To the editor:
Your editorial about Mary reinforces my respect for Mary’s name. As a boy I thought that Mary was the most beautiful name a girl could receive. My admiration was magnified by our family’s love of Aunt Mary, who reflected Mary’s inner and outer beauty. She was kind, caring, and spoke with music in her voice. Her husband was Joseph.
The Venerable Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli once experienced a vision of Mary. He told Father Kinsella, his confessor-friend, that he never saw anyone as beautiful as Mary. Virtue is beautiful and Mary is queen of virtue. Because she was full of grace and open to God’s will, God chose her to be Jesus’ mother.
We honor Jesus when we honor his mother. Catholic parents honor Mary when they name their daughter Mary as a first or middle name. As she grows in wisdom and virtue, I think she would be thrilled when she discovers that Catholics value Mary as Christ’s greatest disciple.
A girl with another name might choose Mary as her Confirmation name. Being named Mary can motivate her to grow as a caring person who, like Mary, brings Jesus to places that desperately need him.
In Mary,
Fr. Don Lange, Sinsinawa