by Gloria Hutchinson

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery," wrote Francis Bacon three centuries ago. Contemporary sculptor Frederick Franck would agree. His stunning metal statue of Mary opens to reveal the face of Christ within her cloak. However, Mary's own face is blank. Why? "Because she is potentially every woman, every man," says the artist. And that is a mystery worth pondering .

It is a mystery few Catholics would have grappled with before Vatican Il (1962-65). In pre-conciliar times we kept Mary on a pedestal, emphasizing her privileged uniqueness. We were so busy craning our necks to look up to her that we missed out on her presence at our side. Insisting on her singularity, we kept her at a safe distance.

But the Fathers of Vatican II offered new advice. Paraphrasing Lumen Gentium, they said: "Look again. Mary is a human being who, like us, needed to be redeemed by her Son. She is a model who goes before us, guiding our pilgrimage of faith. She assures us that we too are capable of fidelity to God's call." In his 1974 "Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary," Pope Paul Vl urged Catholics to "see how Mary can be considered a mirror of the expectations of the men and women of our time."

Far from being a timid, submissive or passive woman, the Blessed Virgin, Paul Vl wrote, was an "active witness of that love which builds up Christ in people's hearts." In emulating her, we learn how to live the will of God fully and responsibly.

Mary considers. She questions. She decides. "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38). Jesus will be conceived in her because she is fully prepared to receive him. Her stillness in the garden foreshadows his silent coming in the manger

Mary models for us what we were made to do. The person who sits quietly before the Lord for some portion of the day becomes receptive, expectant, ready to conceive the Son.

Mary's prayer proves that she was no passive observer of injustice, content with the given social and economic structures. She shared Jesus' mission to "proclaim liberty to captives" and to free the oppressed (Lk 4:18-19). Her Magnificat challenges us to get in touch with the reality of our time, and to honestly assess how we are embodying Christ's glad tidings to the poor.

Whenever we find ourselves slipping back into the "Mary on a pedestal" mentality, we can return to the Gospel stories of Mary as a young mother fleeing with husband and child into exile, as the distraught parent of an unfathomable adolescent and as a disciple whose faith was repeatedly tried by an unlikely Messiah. No bright-winged angel appears on any of these occasions to reassure her that all will be well. Like us, she has to trust and walk on in God's will.

We know from Mary's experience as well as our own that hope does not immunize us against doubt, suffering or spiritual setbacks. Her humanity left her vulnerable to misunderstanding Jesus' mission, enduring the stress of his conflicts with religious authorities, bearing the devastation of his humiliating death. Can any parent who has witnessed his or her child's violent death doubt that the green shoots of hope in Mary's heart were trampled and nearly extinguished at Calvary? Yet she endured. And when the early Church gathered to pray for the Spirit's coming, she poured out that same heart in confident expectation.

Whenever we find ourselves slipping back into the "Mary on a pedestal" mentality, we can remember that she did not become the perfect disciple in one fell swoop at the Annunciation. Like her son, she grew in wisdom, grace and age.

If we see ourselves as God's works of art ("I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; /Wonderful are your works"—Ps 139:14), we will honor Mary as God's masterwork. We will treasure the mystery by which she is "potentially every woman, every man." We will emulate her interiority, her prayerfulness, her trust, her hope. For she is an accessible model for all ages.

Gloria Hutchinson is author of Praying the Rosary: New Reflections on the Mysteries and many other books. She is a series editor for A Retreat With... book series from St. Anthony Messenger Press.