A Theological Reflection
The Virgin of Vladmir
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Our Lady in the Act of the Apostles
by Eamon R. Carroll, O. Carm.
The Virgin Mary was part of the core group of the young Church. On Pentecost Day, "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak foreign tongues as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech" (2,4). The Mother of Jesus was among the followers of her Son who "remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers" (Acts 1, 42).
By several carefully chosen words St. Luke emphasizes the sense of the community in the group to which Mary belonged: they were praying 'with one accord,' in harmony, in cordial agreement, believers united heart and soul (Acts 4, 32). The phrase, "with one accord." recalls the advice in Deuteronomy to love God with one's whole heart and one's whole soul, and recalls also the reponse of the people at Mt. Sinai: "Everything the Lord has said we will do" (Exodus 19).
The Acts call Mary 'Mother of Jesus," that is, the same Jesus who has been taken up to heaven to the Father's right hand, the same Jesus who has appeared to his disciples, the same Jesus who has promised his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24, 49; Acts 1, 8). St. Luke's focus is on the fulness of Jesus. In the opening chapters of St. Lukes's Gospel and in St. John's accounts of Cana and Calvary, the titles of the Blessed Virgin reflect the Church's faith in Jesus her Son. Hence she is 'Mother of my Lord' in Elizabeth's greeting (Luke 1, 43), and 'woman' in St. John's Gospel (2,4 and 19,26). In calling Mary 'Mother of Jesus' the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles continue to express Christian faith in Jesus the Son of Mary, who was crucified but who was raised up for our justification and whose Spirit brings power to the Church.
The similarity between the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles is deliberate. At the Annunciation Mary awaits the overshadowing Spirit; impelled by the Spirit, she hastens to her cousin Elizabeth, bringing the good news to the household of Zachary, bursting forth in her song of joy and thanksgiving the Magnificat. Before Pentecost Mary is again present, this time under the leadership of the apostles, awaiting the outpouring of the Spirit that Jesus may be born in the members of his Church at Pentecost. The explosion of joy on Pentecost day extends throughout the Acts of the Apostles, as when the word is carried to Samaria and received with great rejoicing (Acts 8).
Fr. Eamon R. Carroll, O. Carm.,S.T.D., is Professor emeritus at Loyola University of Chicago and on the faculty of the International Marian Research Institute, the Marian Library, University of Dayton, Ohio.
This article first appeared in Our Lady's Digest, September- October 1977.
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