MARY A MODEL PHILOSOPHER

All those who honestly and passionately seek for truth are on the way to Christ.

-                      Edith Stein

The Title, Mary a model Philosopher should not unsettle you. If it does, it is good to examine whether you have a dislike for philosophy. Distaste for philosophy among the students of theology is well in place if one evaluates that philosophy has lost its capacity to lift its gaze to the transcendent truth. An uncritical aversion for philosophy is imprudent when one considers that it is a system of mere abstractions and empty offers. In the broad sense all are philosophers. The encyclical Fides et ratio is clear on this, “all men and women are in some sense philosophers and have their own philosophical conceptions with which they direct their lives” (FR, 30). The Church sees in philosophy the way to come to know fundamental truths about human life. She considers philosophy an indispensable help for a deeper understanding of faith and for communicating the truth of the Gospel to those who do not yet know it. Fides et Ratio looks at the Blessed Virgin Mary as a model philosopher. She is someone from whom we can learn. The Church invokes Mary as the seat of wisdom. The Encyclical states that “between the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the vocation of true philosophy there is a deep harmony” (108). For some this statement might seem intriguing because philosophers are usually associated with human reason and Mary is associated with theologians, revelation and faith. Besides the encyclical mentions the holy monks of Christian antiquity who saw in Mary a lucid image of true philosophy and they felt the need to philosophari in maria (108). Now the question is how to philosophize in Mary?

First we have to learn that the life of reason and life of faith are not two separate watertight compartments. Though philosophy and theology are two separate disciplines, their openness to truth makes them complement each other. When one uses philosophy at the service of theology, it does not lose its autonomy; rather both the disciplines are enriched on a higher plane. When Mary gave her intellectual assent at the annunciation, she did not lose her autonomy as a human person.  Mary teaches us to be interdependent and calls us to move from a stubborn autonomy to creative collaboration. 

Second, the search for truth makes one a quintessential philosopher. The encyclical (FR) defines man/woman as the one who seeks the truth (28). The fact that we are made to seek the truth implies that the truths of faith are not simply handed on to us (revelation). We have to act. We have to understand life from a divine perspective as Mary did. She lived her life in faith. She understood that life is a gratuitous gift, a vocation, a call to live in union with God, for God and for others. Mary drew strength from God to fulfill the vocation she received as the bearer of divine truth. She was endowed with the fullness of divine grace. She acted. When she did not understand, she sought to understand. At the Annunciation, she revealed her gift of intellect by seeking insight, as Bernard Lonergan would say by questioning: How can this be? She not only exercised her intellect but also her free will (nature and grace). As the result of this seeking to understand, Mary before conceiving Christ in the flesh was informed in the mind. And so together with the early church fathers, particularly St. Augustine and St. Anselm, we can say that what shines out in Mary’s life is the aspect of seeking to understand, thereby creating a harmony between faith and reason. This is clear from their theological formulae. Augustine’s formulae are crede ut intelligas (I believe in order to understand) and Intellige ut credas (I understand, the better to believe). St. Anslem’s formulae are fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding) and credo ut intelligam (I believe in order to understand).

Third, in the process of seeking to understand Mary understood that she does not own the Truth but she is owned by the Truth. That is why she had the courage to say, “behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Everyone is moved by the persuasiveness of the Truth as it manifests.

Fourth, the poetic image used in the encyclical pictures Mary as “the table at which faith sits in thought”. The word ‘table’ has a communal dimension. Any human person to develop properly, one needs the community of persons and the trust between them. In the life of Mary, it comes out in the event of the visitation. Mary went in haste to be with Elizabeth to share her vocation with a companion. Elizabeth entered into communion with Mary perhaps without understanding the mystery of Mary’s encounter with God. Joseph entered into communion with Mary after he came to realize his own call. The mere fact that the incarnate truth came to live among us forcibly tells us that man finds meaning in the communion of persons.

Fifth, the philosophical school as found in the Rosary teaches us about the truth of man. In his apostolic letter on the Rosary (Rosarium Virginis Mariae, n. 25), John Paul II explains the anthropological significance of the Rosary. He says that “Anyone who contemplates Christ through the various stages of his life cannot fail to perceive in him the truth about man”. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI would say that a Man knows himself only when he learns to understand himself in light of God, and he knows others only when he sees the mystery of God in them. “It could be said that each mystery of the Rosary, carefully meditated, sheds light on the mystery of man.” To shed “light on the mystery of man” is to be the model philosopher. Indeed, Gaudium et Spes states that Christ reveals man to himself. Man can be understood only in the light of Christ. In this way, then, the Rosary is a school of philosophy. It is more than a school because it takes us into a deeper understanding of the human person through Christ. 

Finally, Mary teaches us to live the mystery. We may not fully grapple the ‘why’ of everything because the human mind cannot grasp too much of a mystery. We have to live and suffer with the truth.  In Redemptor Hominis, Pope John Paul II applies the term “mystery” to Christ about 50 times. It is a forceful reminder that in our pilgrimage of faith just like Mary, we must be content with glimpses, parables and partial insights. Let us take Mary home and walk the pilgrimage of faith, hope and charity.

References

John Paul II, Encyclical Fides et Ratio On the Relationship between Faith and Reason, 5.

John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae

Bernard Lonergan, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 1957), 9.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, III, Q. 30, art. 1.