Dear Friends,
May and October are months when Catholics especially honor
Mary, Mother of God. She is, for us, mother, sister, comforter, advocate and friend.
Believers in Jesus love Mary in a hundred thousand ways!
Countries on every continent have shrines to Mary – at last
count, some 350 of them. A Marian shrine is a place of apparition, or a place
where a miracle ascribed to Mary happened, or a site of a historically strong
Marian devotion.
Just last month, Pope Leo XIV visited the sanctuary of Mama
Muxima in northern Angola. Muxima means “of the heart,” and so this is the
place of Mary, Mother of the Heart. How this ever became a holy place is a
matter of awe.
Built by the colonizing Portuguese in the 16th
century, this fortress became the hub of the slave trade and was subject to a
complex history. This is where priests baptized the slaves and then the slaves were required to walk to the port of Luanda, 70 miles to the north. Finally, they
were put on ships bound for the Americas, where their lives as slaves became
real in horrific ways. It is amazing that this place of suffering has become a
destination for pilgrims from across Angola. Simply put, the history and
character of this shrine is remarkable.
The Angolans came to believe that Mary, confidant, advocate,
mother and comforter, held her children close in their suffering. Before they even
knew it was she, she held them close.
Generations after generations of Angolans to this very day
have honored Mama Muxima for all she has been to their people. They have
intuited her presence to them. They came to treasure what they know. Mary has
seen them through as a people.
Pope Leo went to this out of the way area because the
reality of slavery is woven into his being. Slaves and slaveholders were part
of his ancestry. Deep down, this particular shrine in Angola must have already
been special to him.
The shrine of Mama Muxima emerged as a place of pilgrimage
more clearly in the early 19th century. It stands with Guadeloupe,
Mexico (1531), Aparecida, Brazil (1717), and Kibeho, Rwanda (1980) to mention a
few lesser-known shrines of Mary.
Mary, mother, midwife, intercessor, is always new to us
because we are always hearing in new ways how she enfolds the children who are
disciples of her Son.
It is cause for us to be glad this month of May to have her
as our own mother, midwife, intercessor, comforter, and guide.
~ Sister Joan Sobala
