Mary as Model for a Christocentric Life

Everyone shares the universal call to holiness. With a call such as this, our lives need to be Christocentric (Christ-centered) and therefore, should be modeled after holiness Himself, God. To help us achieve this, God has given us a model that some often forget.


She is a woman of gentleness and grace.


With motives always pure, she loves all without reservation, completely docile to God's will.


...And her name is Mary.


Dr. Mark Miravalle, a renowned Mariologist, in his book, Introduction to Mary says that "love of Mary is an essential aspect of the imitation of Christ." (pg. 51)


Mary's example is an incredible witness to us of a Christocentric life, fully willing to serve God unreservedly and without hesitation. Mary is the perfect example of what it means to be Christocentric. We can see this clearly when we look at the Four Marian Dogmas: The Mother of God (Theotokos), The Perpetual Virginity, The Immaculate Conception, and The Assumption of Mary. A dogma, as defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is a point of faith which the Church has formally defined as true. (CCC 88)

• Mother of God - This dogma defines Mary as the Mother of God, Theotokos (God-bearer). Mary desired nothing more than to be united to the Lord's will, regardless of what it was. She, as Mother, gave to God everything that she had, even her human nature. She provided for Christ her very nature, an immaculate human nature. (Intro. to Mary, pg. 55)  She withheld nothing from the One who wanted everything! So, too, must we give everything that we have to the Lord, refusing Him nothing! In that way, He can use us to manifest His Glory and Majesty to the world! Mary is not only the Mother of God; she is also the mother of the Church. Everything that the Church hopes to be, Mary already is. (The Christocentric Mary, (CM) 27,30,31,32,35,36)  This dogma was defined in 431 A.D.
• Perpetual Virginity - In this dogma, the Church declares that Mary was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Jesus. It is out of her total love and devotion to God that Mary longed to present herself totally to Him. Therefore, in her "vocation to virginity" and her love of God, we discover her Christocentric nature. In Mary's love relationship with God, her relationship with the Father as daughter, the Son as Mother, and the Holy Spirit as Spouse, we see why in the unity of the sacrifice, "Our Lady's virginal womb" is made "like the wood of the cross." (CM 32) Her womb and the cross are sanctified by Who they carried. This dogma was defined in 649 A.D.
• Immaculate Conception - This dogma proclaims that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin and thus her heart is clean of all impurities. She is able to love God with her whole heart without blemish. Mary is the best example of what being Christocentric means in her example of faith, charity and perfect unity with Christ. Every person's relationship with God should be modeled after Mary's relationship with Christ. This dogma was defined in 1854. 
• Assumption of Mary - Mary's Assumption, Body and Soul, into Heaven has an implicit reference in Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel." In this verse from Sacred Scripture we understand that Mary was preserved from sin and death (specifically bodily corruption); sin through her Immaculate Conception and death through her Assumption. (Intro to Mary, pg. 73-74) Her Assumption significantly indicates her disconnect with sin and her intimate connection with God. The more we make our lives Christocentric, the more we remove ourselves from sin and its hold on us. Thus we increasingly purify our hearts and are ready to be welcomed into the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. This dogma was defined in 1950.

It is through these Marian Dogmas that we see in Mary the perfect example of a relationship with Christ, the living Word and unfailing Truth. Mary leads us to Christ, the Teacher. When we seek the imitate Mary in her holiness and virtues, we immediately seek to imitate Christ. 

"Holy Mary, Mother of God, you haven given the world its true light, Jesus, your Son -- the Son of God. You abandoned yourself completely to God's call and thus became a wellspring of the goodness which flows forth from him. Show us Jesus. Lead us to him. Teach us to know and love him, so that we too can become capable of true love and be fountains of living water in the midst of a thirsting world." -Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, No. 42

Written by Alycia, Special Events Coordinator for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm.