Mary and the Eclipse

A reflection by Annie Powell on the 2017 Eclipse

In anticipation of the eclipse happening today, we wanted to share Annie’s reflection from the 2017 eclipse. We hope you enjoy her words and remember Mary while gazing upon the sun today!

Our church often refers to Mary as the moon, which, while holding no light of its own, glows luminously as it often reflects the light of the sun. Our mother Mary reflects the beauty of Jesus to us, she leads us to him, and she heightens our ability to grow closer to God. I do not always understand why or how, but this is what I observe, experience, and have been taught. The sun is so powerful. We were warned countless times on every newsfeed and news report to not look directly at the sun during this year’s eclipse on August 21. Not that we should fear the sun, but rather we were reminded of its awesomeness and to act accordingly. So it is with our view of God. He is just SO SO SO awesome. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is “Fear of the Lord”. My son’s Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class taught this best when they explained that the phrase meant, “to wonder at God’s power, to see our Lord as incredible and amazing —to be awe-struck in his sight”. I always thought of fear in the sense of cowering or being afraid....but this explanation made much more sense! Back to the eclipse....we got the special glasses, cereal box viewers, and filter protected binoculars—-we were certainly treating the sun with the respect it deserved. The sun is powerful, and powerful things have to be approached with care and a certain amount of reverence, otherwise their power could be too overwhelming for the eyes—causing even blindness!

At the moment of totality, everything through the glasses went dark, the brightness was gone, and in its place was a dark sky with the most phenomenal white streaks of fire dancing around the moon. The planets emerged, Venus shone brightly at 11:45 am and Mars in all its red glory appeared over the top the rim of the moon. It took my breath away. It was too glorious to just take in myself. I had to make sure my children could see it in all its glory. We passed around the binoculars (no longer filtered) and stood in complete awe. When I look back I think, like all things in life that are too fleeting, “I just wish it could have lasted longer.” I am aching to see it again.

Until the next eclipse passes over the United States in seven years, I can merely live in the memory of it all. Yet, I can also reflect on what it means in relation to our faith. How is Mary like the moon now? Well, the sun’s corona has baffled scientist for centuries, and the only time they can FULLY study it is during a total eclipse, which only lasts for a few minutes every few years. It is not visible to us at any other time! If it was not for the moon, we would never know. The moon allows us to view a magnificent part of the powerful and wonderful center of our solar system. It allows its incredible power to be viewed. It allowed my family and I to be more awe-struck and wonder-filled than ever before in our lives.

Likewise, our God is infinite and glorious beyond our words or comprehension. There are layers upon layers of unknowing and mystery for both our sun and for our Lord. And yet the moon allows us to have greater understanding of both. Our actual moon and Mary as our moon both bridge our ability to touch the untouchable and begin to understand the greatest of mysteries. What if we let Mary more completely into our lives? The more fully the moon passed over the sun, the more clearly we saw the sun’s greatness. I wonder if that is the same with Mary? On that Monday in late August, when the sun went dark, even though the moon was in front of the sun, my focus was not on the moon, but rather on the Sun’s Corona, a glorious part of the sun, a part that I (and most of the world) had not ever seen before. I wonder if letting Mary in that completely would allow us to see the glory of God in ways only to be imaged or dreamed about? What can she teach us about our Lord that otherwise we would live our lives not knowing?

What can she show us about God’s magnificence that otherwise could never be observed and experienced? If we gave ourselves totally to Mary and Mary helped us to give ourselves totally to God, would the beauty of our hearts and souls be infinitely more beautiful than a total eclipse? It is certainly something to ponder.

I guess there is only one way to find out....Hail Mary, full of grace...

Excerpt from our 2017 Wojtyla Way, photos by Michael Zappe