Carmelite perspective focuses on Blessed Mother’s interior life
The month of May, tradition holds, is Mary’s month, a time to honor the Mother of the Church, of all those who seek to follow her Son.
“She’s our mother, our intercessor and our guide,” said Barbara Hughes, whose book, “Mary the Perfect Contemplative: Carmelite Insights on the Interior Life of Our Lady,” was released in early May.
“Not only did she pray, but her whole life was a prayer,” Hughes said. “A tribute, a love letter to God.”
Hughes, a parishioner of St. Gregory the Great, Virginia Beach, and Catholic Virginian columnist, is an author, speaker and retreat facilitator. Her portrait of Mary is told in two parts: the first follows Mary’s journey as recounted in Scripture; the second delves into the mysteries of the rosary, providing meditations on key events in the lives of Mary and Jesus.
Mary, pondering all in the silence of her heart, stands as a model of contemplative Carmelite spirituality, Hughes said. The writings of the Carmelite saints — particularly St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross — are woven throughout her book, as a means of shedding light on Mary’s interior life, as best as can be imagined.
A guide at the end of the book offers discussion prompts for groups and questions for personal reflection.
“If we want a perfect model, who better than Mary to show us the way?” Hughes said. “She loves us so much, and she wants us to experience that love.”
God’s timeline
There was a time, Hughes said, when she felt that Mary seemed far too removed, far too perfect, to feel relevant to her own imperfect life. It was a homily about Joseph and Mary searching for 12-year-old Jesus, she said, that led her to see Mary through fresh eyes: As a mother, much like herself, anxious for a missing child.
Soon afterward, she began to pray the rosary.
“That was the genesis of my devotion to Mary,” Hughes said.
She was moved by the experience, turning more and more often to prayer. Eventually, she went on to become a member of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites, a religious community serving the Church through lives of prayer and ministry.
Two years ago, while on a retreat at Holy Hill, Wisconsin, her spiritual director, Carmelite Father Kevin Culligan, suggested that she might consider writing a book about Mary.
At first she was daunted, she said, wondering what she might contribute when so many have written about Mary, but “the idea just kept nudging me along, which is typically the way the Holy Spirit works.”
“I realized that what I could do was to approach it from a Carmelite perspective and really focus on her interior life,” she said.
The book was originally scheduled for release last December, but its delay until May, Hughes said, now seems providential.
“With what is going on Ukraine, people are turning more and more to prayer, to the rosary,” she said. “And then, with Pope Francis dedicating Russia and Ukraine to Mary, it seems like this is the right time. God’s timing is perfect.”
Daughter of Zion
Although Scripture passages pertaining to Mary’s life are few, they give us telling glimpses into her life — a life lived in total faith and acceptance of God’s will.
“And that’s really the goal for every Christian,” Hughes said. “It’s that surrender of our will, so that our will is one with the will of God.”
Hughes’ story of Mary begins with a portrait of her girlhood and with the Annunciation — the moment when Mary’s acceptance of God’s plan for her life ushers in a new covenant, making the Incarnation possible.
The following chapters accompany Mary as she goes to her cousin Elizabeth to spread the Good News, and to the time when Jesus begins his ministry, leaving her to watch and to pray.
“Just like any mother sending her son into the world, hoping that he has a plan,” Hughes said.
“In the events of her life, we see her humanity in all that she went through,” Hughes said. “To search for a missing child, to watch her husband die. And then to watch her son die in such a cruel and horrible way. We have so much to learn from her.”
A guide in prayer
“Mary is our gateway, our guide in contemplative prayer,” Hughes said, explaining that the second half of her book is devoted to showing how Mary leads people in prayer — and to Christ — by journeying through the mysteries of the rosary.
There are the joyful mysteries, such as the Annunciation, and the luminous, such as the wedding at Cana, where Mary shows perfect faith in her son with the simple words, “Do whatever he tells you.”
There are the sorrowful mysteries of the Crucifixion, where Mary stands at the foot of the cross, and the glorious mysteries of the Resurrection and beyond.
It’s a retelling of Christ’s life that is in itself a prayer.
Prayer is where it all begins, Hughes said. The Carmelite saints focused not on the methodology — the “how-to” of prayer — but rather on how God works within those who pray.
“That’s where the transformation takes place,” she said. “It’s God’s grace. All we can do is prepare ourselves. They felt that God will bring you what God wants to bring you.”
The repetition of the words of the rosary draws people in, Hughes said.
“It relaxes us and gives us the opportunity to reflect on the mysteries of the rosary — which are a biography of the life of Jesus. So, it’s really Mary, always pointing us to Jesus,” she said.
Mary was not a cloistered nun, Hughes noted. She was a laywoman, a wife and a mother living an ordinary life, but with an extraordinary faith.
“I hope the book will enkindle a greater appreciation of Mary in our lives,” she said. “Mary brought Jesus to the world when she gave birth to him, just as she wants to bring the world to Christ.”
Editor’s note: A paperback edition of “Mary the Perfect Contemplative” is available at www.ICSpublications.org. The publisher is Institute of Carmelite Studies Publications. The Kindle edition is available at Amazon where hard copies can be ordered after July 1.