It struck me the other day that Mary and Pilate are the only two mortals mentioned in the Creed. It is interesting indeed how these two offer fundamentally opposed realities for us to choose between each day in our lives. For a refresher, here is the chunk of the Creed that is relevant:
For us men and our salvation, he came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary and became man. For our sakes he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the scriptures.
On the one hand, we have the supreme Christian example of our Blessed Mother, Mary. She, in accepting the Lord (the first person to ever have this privilege), devoted herself to a life with Christ - through good times and through the bad times. Her life was intimately tied to Truth itself, Jesus, the divine logos, the Word made flesh. In taking on this phenomenal challenge of Christian life, Mary was assured that it was not going to be all sunshine and rainbows. When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple, Simeon, the priest had this to say: Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, and thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed." (Luke 2:34-35).
The phrase 'and thy own soul a sword shall pierce' stands out to me as a prophecy that would send others running. In this modern world of ours, pain and suffering are seen as things to be avoided, covered up, suppressed, ignored, and if possible, defeated. Not so for Mary. For her, the suffering and sorrow prophesied by Simeon was something that she would eventually have to face full-on without any help of pain-killers or anti-depressants. She witnessed the crucifixion and passion of her own son, the ultimate sorrow of human history, with courage and dedication. The truth revealed by Christ: the truth of agony of sin and the joy of redemption, was experienced by the Blessed Virgin in its entirety. She, like the Church, reflected the truth of the Son in her actions. She clung to the truth revealed by God, even on the hill of Calvary, though the sorrow pierced her own soul.
The actions of Pontius Pilate, on the other hand, are far more indicative of many people in today's world. During the course of Jesus' trial, Pilate asks "What is truth?" This question, though one of the central questions of the meaning of our existence, was not asked in a truthful way. It was asked ironically to truth itself. Pilate, a middle manager of the Roman Empire, was not interested in truth; he was interested in his job. He, in his position of authority, had the opportunity to uphold the truth of Christ's innocence, but instead decided to save his reputation and Roman employment. In the end, he was ruined: legend has it that he committed suicide after being relocated to Gaul.
How many people today are like Pilate? Many ignore truth to have a convenient, pain-free life. How many people just ignore the entire concept of truth altogether? The problem of course, is that without any common recognition of truth, reality falls apart. When people ignore truth as revealed by both God and nature, they are free to imprison themselves in their own self-constructed realities. Pilate, in his denial of Christ and his caving to Jewish pressure, was acting under selfish motivations that would save him from suffering. However, the question must be asked: if one can't suffer for truth, what will one end up suffering for?
Mary, on the other hand, had a firm grounding in the truth revealed by God - the entire truth of human and divine existence, which due to the sinful nature of things includes the dreaded s-word - suffering. However, Mary's suffering was not in vain. In her clinging to the truth, she was able to rejoice in the triumph of Christ and unite herself to God more fully in her glorious Assumption at the end of her earthly life - a far more palatable end than that of Pilate.
So, when we see what the Creed says, we can see the two fundamental paths open to us each day. We can be like Pilate, deny truth, ignore our God-given reason, forget our purpose, fall to selfishness and end in ruin. Or, we can accept Jesus, the logos of God, whole and entire, and follow wherever it may lead, even through the valley of the shadow of death, until He calls us home.
The first image is of Our Lady of Sorrows, from an Alsatian altarpiece. The second is 'Ecce Homo' by Antonio Ciseri