Living Our Mission Like Mary

By John Graveline, Director of Parish Life

October 12, 2025

“His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’”
–John 2:5 (Mary’s last recorded words in the Bible)

As we journey closer to the culmination of this Jubilee Year of Hope, liturgically celebrating Jesus’ 2025th birthday this Christmas, this weekend we celebrate the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. It seems like a fortunate confluence that we also commemorated our parish’s anniversary this past Tuesday, October 7, celebrating 109 years under the patronage of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary’s life inspires us as a parish community to live our mission as Jesus’ disciples in a faithful and fruitful way.

The mission statement of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish speaks of developing as disciples of Jesus through Community, Message, Worship, and Service. The portrait of Mary we are given in the Bible can provide a map for us as we continue to live into our mission as “a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 810)

Mary’s canticle of praise, her Magnificat, shows us a model for how to worship God. (Luke 1:46-55)

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” What does it mean to magnify the Lord? A magnifying glass brings its object closer to our sight for the sake of clarity. In our worship, we draw closer to the Lord who has already drawn close to us, so that we can see ourselves and our world with greater wisdom and clarity. As Mary’s Magnificat demonstrates, worship begins with the grateful recognition of God’s gifts to us. That is why our central act of worship as a parish is the Saturday evening/Sunday morning Eucharist. The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word for Thanksgiving. Each week, we draw near to Jesus as a parish around the Eucharistic table with grateful hearts to worship God for his goodness and to receive God’s Grace so that our entire week can become a sacrifice of praise. “Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God.” (Psalm 50:23)

Mary’s receiving and living the Word of God is a model for how to begin to spread the message of Jesus.

When the angel Gabriel came to Mary with a message from God, she received his word with a humble heart, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say.” (Luke 1:38) Jesus later said that this open receptivity and obedience to God’s Word is her greatest honor. (Luke 11:27-28) We too strive to listen attentively to God’s Word, especially as it its proclaimed in the Liturgy of the Word, and to heed it in how we live our lives. This, in turn, gives us the confidence we need to respond to Jesus commission to “go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.” (Matt 28:19) Our evangelization and faith formation efforts as a parish will only have credibility and bear fruit if people experience in us a joyful, hospitable, warm response to Jesus’ commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

Mary’s Visitation to her kinswoman Elizabeth and her intercession to Jesus at the wedding at Cana model to us what it means to have a heart oriented toward service.

After hearing Gabriel’s message concerning her own motherhood and Elizabeth’s motherhood, Mary “set out, proceeding in haste” to assist Elizabeth. (Luke 1:39) Similarly, when she became aware of the wine situation at the wedding at Cana, her heart went out in compassion, and she set about to plead with Jesus to rectify the situation. Like her son, Mary came “not to be served but to serve.” (Matt 20:28) We are called as a parish family to serve the needs of our sisters and brothers. Our Christian Service Commission helps us facilitate the multitude of ways that we serve our community through assistance with food, clothing, rent and energy payments, financial support for local charitable organizations, and much more.

Finally, Mary’s motherhood of Christ extends to his mystical Body on earth, the community of the Church.

“We believe that the Holy Mother of God, the new Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven to exercise her maternal role on behalf of the members of Christ.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 975) When Jesus, hanging from his cross, said to his mother Mary and his beloved disciple—isn’t that all of us, really?—”Woman, here is your son . . . Here is your mother,” he gave Mary a special maternal role toward the community of the Church. (John 19:26-27) She was with the disciples when the Holy Spirit was fully poured forth upon them on Pentecost (Acts 1:12-14, 2:1-4). Our parish strives to be “a Catholic community of welcome and warmth” where everyone can find a home, a place to be accepted and accompanied as we grow together into the fullness of communion with Christ Jesus. Overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, we can, like Mary, prepare a place for the presence of Christ to grow and be born into our world.

In her Magnificat, Mary states that “all generations will call me blessed for the Mighty One has done great things for me.” (Luke 1:48) We here at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish can also say that God has done great things for us over the past 109 years! May we, under the inspiration and through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, continue to be “bearers of God” in the Larkin Township and the greater Midland area through sincere worship, spreading Jesus’ message of love, humble service, and vibrant community.