Sr. Margarita Bareikaite

R e f l e c t i o n s

Mary as Mother and First Apostle

Sr. Margarita Bareikaite belongs to the order of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a Lithuanian order in Putnam, Connecticut. She is also the Chairperson of the Religious Affairs Council for the Lithuanian American Community, Inc.

It is significant that the Holy Bible connects Mary with the blessing made to Abraham. Blessings came because she was the fulfillment of the blessing of Abraham, who was told that she would be a source of blessing for the world. Mary’s blessings came about through her inseparable relationship to Jesus in the miraculous conception and in the nurturing role as mother. The Holy Spirit also blessed her. These blessings all took place by the message of the Angel, then, by Elizabeth, and finally the prophet Simeon.

To learn more about Mary, Mother of God, we have to turn to Evangelist Luke who regarded Mary as forever blessed because of her permanent relationship with Jesus. Mary’s own hymn’s, "Magnificat’s", response seems to confirm this, "All generations will call me blessed" (Lk.1: 48). He portrays Mary, as Mother of Jesus very well as an apostle: a model for those who remember and ponder over the meaning of God's plan.

In reading the Holy Bible we see her reaction to the shepherds’ visit and the sign of the manger. Jesus’ mother Mary is not differentiated from or opposed to the disciples; rather she is included among them not as a mere physical mother of Jesus, but as one who is a mother and witness in the community because she hears the word of God and keeps it. Mary is the mother who believes the divine promises about Jesus’ "impossible" birth -- the plan for Jesus' tragic suffering, death, and resurrection. She is the model and mother of all believers, whose role is a very active one as the carrier of blessings to her children. Also she is a key witness of Jesus' humanity in his birth and death.

Mary is also a remembering mother of the essential continuity and succession in Jesus’ presence through the Spirit in the Church. Thus the New Testament roots establish Mary as essentially related both to Christians and Christian teachings. She is not only the mother of the disciple and the mother of the Church, but also as God’s place of encounter with all that is most beautiful among all men. As one preacher said, she was the first and most perfect of those who simply "treasure all these things in their hearts".