Caritas Christi Urget Nos

Category: Blessed Virgin Mary

  • Monday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time (Beginning of Vacation Bible School)

    Monday of the Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time (Beginning of Vacation Bible School)

    Today’s readings

    God is absolutely, always, faithful to his promises.

    In our first reading tonight, God makes a promise to Abram, later to be called Abraham.  God calls on him to make an act of faith and go to a foreign land to become a great nation.  This would be a great miracle, because Abram and his wife Sarai, were childless into their old age, and had given up hope of ever having a child.  God promised to give Abram descendants and a land to live on, and God, who is absolutely, always, faithful to his promises did just that: Abram’s descendants are numerous and they inherited the land as God promised.

    In our Gospel reading tonight, Jesus calls his disciples, including us, to stop judging, so that we might have forgiveness for our own sins.  If we are always looking for faults in our brothers and sisters, we can’t see the goodness of God in them, nor can they see it in us.  But if we admit our own faults, and forgive the faults of others, we are open to the forgiveness that Jesus promises.  And God, who is absolutely, always, faithful to his promises, does just that: he forgives us time and time again.

    Today we begin our parish Vacation Bible School, where we will travel with Mary to the many places that she has appeared to people over the centuries.  Mary was faithful to God’s plan for her life, and because of that, she gave birth to Jesus our Savior.  She was the first of all the disciples and a witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Over the centuries, she continued to bring God’s love and mercy to people all over the world, causing many people to come to believe in God and receive his grace through the Sacraments of the Church.  She has appeared to people in Fatima, Medjugorje, Lourdes, Knock, and Guadalupe, just to name a few!  And every time she appeared, she helped people to know that God loves them and forgives them and is absolutely, always, faithful to his promises.

    When I was in the Holy Land in 2019, I got to visit the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.  It was a wonderful place, because we know that is the house where Mary lived, where she heard God’s plan from the Angel Gabriel, and where she and Saint Joseph raised Jesus.  But all that is in the Basilica now are the interior walls of the house and the foundation.  The outside walls and roof are all gone.  You might think they caught fire or were destroyed in the centuries since, but that’s not the case. 

    Just on the eve of the house being destroyed by infidels during the Crusades, the house, which had survived similar attacks in the past, was picked up during the night, and brought by angels to what is now Yugoslavia.  Shepherds, who worked in the nearby fields, came one morning to see a house that had never been there before, and contained an altar, a statue of Mary, and a Crucifix.  The priest of the parish, who was crippled with arthritis, prayed to know where the house had come from, and Mary answered him in a dream:

    “’Know that his house,’ she said, ‘is the same in which I was born and brought up. Here, at the Annunciation….I conceived the Creator of all things. Here, the Word of the Eternal Father became man. The altar which was brought with the house was consecrated by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. This house has now come to your shores by the power of God….And now in order that you may bear testimony of all these things, be healed. Your unexpected and sudden recovery shall confirm the truth of what I have declared to you.’”

    The priest was cured, and the house was venerated for three years, before it was once again moved by angels.  This time, people saw it getting moved, and ended up in the Marche region of Italy.  Unfortunately bandits surrounded the house, and Our Lord moved the house again, this time to Lecanati.  This caused a fight between the brothers that owned the property, and so the house was moved again, finally, to Loreto in Italy, where it remains today.

    During that time, scientists went to the Holy Land to examine the spot in Nazareth where the house had been.  They were able to confirm that the house is the same size as its foundation that remained in Nazareth, and that the building materials were all those used in Nazareth, and not in any of the places the house had moved to!  Over the years, of course, people came to visit and pray at the house, and many people were cured of illnesses there, just as the priest in Yugoslavia had been. 

    During this week of Vacation Bible School, you will learn that Mary has continued to make the love and mercy of God in Jesus known all throughout the world.  She is the first and greatest of all the disciples of Jesus.  And through her intercession, many miracles have taken place, and lives have been changed.  Because God is absolutely, always, faithful to his promises.

