28/10/2019
STELLA MARIS - STAR OF THE SEA
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Divine Savior, Jesus Christ, is Stella Maris – The Star of the Sea. Mary is the daughter of St. Anne and St. Joachim. Both her parents descended from the Royal House of David from the land of Judah. Her father was a shepherd. Her name is Miryam in Hebrew; Mariam in Greek; and Maryam in Judeo-Aramaic – Mar for “drop” and yam for “sea.”
In the old Aramaic language, Stella Maris meant pilot, leader or guide, someone who could navigate through the sea or the desert through the position of the stars, and lead people to safety. The stars were and are used as a guide to safety and to new life. The sea covers all the earth and symbolizes all the people of the earth. Mother Mary was therefore identified from the very earliest days of the Church as the “guiding star” to Her Son for all the people of the earth.
Mary is believed to calm raging storms in the seas, as well as the storms in our lives. She leads us to the right path to Jesus Christ, Her Son, and is a ray of hope. Thus, Mary is regarded as the Stella Maris of fishermen as well as fishers of men, and many coastal churches are named Stella Maris.
The sea has always been the most feared because of its enormous power to sustain or destroy life. People are powerless and insignificant in the midst of the sea’s rage. Yet the sea is a constant source of food and nourishment. The waters of the sea are therefore a metaphor for blessings and perils; beauty and destruction; stillness and turbulence.
