Last July, during a retreat in Halifax with Helen McLaughlin, we spent a day contemplating Mary, Woman of her Race, Religion, Culture, and Time. I thought of Mater - a courageous young Jewish woman who said “Yes” - not fully understanding. She trusted the mystery to unfold and today continues to say “Yes” as she listens deeply to God’s call and response with people. She is still our Mother of the invisible and the essential in life.

In her conference Helen did not speak of Mater by name, but took us back to the 1815 Constitutions where the “emphasis is on ‘Mary’s heart being most perfectly conformed to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and of her being ‘the most tender of mothers.” And, with ¶9 of the 1982 Constitutions we pray:

Mary, woman of faith among the people of God lives close to us as she does to everything that radiates the life of her Son. Our Society entrusts itself in a special way to her whose heart is united and conformed to that of Jesus so that she may lead us to Him.

Helen pointed out that choosing the term ‘woman of faith among the people of God’ was an influence of Vatican II and, she said it “conjures up Mary in her village of Nazareth, apparently an ordinary woman doing the work of women, taking part in the religious and social life - a woman among the people.”

I grew up with Mater as my favorite image of Jesus’ mother. At 14 years of age, Sister Shirley Miller captivated me with Mater’s story as we prepared a “Mater Congé” at Duchesne Academy in Omaha. Pauline Perdrau’s fresco of a tender teen places Mater in contemplative repose in an almost elegant setting, not a village hut, but perhaps at the Trinità dei Monti. In Sacred Heart Schools around the world, the image of Mater is often made to look local - she takes on Mexican and Japanese features, for example. As Pauline Perdrau aged, each new version of her Mater grew older, finally into a wise and wrinkled woman of faith.

The Mother of our Church is both an ordinary woman of her time and place, and universally enculturated. We are called to relate to her as we are, where we are. Jesus did not constrain her to time/place; he said: My mother ... is the one who hears the word of God and puts it into practice (Lk.8:21). Mater set aside her work, the Word was with her - she listened interiorly and became evermore united and conformed to the invisible and essential call from the Heart of all Life. We entrust ourselves to her so that she may lead us more deeply into Jesus’ Sacred Heart to hear the word of God and put it into practice. For 38 years, Mater has inspired me to pause, pray, be still, and also to actively give who I am, where I am … and again, she urges me/us to listen, to really hear the Word of God and put it into practice.

~ Anne Wachter, RSCJ, October 20, 2014

For a short article on the evolution of Mater by General Archivist Margaret Phelan, RSCJ, visit our international website. You can also find a variety of reflections on Mater on this site. We will be posting a series of images of Mater on Facebook, so be sure to like our page!