A reflection of Mary - Maria

Passegiatta con mi amica Maria

Maria was a most special friend I met in Piegaro. She has children about the age of myself, so is approximately in the age range of my mother. I met Maria at the Caffe via Roma a wonderful place, somewhat typical of Italian town, where they serve cafe & cappuccino as well as other beverages non-alcoholic and alcoholic throughout the day and into the evening. Maria became my breakfast buddy, we would meet each morning before Colleen and I set out on our study adventures for the day.
In the beginning it was smiles and pleasantries, but we both seemed to want more out of our friendship. So I went home one evening, typed out my biography and google translated it for Maria, she was then able to tell me a bit about her family.... the dialog stumbled as tried to converse. It became clear that in order for us to have conversation we would need a traduttore, a translation dictionary at the very least. Fortunately one of the congregation at Green Lake had given me Rick Steeve's little pocket edition, so I came prepared the next day for deeper conversation.
What I discovered while frantically searching for conversational phrases beyond family (we already covered that) was that all the phrases in the book were either about asking for services or how to brush someone off. As a matter of fact there was a whole page dedicated to "go away", "leave me alone" and my personal favorite "I am a lesbian." Maria and I had a good laugh over that one and decided that this book STINKS - a word that translates across all languages.
The next morning when I arrived for breakfast of cappuccino and pastries, not only did I have my new pocket Dizionario della Lingua, but Maria brought one as well. Over the next week we would use it occasionally to find a lost word, but often we would sigh and look at each other as we struggled with our limited words.
Then came the day I wanted to put flowers out in memory of my mom, who was nothing like Maria, except in her struggle to communicate - for mom it was because she suffered from Bi-Polar and she struggled with life. This is the 16th year of mom's passing and her birthday was the 16th of May while I was in Piegaro. Her birthday was on Acensione Sunday and there was no time for quiet reflection in the chapel at the church, so I went by with flowers and heart to pray on Monday. Alas, after a very long day Sunday the priest Don Augusto was away, so I chose to take my flowers to the shrine crocifisso at the edge of town where the processione had stopped the week before (there will be upcoming blog about processione). As I meekly placed the flowers on the ground, far below feet of Jesus and prayed I felt a hand on my back, it was Maria.

The first thing Maria did was to place the flowers in a better spot, with more honor, at the feet of Jesus. I stumbled in my weak Italiano "por mi mama". Then she nodded and said "Passeggiamo" - inviting me to go for a walk. We walked, looked at the vistas and chatted, I was amazed how much I was starting to understand. It was still difficult to communicate and we agreed that next year I would speak Italian so we could converse.
Maria picked flowers for me and laughed with me so lovingly on our walk. I so look forward to talking with her about her life as a fiashci weaver, to know more of her relationships with her friends and family. When she spoke about of her husband who passed away 12 years ago, my heart yearned to know of the fullness of the story she was telling me that day.
When I returned to Piegaro to prepare for my upcoming sabbatical in September, it was a joy to meet Maria again for breakfast at the caffe. Once again she invited me for a walk, and she winked as she showed me how she has been hiding the flower (they are paper roses) for my mother behind Jesus' feet, a beautiful gift of mischievous spirituality that had my soul singing! My Italian had improved, but not well enough she insisted, and that I would need to work on it! As I am, and plan to become fluent in the coming months while on sabbatical.
Maria was for me at once a living example of both Mary, mother of Jesus as well as Mary Magdalene. Her motherly care was so gracious, and her gift to bring her faith authentically with me reflected the best of Marys.
How have you experienced people who mirror the people of faith found in scripture? Have you found a person in your life who reminds you of Mary Magdalene or Mary, mother of Christ? How have they inspired your faith? How do you model the faith of either Mary in your life?