THE NECESSITY OF A DECISIVE MOMENT: MARY, A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED

Ladislaus Boros begins his shocking yet captivating The Mystery of Death, by citing the bitter remark from the poem; Man’s Estate: “you know what they say: it takes nine months to create a man and only a single day to destroy him. When man is utterly a man, when that manhood has been achieved, the only thing he is good for is to die.” The existentialists’ mantra advances that there is no pre-given essence for man, rather, man actively creates for himself an essence through commitments to a certain course of life. Although an over ambitious humanism is found within this thesis, it nonetheless posits to us the very core of Mary’s dilemma. It presents to us the very picture of man. It is that picture of us when we are devoid of friends, those instances when no relative is close, no acquaintance is ready to hand, to whom we may run to for urgent advice. But the paradox of such moments is that when those decisions are eventually made by us, we have the whole world streaming towards us, either to congratulate us or to offer to us, their own portion of the numerous criticisms we receive. The question which therefore borders us here is: what does it really take the human to decide. Can the presumptions that inform our decisions be duly passed through the crucible of sincerity?

Mary’s utter but momentary confusion, saw her for a moment dead. The gospels at that point discretely, take the part of silence as regards any interruption from Joseph her spouse. The gospels intelligently suspend any intervention from Joseph. So that one could ask after a keen observation of what the gospels present: was Joseph ever aware of such a visit by an angel to his supposed wife? As thinkers, the much we can do, of course backed with logical arguments is to conclude either yes or no. At that point in which she had to make a certain decision in an unfamiliar situation, she arrived at manhood- a manhood devoid of every childishness and adolescence. It dawned on her that whatever decision she was to take had the capacity of altering the direction of the entire universe. Mary probably would have asked questions such as: did the angel even care about my own gains? Did he even border about my benefits? Did he show any concern for me and my household? Let us get it very clear here, Mary was just a young Jewish woman like another girl in search of true love. No element of superior humanity was buried within her DNA. The only thing that distinguished her from us was her predestination as the mother of God from the very first moment of her conception, no more. So that although this existed, her freedom was left intact by God. 

Mary knew she had to actively create an essence for herself and for mankind by the response she would give to the angel. Every other moment of her life described as temporal, depended upon this non-temporal decision at hand. What would she do? save her face and her dignity, or let it (her womanly pride) be forever taken away from her?

She teaches us two fundamental human moments: first, the identification of those moments in our lives that rape us of all our logic. Those moments in which every form of our professionalism cannot offer any rational explanation to what God seems to be asking of us. In other words, those moments when God scandalizes us by every human reckoning. Secondly; the unflinching courage to continually say a new yes to Jesus amidst even the thickest darkness of life. It is this sequel response demanded of us that would eventually push us to declare like Peter after he was almost frustrated at Christ’s repeated questionings: Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. But we cannot like Peter and Mary give God this fat response, if first, we cannot discover those moments when he demands a response. So that in the final analysis, if we cannot discover those moments elucidated in the first instance, we cannot even proceed to give him any response whether positive or negative.

Friar Emmanuel Igboekwulusi, OFM Cap.

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