In the Bible, an impressive silence surrounds the life of Mary. In the gospels, it appears incidentally and disappears immediately. The first two chapters tell us about her. But even here Mary appears as a candelabra: the important thing is the light—the Child.
Later, in the gospels, she appears and disappears like a wandering star, as if she was ashamed to appear: in the temple, when the Child is lost (Luke 2:41-50), in Cana (Jn 2:1-12), in Capernaum (Mark 3,3135), on Calvary (Jn 19,25-28), in the Cenacle, presiding over the group of the Twelve, in prayer (Heb 1,14). In these last three presentations, not a single word is uttered
Outside of these fugitive apparitions, the Bible does not speak anything else about Mary. The rest is silence. Only God is important. Mary is transparent and remains silent.
It was like those big, clean and transparent glasses. We are in a room, sitting in an armchair, contemplating various scenes and beautiful landscapes: people walk down the street, trees, birds, beautiful panoramas, stars at night. We are excited by so much beauty. But to whom do we owe all that? Who realizes the presence and function of glass? If instead of glass there was a wall, would we see those wonders? That glass is so humble that a magnificent panorama shines through, and it remains silent.
Exactly that was Mary.
She was a woman so poor and so clean (like glass), so selfless and so humble, who made us present, made clear to us the Total Mystery of God and his Salvation, and she remained silent, barely anyone noticed her presence in the Bible.
Sailing in the sea of anonymity, lost in the night of silence, always at the foot of sacrifice and hope, the figure of the Mother is not a finished personality with its own contours.
This is Mary’s destiny. Better, María has no destiny, nor does she have a configured figure. It is always adorned with the figure of the Son. Always says in regard to Someone. She is always left behind. The Mother was a “captivating silence,” as Von le Fort says.
Mary was that Mother who silently lost herself in the Son.
Taken from the section: “Place of origin” of Chapter III of the Book “The Silence of Mary” by Father Ignacio Larrañaga.
