12/09/2023
ππΌππΌππΌ
Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary
September 12
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"And the name of the virgin was Mary." (St. Luke, I, 27)
In this simple phrase, St. Luke sums up the greatness of Mary, as epitomized in her holy name. That the Church recognizes this is quite apparent when we realize the numerous times the name of Mary occurs in her various prayer, invocations, and seasonal liturgy.
The name of Mary was chosen by the Most High for the fairest of the daughters of Eve, the mother of His Divine Son, and was revealed to Anne and Joachim by the angel Gabriel who was later to announce to their child the great privilege accorded her by God.
Mary! A name so lofty, in the regal majesty of its sound and meaning β Mary, Maria, Miriam! It is a name as familiar to us as the name of our Mother, as the bells of the church, as the peaks of the mountains which send their friendly greetings to the valleys below. Mary! A thousand times we have prayed, sung, wept this name, in good and evil days. Millions of women are called by that name and it weaves a golden thread around even the plainest woman. Mary! Holding on to this name, grope the way through the darkness of life and death. It is the rosy dawn heralding the rising sun, Jesus, in the Gospels as well as in the hearts of men.
A beautiful wreath of interpretation has grown around this holy name of Mary; the name Mary is supposed to stem from the word, βyamβ β sea; βmar,β βmir,β βmorβ β bitter sea, mistress of the sea, or the best known, βstar of the sea.β Others find profound meaning by tracing Mary to βmoras,β β hope; βmarβ the bitter one; βmaronβ the exalted one, βmoren,β the rising one, βmarsh,β the enlightener, βmor,β myrrh. All these are ingenious but are not etymologically tenable. In all probability, the name Mary goes back to the Egyptian language. The sister of Moses and Aaron, born in Egypt like her brothers, is the only woman mentioned in the Old Testament with this name. It can be derived from the Egyptian root, βmir,β love, and βjam,β βjahu,β Yahu, Yahwe, God; so that Mirjam means βGod-loving,β or βbeloved of God.β In Maryβs time it was more common to derive the name from Maron, the Exalted One, corresponding to our Madonna, Notre Dame, Our Blessed Mother or Our Blessed Lady.
https://tinyurl.com/cw2zz4wy
