Who is the ‘Virgin Mary’ to the Gen Zs?

IN this era and generation, do Filipinos still believe in Mama Mary?

Every 8th of September, Filipinos—particularly Roman Catholics, celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

People believe that Mama Mary’s connection to her son, Jesus, strengthens their faith, as she is known as the ‘Mother of God’ who exhibited evangelical virtues such as chastity, hope, purity, obedience, faith, and love. 

Further, her date of birth was celebrated every nine months after the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception as the child of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne.

To honor this special day, Catholics around the world usually celebrate by attending masses, lighting candles, praying the rosary, as well as offering flowers, as they believe that this is also the ‘Birth of Salvation’. 

Many also believe that Virgin Mary was born sinless. Besides, the liturgical celebration of her birth has shed light to the darkness—in which Mary’s holy birth betoken the arrival of Jesus Christ, the savior.

Truth to be told, no scriptures state when Mary was born, but Catholic Churches commemorate this day to honor the Nativity of Mary, as the Eastern Church in Constantinople begins in the same month. 

It is also believed that the earliest document of remembering the feast was during the sixth century, which was said to originate in Jerusalem by a church dedicated to Saint Anne. Subsequently, iit was in the seventh century when the 8th of September feast day was introduced to Rome. 

However, amidst the celebration of Mary’s birth date, some youths of today’s generation aren’t fond of what this commemoration is all about—this will answer the question, ‘how do Gen Zs perceive the Blessed Virgin Mary?’

Gen Zs’ perspective

Mark Joshua Peralta, 21, says that he sees Virgin Mary as someone who embodies what women should be, describing the Blessed Mother as a benevolent, pulchritude and scrupulous type. 

This Gen Z grew up in a Catholic household which was taught by his parents the virtues that Mama Mary taught to her son, Jesus Christ. 

Peralta also told republicasia about his experience which strengthened his faith in the Virgin Mary. 

“I believe it was when I had a sudden asthma attack. Since I was having trouble breathing, I initially believed I was going to pass away,” he said. “But as my mother recited the ‘Hail Mary,’ I started to feel better. Though I’m not quite fine, it starts to alleviate the severe pain I’m in.”

Photo credit: Unsplash

Dei Federoso, a student, also feels the same way of believing in Mama Mary, upon growing up in a religiously-inclined family. 

“I will describe Her in three wordsㅡpure, selfless, and compassionate. These words mainly describe Her pure and selfless actions from conceiving Jesus. Moreover, these words still describe Her for continuously being compassionate towards us,” Federoso said.

This Gen Z also shared how grateful she was to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s ‘mysterious ways’ which kept her striving for her future.

“I had a phase in my life where I constantly asked for Her guidance, it was when I took my qualifying exam. I literally prayed to every saint I could name and I specifically asked for Mary’s guidance to let me pass my exam since it was an all-or-nothing phase in my chosen program. When the results came out, I thanked Her as well as the other saint whom I prayed to,” the 21-year-old Gen Z added.

Meanwhile, Angelica Galvez, a 21-year-old lay minister who serves in a Catholic Church, detailed that she sees Mary as ‘self-less’, doing everything she can to her son amidst ‘pain’ and hardships. 

A 20-year-old Gen Z named Rey Miole also sees the Blessed Virgin Mary the same way who is a ‘motherly figure’ who pours unconditional love to her child. 

Indeed, despite the time passing from generations to generations, the image of how the Blessed Virgin Mary was portrayed is instilled in the minds of people, particularly the youths. 

Apparitions

Aside from being viewed as a ‘holy figure’ by many, various feast days are being celebrated which do represent some of Mary’s ‘prefigure’ and ‘apparitions’ which have brought several miracles.

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Three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal have reported the apparition of Our Lady of Fatima who appeared once every six months during 1917. Apparently. Mary told the children, namely Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco, to pray the rosary daily to ‘bring peace to the world’ for World War I to end. Once every six months, Mary has delivered messages to the children and urges them to continue praying. 

During the fifth angelic apparition of Mary, the crowd was said to witness white petals falling from the sky as Lucia asked her to cure the sick. While on the sixth-time of Fatima’s apparition, people witness ‘The Miracle of the Sun’ where the sun appeared to be with colors like a spinning disc in the sky.

Photo credit: Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Manaoag / Facebook

Adding to the list is the Our Lady of Manaoag, a patroness of the sick, helpless, and needy, who shows an image of the Virgin Mary carrying her child Jesus. As per the historical documents, it was in 1610 where a farmer walking home heard a mysterious female voice and saw a vision of Virgin Mary, holding her child Jesus in her left arm, and a rosary in her right arm, while being surrounded by clouds.

Photo credit: Naga City Government/ Facebook

Besides, the tradition of honoring Our Lady of Peñafrancia started in Bicol during 1712, as it was said that a son of a Spanish government fell ill. He then promised to construct a shrine under her name if he recovered. Later on, he ordered for an image to be constructed which was similar to the one whom he prayed for during his sickness.

Photo credit: La Naval de Manila/ Facebook

It is also believed that Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario  or the Our Lady of La Naval mysteriously helped to commit victory against the invading forces of the Dutch during the Battles of La Naval de Manila in 1646.

With reports from Veronica Terese A. Amparo