Gospel of 12 September 2020
Memorial of the Holy Name of Mary
Luke 1:39-47
Blessed is she who believed the promise
Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
And Mary said:
‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour.’
Reflexion
Today commemorates the Battle of Vienna, the great victory in 1683 of the Christian armies, led by the Polish King Jan Sobieski, and the legendary Winged Hussars (whom he led in what is today known as the greatest Calvary charge in history) against the Ottoman Turks who were determined to conquer the Austrian city, the gateway to the rest of Europe. Against overwhelming odds, the vastly outnumbered Polish crushed the Ottomans sending them fleeing for their lives, breaking the power of the Ottoman empire, which had ravaged Christianity for centuries.
Sobieski paraphrased Caesar after what he saw as his miraculous victory: “Veni, vidi, Christus vincit.” “I came, I saw, and Christ conquered”. Christ indeed won the day, saving Europe, the Faith and western civilisation, at least until recently. There is a legend that the croissant, shaped after the Islamic ‘crescent’, was invented at Viennese bakeries soon afterwards, as a symbol of their deliverance. So, if you’ve not had one, go out and get yourself a croissant and think of Mary. And have a coffee as well. It was said, the Europeans discovered coffee when the Turks left behind boxes of their prized beverage.
Yes, September 12 – the defeat of the Ottoman army and the salvation of Christian Europe. The religious significance was not lost on the losers: The attacks on America on 9/11 (yesterday being the anniversary of that horrible attack on innocent civilians in New York City) were, in large part, a centuries-delayed Islamic revenge against the ‘Crusaders’.
Jan Sobieski may well have declared Maria vincit. It was said that as the Polish army and cavalry made their brave charge against the Ottoman army that outnumbered them 30 to 1, they sang the national anthem of Poland, which was a hymn in praise of Our Lady. Their battle cry was our Lady’s name. Thus, Pope Innocent XI, who resisted the ambitions of the French King Louis XIV (who did not send any help to Vienna), who cleaned up the Vatican, and who condemned abortion, declaring the foetus to have a soul – yes, this same great Pope instituted this feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary in 1684, in thanksgiving to the Blessed Mother for the victory at Vienna. It was Christ’s victory but He shared it with His mother too. It’s quite unfortunate that in the late 1960’s, this memorial was removed in the revision of the liturgical calendar after Vatican II, perhaps in some misguided sense of political correctness so as not to offend the Muslims since it commemorated a Catholic victory over the Muslim forces. But we are thankful that it has been placed back in the calender by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2002, another Polish, who knew more than most, what was, and still is, at stake.
The name of Mary is powerful indeed, for, as the wedding at Cana signifies, Christ cannot refuse a request from His mother. Exorcists tell us that demons fear this name as much as they do the Holy Name of Jesus. There was a time when it was popular to adorn our churches and altars with the monogram 'A' set over an 'M', which stands for Ave Maria, because she is the perfect model of the Church. The Church of Christ is also Mary’s Church, and we are members of her army.
So ask away, whatever you will. May the Virgin Mary intercede for us all, when we need her help in our own turbulent times. As she said to Juan Diego in Guadalupe a century before Vienna, ‘Am I not your Mother?’ The same image was carried into the sea-battle of Lepanto and brought victory to the Christian forces. So fear not, and have hope. The victory is Christ’s. And we know that Christ has sent us His greatest general, the Blessed Virgin Mary. With her as our supreme commander, our enemies would be put to flight, the mighty would be cast down from their thrones and the lowly raised up. Christus vincit! Maria vincit!