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary / Memorial Day

    The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary / Memorial Day

    Today’s readings

    Today we have the great honor of celebrating two very important things that happen on this day.  We all know it is Memorial Day, the day of honoring and remembering the sacrifice that many men and women made in order to safeguard our freedom.  We particularly remember those of them who paid the ultimate price during their service to our nation.  But today also happens to be the liturgical feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, having given her fiat – her “yes” – to God, now shows concern for her elder relative, Elizabeth, who is also with child.  She goes to visit her in a great act of hospitality, which is one of the virtues Paul admonished the Romans to follow in our first reading today.  Perhaps because of her faith and her great concern for Elizabeth, Elizabeth’s own child begins to rejoice in the womb, recognizing his Lord and the great woman who would bring him to human life.

    While we don’t have an exact account of what happened at that visit, we do have the Church’s recollection of its spirit, as told through Luke the Evangelist. The whole feeling of this Gospel story is one of great joy, which is perhaps why this is one of the joyful mysteries of the holy Rosary. Both Elizabeth and Mary represent the Church in the telling of the story. Because just as Elizabeth was moved by the faith and generosity of Mary, so the Church continues to be edified by her example of faith and charity. And just as Mary rejoiced in what God was doing in her life, so the Church continues to rejoice at the mighty acts of God in every person, time and place.

    Memorial Day originally began in our country as an occasion to remember and decorate the graves of the soldiers who died in the Civil War.  Later it became a holiday to commemorate all those who had died in war in the service of our country.  So today we remember those men and women who have given their lives for peace, justice, righteousness, and freedom.  These have been people who have given everything, have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.  It’s important that we take time to reflect on the freedom we have received from their sacrifice, because I think we often forget it or at least take it for granted.  They lived lives of real freedom, and so must we in our own way.  Real freedom is expressed in service, in our making the world, or at least our corner of it, a better place.  Real freedom is living in such a way that we become the person God created us to be.

    Today we pray for those courageous men and women who have made that ultimate sacrifice to keep the world safe, and free.  As we also remember Mary’s act of compassion in the Visitation today, we remember those whose compassion led them to serve our nation.  These are the ones who have been people of faith and integrity and are true heroes that God has given us. These are the ones who have laid down their lives for what is right.  If we would honor them on this Memorial Day, we should believe as they have believed, we should live as they have lived, and we should rejoice that their memory points us to our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our hope of eternal life.

    Today’s Gospel reading ends with the great song called the Magnificat which is Mary’s song of praise to God for the wonders he has done throughout all time, but also in her own life. We too should make that our own song as we continue to be overjoyed by the great acts of God, shepherding us all through our own lives, and intervening in our world and society to bring grace to a world darkened by sin. We, too, can pray with Mary, “From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”

    Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • May Crowning

    May Crowning

    Today’s reading: Luke 1:42-50
    This was used at a May Crowning prayer service for the school children.

    I remember a time when I was in seminary, and I was on my pastoral internship, much like seminarian Frank is today.  I visited with a nice lady that I had visited often in the nursing home.  This time she was doing poorly, and was in the hospital.  Her husband said to me, “She’s having a rough time.  She hasn’t said anything in days.”  So I suggested we pray and I told her she could pray with us in her heart, if that was all she could do.  So we began to pray, the Hail Mary, and she prayed it with us!  She hadn’t said anything in days, but she called on Mary!  We were all in tears!

    We all know, and say, the “Hail Mary” prayer all the time.  It’s a great prayer, and we should probably say it even more often than we do.  Mary loves to hear it, loves to be close to all of us, who are her children.  Since we are crowning Mary today, I thought it might be a good thing to talk about that wonderful prayer and what it means, because just like every familiar prayer, we can sometimes forget what it means when we say it so often.

    “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…”

    Mary never thought she was great all by herself.  She always knew that it was because the Lord had chosen her and that the Lord had given her his grace, his help, that she could live a holy life and be the mother of Jesus.

