is too blinding for us to experience firsthand. Without the ozone layer, sunlight would prove to be too much for us to take in. After that Mass, I have pondered Mary’s intercessory role in a deeper way.

Last year my relationship with the Blessed Mother deepened when my wife and I completed a Marian Consecration. Following Fr. Michael E. Gaitley’s 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration we grew in understanding the significance of the Blessed Virgin for the Christian life. As a convert to Catholicism my wife initially was scandalized by the bold claim of St. Louis de Montfort:

“[Mary] is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus and will surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reserve in order to belong entirely to Jesus” (True Devotion to Mary: Saint Louis de Montfort, p.35).

Since consecrating my life to Jesus through Mary, the Blessed Virgin acted as a guiding light, especially during the periods of desolation. According to Lumen Gentium,

“Piously mediating on her and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church with reverence enters more intimately into the great mystery of the Incarnation and becomes more and more like her spouse” (LG 65).

Below I wish to share evidence from both Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Catholic Church, along with some anecdotal testimony, to show how Mary is the perfect reflection of Christ’s light!

An Analogy of the Moon:

According to Pope Paul VI in his Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus, “The Church asks Mary’s intercession for those who have closed their eyes to the light of this world and appeared before Christ, the eternal Light” (no. 14). Sometimes too much truth can be blinding. Lapsed Catholics and atheists not ready to embrace the full truth of the Gospel message oftentimes find Church teaching as abrasive. From my personal experience during a period of a “dark night” or valley of darkness in my spiritual life, it is usually Mary who provides the bridge by which I return to a fuller communion of the greater Church.

The analogy of the sun and moon is an understandable analogy for the relationship between Jesus and Mary. While the moon lights our journey in the dark of night—just as Mary does for humanity—the source of the moonlight does not radiate from that satellite, instead, it is a reflection of the light of the sun. Mary is the reflection of the light of Jesus!

Venerable Fulton Sheen spoke of Mary as the reflection of the light of Jesus as well in his book The World’s First Love: Mary, Mother of God,

“God who made the sun, also made the moon.  The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun.  All its light is reflected from the sun.  The Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing.  With Him, she is the Mother of men” (p. 50). 

Mary, far from detracting from the light of Christ, actually acts as a mirror shining in the darkest times to point us toward the source of true Light-God.

Created Immaculate Conception:

Along with viewing Mary as a theological mirror echoing the truth of Jesus Christ, Maximilian Kolbe’s close relationship with the Blessed Virgin provided the Church with profound wisdom on her role in the Church. Mere hours before Kolbe’s final arrest in Nazi Germany, he wrote down his meditations on Mary titled Who Then Are You, O Immaculate Conception. This short treatise contains a richness of understanding on the relationship between Mary and the Holy Spirit. Elucidating the Marian appellation given to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858, Maximilian makes the distinctions between the created and uncreated Immaculate Conceptions. The German saint pondered the question: Who then are you, O Immaculate conception? He answered with the following,

 Not God, of course, because he has no beginning. Not an angel, created directly out of nothing. Not Adam, formed out of the dust of the earth (Gen. 2,7). Not Eve, molded from Adam’s rib (Gen. 2,21). Not the Incarnate Word, who exists before all ages, and of whom we should use the word “conceived” rather than “conception”. Humans do not exist before their conception, so we might call them created “conceptions.” But you, O Mary, are different from all other children of Eve. They are conceptions stained by original sin; whereas you are the unique, Immaculate Conception.

Although admitting that human vocabulary is ultimately inadequate in fully describing the relationship and unity of the Persons of the Godhead, St. Maximilian describes the Holy Spirit as the “Uncreated Immaculate Conception”. When I first discovered his unique and deep understanding of the close unity between Mary and the Holy Spirit, I pondered this reality in my heart and mind. His theology allowed me to foster a greater honor and devotion to the Blessed Mother. To avoid diluting the weight of his message I will quote Kolbe again,

“In the Holy Spirit’s union with Mary we observe more than the love of two beings; in one there is all the love of the Blessed Trinity; in the other, all of creation’s love. So it is that in this union heaven and earth are joined; all of heaven with all the earth, the totality of eternal love with the totality of created love. It is truly the summit of love.”

Mary in union with the Holy Spirit birthed the God-man—the truest light of Truth for the World.

Mary is a Defender Against Heresy:

A third reason why Mary is the perfect reflection of the Light of Truth is devotion to the Blessed Virgin affords us protection against false teaching. Shortly after the fall, God promises that salvation history will involve the role of a woman—fulfilled in Mary! According to Genesis 3:15, God informed the tempter, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Catholic teaching interprets the woman in this passage to be a foreshadowing of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The true enemy of the Devil is Mary. It is fitting that the woman created without original sin be the vehicle to usher in the savior of the world to combat the evils of the Devil—formerly the greatest angelic creation of God. As the perfect reflection of the Light of Christ, Mary acts as a gleaning shield against heresy. Pope Pius X in his encyclical Pascendi Dominci Gregis unambiguously talked of Mary’s role in defending the faith. He declared,

“May Jesus Christ, the author, and finisher of our faith, be with you by His power; and may the Immaculate Virgin, the destroyer of all heresies, be with you by her prayers and aid” (Pascendi Dominci Gregis, 58—emphasis added mine).

The Second Vatican Council echoed this point of Mary’s vital role in assisting mankind in the battle against sin. Lumen Gentium 60 states,

“The maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power.” Going back to my own spiritual journey, since my consecration to Jesus through Mary I have grown immensely in my faith life. My understanding of the joy and beauty of Catholicism is enhanced when my devotion to Mary is strong. I am closest to the light of Christ when I am close to the perfect reflection of his light—Mary!

Holy Mother of Light, Spouse of the Holy Ghost, O sweet and gentle Lady, Immaculate Mother of God, I choose thee this day to be the Mistress and Lady of my home.  Guard it, dear Mother, from pestilence, fire, lightning, inundation. and tempest; from schism and heresy; from the depredations of burglars and the malice of our enemies.  Protect its inmates, sweet Mary, watch their going out and their coming in, preserve them from sudden and unprovided death.  Keep us from all sin and harm, and pray for us to God, that we may live in His service, and depart from this life in His grace.  Amen.