Hail Mary

A few weeks ago the Green Bay Packers defeated the Detroit Lions on a play commonly referred to as a "Hail Mary."  The last second desperation pass apparently received its name from former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach in 1975.  When asked about a last second long pass to Drew Pearson, Staubach, a Roman Catholic, said: "I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary."  Prior to that point, the play was called an Alley-Oop.  With Staubach's phrase the play now had a different name and one that has entered the lexicon related to last second desperation passes in football.  However, the term may actually derive from Notre Dame, when during a game in 1922 one of the lineman, act who was a Presbyterian, suggested praying the Hail Mary, and what followed was a touchdown against Georgia Tech.  The term Hail Mary is now being used for any last ditch effort.

Magnificat from St John's Bible
Source:  Google images

Mary is perhaps most recognized in Roman Catholicism, but she has more mentions in the Koran than in the Bible.  In the Bible, Mary speaks four times, and the only extended portion of speech is Magnificat uttered in her early pregnancy.  This occurs during Mary's visit to her relative Elizabeth who is pregnant with who would turn out to be John the Baptist.  Today, January 1, Roman Catholics celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God.  The Virgin Mary goes by an assortment of names, and a recent article in "National Geographic" (December 2015) began with a list of a variety of names.  She has more monikers, than I have nicknames for my wife.  January 1 is a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States, although one would not know so by attendance at mass.  It plays second fiddle to the Christmas celebration of the birth of Christ a week earlier. Without Mary would there have been the birth of Christ?  I suppose God could have chosen another woman for the role.  Protestants often think that Catholics revere mary more so than God, but for Catholics it is to her for intercession in prayers.  Get to God through Mary, or the saints, so the thinking goes.

Mural at the Church of the Visitation, where Mary met Elizabeth

If Protestants desire biblical evidence of intercession, one only need to look to the gospel of John where he relates the story of Jesus and his mother at a wedding in Cana.  When the wine runs out a rather embarassing situation for the bride and groom, not to mention the bride's father who was probably footing the bill the story unfolds.  In the account, Mary goes up to Jesus and simply says, "They have no wine."  In a rather curt reply which only a few sons would be able to say to their mother and not get the evil eye (or worse) Jesus responds "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come."  It is here it gets interesting, his mother plays the best of Marie Barone when she then says to the servants "do whatever he tells you."  Jesus cannot simply not do anything, what would his mother say.  She did not ask, she commanded his action.   Jesus tells the servants to fill six large water jugs standing nearby and to fill them with water.  After they are filled, Jesus tells them to draw some out and taste it--it not just wine, but a really good wine.  John makes a point of relating that the guests were perplexed that the best wine was saved for last. If anyone doubts the power of a mother with her son, they only need to read this account, or think of the Ray and Robert Barone.  It is intercession of Mary with Jesus her son that Catholics believe.

Excavated water jug, thought to be the type used at the Wedding in Cana
Photo is of a jug found at the location of the wedding reception

The article in "National Geographic" related various stories of intercession to the Virgin Mary, but I note two.  First, is the story of a man from Boston who was given just months to live, due to cancer engaging much of his body.  At the urging of some friendds he went to Medjugorje, which is in Bosnia and Herzegovnia.  A week after his return to the US a CT scan showed his cancer had shrunk to almost nothing. Since that visit in 2000, the man has returned 13 times.  The second story was the Vatican recognized appearance of Mary to some girls in a small village in Rwanda.  On August 15,  1982 Mary first appeared to one and the two other girls.  The horrible vision imparted to the girls is what they saw during the genocide 12 years later.  The Blessed Virgin's appearance at Medjugorje has not yet been approved by either the local Bishop or the Vatican.  The varied Bishops of Medjugorie, according the article, do not give credence to the reported apparitions.   Of the 2,000 appartions reported since 40 AD, only 28 have been approved by the local Bishop, and even fewer by the Vatican.  The faithful are not required to believe in apparitions.  In the case of the man from Boston, while his doctor noted the disapperance as being rare, it was statistically possible.  In that sense, what happened to Mr. Boyle of Boston will likely never meet the rigourous standards set for a miracle by the Vatican. Yet, that does not mean a miracle did not occur.  In Mr. Boyle's mind one did, and to him that is what is important.

Statute in courtyard of the Church of the Visitation
Depicts Mary (l) greeting Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist

Fatima, and Lourdes are perhaps the largest shrines celebrating appartions of the Virgin Mary.  In Mexico, Mary appeared to a peasant farmer in December 1531.  The overly skeptical Bishop of the region did not believe Juan Diego when first told and like the doubting Thomas wanted a sign.  Being the good lady that she is, the Virgin Mary instructed Juan to go to the top of the hill and pick roses, even though roses would not grow in that climate during December.  Juan pickes and filled his cloak with roses and when he went back to the Bishop, he opened his cloak.  Roses would stream out, but so to an image of the Virgin Mary on the cloak--the only time she has left tangible evidence.  National Geographic reports that the cloak still is in remarkable shape.  As noted in the National Geographic article, the garment has survived nitric acid that was spilled on part, and went undamaged when a bomb was placed in the flowers below the garment in order to destroy it.  The altar nearby was not so lucky.  Evidence of the divine, to a believer yes, to a nonbeliever or a skeptic no.

Cave where angel purportedly appeared to Mary and Joseph and
ordered them to flee due to the slaughter of the innocents

The article in "National Geographic is titled: "Mary: The Most Powerful Woman in the World." While Mary has the ear and mind of God, and bore the son of God, I do not think of it as power, rather as opportunity.  Mary is a mother to all of humanity and like any mother she sacrifices herself for her children.  What Mary does is give opportunity. We have the free will to decide whether or not to use the opportunity.  It is up to us to determine whether or not we wish to believe.  One of the places I visted in the Holy Land in spring of 2013 was the Milk Grotto.  Located not far from the place of birth of Jesus it is here that the Holy Family took refuge during the slaugther of the innocents, and before heading to Egypt.  Here Mary fed the infant and some of her milk spilled to the limestone floor.  Some believe that the crushed limestone has helped either heal them or allow them to bear a child.  There are many written testaments at the small office to that effect.

Church at Cana recognizing the site of the miracle of turning water to wine

However, as the Friar at the Milk Grotto it is not limestone, it is faith. Sometimes we need a tangible item on which to assist.  While many may like to think that God is on their team's side, that is probably not the case.  The Rogers Hail Mary pass was completed due to practice, the arm strength of Rogers, and quick thinking on the part of a person who was not the intended receiver.  But, there was also faith on both ends of the football. One of the Rwandan women who received that vision in 1982 notes that Mary only asks us to love her as much as she loves us.  Spoken like a true mother.

Photos by the author in Spring 2013