    “blessed art thou among women…”

    Because Mary was holy, she is able to help all women to lead a holy life.  When they follow her as mothers or even as women of faith, they have a wonderful role model.  She was the first of all the apostles, the queen of the apostles, and that was because of her faith.  She is an example for all women, and really all people of faith.

    “and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

    Mary was the first earthly temple that Jesus was to be in.  Because of God’s grace and her faith, she was the perfect home for Jesus to be born in.  And she said yes to that, even though she wasn’t sure how it would happen or what it would mean.  She was faithful to God by saying “yes.”

    “Holy Mary, Mother of God…”

    Some people think that it is weird, or even wrong, for us to say that Mary is the mother of God.  But Jesus was perfectly human and perfectly divine.  Yes, he was God, but he was also a human person.  Every human has a mother, and so Mary is the human mother of Jesus who is God and man.  We say that she is the Mother of God the Word, according to his human nature.

    “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

    This is what makes us celebrate Mary today.  She is not just the mother of Jesus.  She is also the mother of John, the “favorite disciple”.  Jesus made them mother and son at the foot of the cross.  While he was on the cross, he said: “Woman, behold your son.  Son, behold your mother.”  Because we are disciples now, she is also the mother of you and me, Jesus’ “favorite disciples” today.  Just like every other good mother, Mary prays for all of her children, including you and me, all the time – now and at the hour of our death.

    Sometimes we forget how very important familiar prayers are.  But we shouldn’t overlook them.  Those familiar prayers will get us through so much in our lives if we remember to say them every day.  They will be the last things we forget, and they will see us through the good times and bad times of our lives.  They will give us words to pray when words fail us.  So remember the “Hail Mary,” and say it every day.  Mary loves to hear her children call on her.

    The “Hail Mary” says everything about why we crown Mary as Queen of the Apostles, Queen of the Church, and Queen of Heaven and Earth today.  She was faithful, she said yes to God’s will, she prays for us all the time.  Mary is the mother of all of us, and as we come close to Mother’s Day, it is so appropriate that we give Mary the gift of our love and devotion today.

    Pray it with me: Hail Mary, full of grace…

  • The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    The Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    Today’s readings

    I am so glad that Pope Francis declared this the year of Saint Joseph, because I think we, as a Church, as the people of God, have been needing to be stronger in our devotion to Saint Joseph for a long time now.  Saint Joseph is the intercessor and the model for all of us in our vocation, whatever that vocation may be.  Today, I think we should reflect on what our vocation, our calling is, and how we are living it, and then intercede for the assistance of Saint Joseph as we try to live our life better.

    Men have many different roles in their lives: fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, workers, employers, mentors, even sons of God.  Women’s roles are similarly varied, and each person is expected to fulfill different roles with different people, sometimes all in the same moment.  People need a role model and intercessor in order to carry out all those roles with faithfulness: that role model is Saint Joseph.  There is a saying, in Latin, Ite ad Ioseph, in English, “go to Joseph.”  It comes from the Old Testament, when the people were facing a famine, they knew that the Joseph in the Old Testament was wise and had stored up grain in abundance.  So they were told to “go to Joseph” for help in their time of need.  We need to go to the New Testament Joseph, Saint Joseph, in order to live our calling, be faithful to God, love our families, support our communities, and to be happy in our lives.

    In Joseph, we see the model of so many virtues that help us in our vocations:

    • Faithfulness: Joseph was faithful to God and faithful to Mary.  His faithfulness helped him overcome the uneasiness of becoming Mary’s husband after he understood what God required of her, and of himself.
    • Obedience: Joseph was obedient to God in everything.  He often heard from God in his dreams, and every time, he did what he was asked to do.  His obedience helped God’s plan for the salvation of the world to come to fruition.
    • Purity: Joseph’s purity gave him strength to love and protect Jesus and Mary.  His purity helped him to be devoted to them.  His pure heart helped him to be completely focused on doing what was best for his family.
    • Courage: It took courage to keep his family safe from Herod, and during their time in Egypt, and along the many journeys they had to take.  

