SHIFTING SANDS & STANDS

On Tuesday 4^th November two events occurred that seemed like undermining our very foundations. One gets such a feeling while standing on the seashore when the tide is running out. As the water recedes one feels that the ground (sand) under one’s feet is shifting, leaving one struggling to stay erect. What were these two sand shifting or earth moving events? One was in Rome and the other in New York.

In the Vatican the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith published a decree “Mater populi fidelis” (The Mother of the People of God), signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez. It had earlier been approved by Pope Leo on 7^th October. It is based on scripture, the teachings of the Doctors and Fathers of the Church, Eastern traditions and the thinking of recent popes.

The decree deems the Marian title of Co-Redemptrix as inappropriate and problematic and that of Mediatrix as totally unacceptable as it takes on a meaning that excludes Jesus. A misleading title, or one that necessitates lengthy explanations, is not worthy of usage.

This doctrinal declaration has been a bombshell for the arch-conservatives/ ultra-traditionalists in the Church. They have gone to the extent of saying that this teaching has not come from the Magisterium of the Church, whatever that is! However, it does not seem to have caused any ripples in the church in India. Over the last week I have not come across a single article or reflection on it in the various news sources that I receive every day. It therefore seemed appropriate to share my reflections on the same.

Vatican II had earlier consciously avoided using such titles or honorifics for dogmatic, pastoral and ecumenical reasons. The two previous popes, Francis and Benedict XVI, had also disapproved of these titles; though their predecessor John Paul II, had favoured them. Can we dispassionately address the issue?

Catholics do have strong Marian devotions often bordering on the cultic. We have the rosary, angelus, novenas, pilgrimages, litanies etc. The Vatican has therefore done well to now put things in their correct perspective. How can one distinguish between a cult and a devotional practice? Scripture itself has the answer, in the interaction between Jesus and his mother. When some in the crowd drew his attention to his mother by saying “Blessed the womb that bore you and the breasts that suckled you”, he categorically replied “More blessed still are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28). In an earlier situation he had said “”My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice” (Lk 8:21).

On the face of it, just as in the doctrinal decree, it would seem that Jesus has degraded his mother. To the contrary, he has upgraded her. This is not a fall from grace for the one whom we hailed as “full of grace”. From the merely physical (temporary) level Jesus raised her to the spiritual (eternal) level. The first is what I would call a Marian cult while the second is true Marian devotion.

Jesus himself sees Mary as the recipient of the word of God when she said “Let it happen to me as you have said” (Lk 1:38). He saw her as one who pondered/ marvelled/ wondered at those developments (Lk 2:33), for which she would have to pay a heavy price. “A sword will pierce your soul too” (Lk 2:35).

We further find that Jesus addresses Mary, not as his mother (a personal relationship), but as Woman (a more universal role). She was the new Eve, the mother of all the living (cf Gen 3:20). That was how he addressed her when she jumped the gun asking for the first miracle at Cana (cf Jn 2:4); and again when, through John, he gave her to all humanity saying “Woman this is your son” (Jn 19:27).

Seen in this light we should rejoice at the Vatican decree that has, in the footsteps of Jesus, placed Mother Mary in her correct perspective. As the decree says, it will also remove some misunderstandings and obstacles towards Christian unity.

There are some other titles/ honorifics that I feel we need to avoid. They include “Holy Mother of God” and “Mother of our creator”. Both are terribly misleading, implying that she is greater than God itself. Besides, how can a created human being be the mother of its own creator?  It defies all logic. Some other titles in the Marian litany that I felt redundant are – Mystical Rose, Tower of David, Tower of Ivory and House of Gold. What meaning do they convey today? Yet we blindly parrot them. In translation it becomes worse. In Hindi we say “Haathi danth ka ghar”.

The one title that I like is “Queen of the Apostles” because Mary was the first evangelist. By evangelisation we understand “conveying to others the Word of God incarnated in me”. This is evidenced at the Visitation. “Look the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy” (Lk 1:44). Mary transmitted the Word Incarnate in her to John the Baptist in the womb of his mother Elizabeth. This is precisely what all of us Christians are called upon to do.

Now let’s shift our focus to another tectonic shift that occurred on the very same day in New York. Zohran Mamdani (34) was elected the Mayor of New York City; the first Asian, Muslim and youngest to hold that office. The immensity of it may be gauged from the fact that New York City is the largest in the USA. Its population in 2024 was almost 8.5 million. This would be more than that of several nations. Zohran is an Indian Muslim whose Gujarati father was settled in Uganda, where he was born. His mother, Mira Nair, is a Hindu born in Rourkela, India. His wife Rama Duwaji is of Syrian descent. That makes him a true world citizen.  

He said that his victory was a message of hope in darkness. He challenged Trump to “turn the volume up”. He quoted Nehru, “A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance”.

It is almost like Jesus saying in the synagogue in Nazareth that the prophecies of the past have been fulfilled (cf Lk 4:21). It is now time to begin a new chapter, a New Testament. If this is not a tectonic shift, what is? Mamdani was not alone. Two other Muslims of Indian origin won their elections that day. Ghazala Hashmi was elected as the Lt Governor of Virginia while Aftab Purewal (43) was elected the Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio; defeating Cory Bowman, the half-brother of J.D. Vance. Purewal’s mother is a Tibetan refugee while his father is from Punjab.

This 4^th November was indeed a day of sea change, of shifting sands inviting us to look at the future with hope and courage.