CL

Mary’s Humility: The Way to Truth
Interview with Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM, Cap., of Boston

edited by Michelle Riconscente

You spoke beautifully about the Virgin Mary who “gave God permission” to move in the world with her yes. How do you see our lives in CL as echoing that yes of Mary?
It’s Mary’s faith and humility, availability to God’s will, that made her such a powerful instrument, and it shows how grace does transform our humanity into something that is beautiful and eternal in God. Consider the fact that her last words quoted in the Gospel are at the wedding feast at Cana where “the humble waters saw their God and blushed.” That God’s transforming power can take the water people are using to wash their feet with and turn it into the best wine shows how God’s grace can transform our humanity–particularly if we have Mary’s humility and the openness to God.

In the context of our country right now, what do you see as the areas most in need of that transformation?
So many places, but certainly one is, as I told the lawyers and judges two weeks ago, that our country has a hubris, a pride that has blinded us to the truth. It’s only humility that allows us to discover the truth. Perhaps it is Mary’s humility that allows her to be completely open to the truth, to Jesus Christ, and unless we are able to achieve her humility we will never be able to discover the truth.

As you look to the presence of CL in your diocese and elsewhere, how would you direct us to serve? What would be foremost on your mind?
Certainly I have a concern for the young adults and I think that is something you address yourselves to. They seem to be a lost generation. The catechesis has been so ineffectual and so many have been cut off from the rest of the community.

Why do think this happened?
There has been a lot of confusion after the council and the rewriting of the catechetical texts by people who lost sight of what our mission is. I think part of it is dictated by a false sense of irenism trying to accentuate what we have in common with other Christian churches rather than being apologetic [meaning in defending Church doctrine] as we had previously been. And I think that that caused us to fall down on the job in not presenting the whole picture and losing a sense of urgency about communicating. Salvation didn’t seem to be the burning issue anymore.
Part of it is the age, the great progress that technology and great accomplishments that science and medicine and so forth have achieved. Instead of making us humbler as they should, we’ve become overly confident that now we don’t need God and we can just count on science and on power.
Instead of having heroes in our world, they’ve been replaced by celebrities. I think that also speaks volumes about the kinds of values that are promoted for our young people. So CL’s outreach to the young people on faith and the truth, the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the greatest service you can give the Church.