    These are just some of the many virtues we see in Saint Joseph.  And we need all of them today!  We need faithfulness to remember our calling and to live as God has called us to live, without giving in to the distractions the world throws at us.  We need obedience to do what God requires of us, even when it’s inconvenient, even when it calls us to die to ourselves a little bit (or die to ourselves a lot!).  We need purity in an age when pornography is so very available and sexuality has been made into something unclean, which is never how God intended it to be.  We need courage to live all these things in a world that is hostile to our beliefs, convictions, and way of life.  We need to “go to Joseph” for so many reasons in these days.Ite ad Ioseph.  Go to Joseph.  Living in the world today requires this devotion: we need to go to Joseph often and repeatedly.  Our devotion to Saint Joseph can be a game changer in our world today.  Through his intercession, may our God transform our lives, our families, our workplaces, and our world.

  • The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (Vigil Mass)

    The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God (Vigil Mass)

    Today’s readings

    Sometimes we get an awful lot of information to process.  On this, the last evening of the auspicious year of 2020, there’s a lot I could say about all that we’ve been through, more or less together (although certainly socially distanced) this year.  So much of our attention has been, deservedly, focused on the COVID-19 pandemic: the health care emergency, its effects on our social, political, educational, and economic environments, and even its effects on our own lives: our health, our emotions, our psychological wellness, and, of course, our spiritual lives.  That alone is a lot to process.  But 2020 has produced a good list of other bad news, including:

    • The wildfires in Australia in December and January which burned 47 million acres.
    • Tensions between Iran and the United States in the early part of the year.
    • Conflict between Syria and Turkey in March.
    • The Harvey Weinstein verdict that fueled the “Me too” movement.
    • The killing of George Floyd which brought to light other deaths including Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Jacob Blake, and others, spurring racial protests and social unrest.
    • The global recession triggered by the pandemic which produced the Dow’s biggest one-day point drop ever in March, and which, throughout the year, has resulted in so many businesses closing and unemployment we haven’t seen in a very long time.
    • The arrival of “murder hornets” in the United States.  It was only a matter of time, unfortunately.
    • A massive explosion at a port in Beirut which resulted in the death of some 190 people in August.
    • Climate disruption brought catastrophic wildfires, a record number of tropical storms and hurricanes, and intense drought in many regions.

    And I’m sure you could think of many others.  Any way you look at it, it’s a lot to process.

    Mary’s story had a lot to process too.  Certainly the announcement of the birth of Jesus is one that she didn’t expect. Even though she was and is full of grace, that didn’t include omniscience, so the will of God had to be revealed to her. And when Gabriel did that, it spurred questions (“How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”), but of course, ultimately and importantly, faith and acceptance: “Be it done unto me according to your word.”  And that was just the beginning.  Think about it:

    • She had to explain all of this to Joseph, and to others who were not full of grace.
    • Joseph will decide to let her go quietly in order to avoid embarrassment, until he too receives a visit from an angel in a dream.
    • In today’s Gospel, shepherds arrive and tell her what they had been told about Jesus.
    • Shortly, astrologers will arrive with mysterious gifts foreshadowing who Jesus was and what he would become.
    • Again in a dream, Joseph receives a message from an angel about a plot to kill Jesus which causes them to flee to Egypt for protection.
    • At the child’s presentation in the temple, a prophetess and a priest find the culmination of their spiritual lives in the birth of the child, and foretell a future of sorrow and of greatness.

    Becoming a parent for the first time is hard enough, but add in all of that, and it’s an awful lot to process.  Mary relied a lot on the grace she had been given, and on the strength of Joseph, and the protection of God, but still.  She had a lot to ponder in her heart.

    Here’s the thing.  Every age is filled with all kinds of challenges; every life has a story that includes hard stuff.  But every age and life is offered grace, and when that grace is accepted all of the craziness, all of the sadness, all of the horror and scandal can be transformed into glory.  That happened in Mary’s life because of the Cross and Resurrection of her son, and it can happen to all of us too, by that same grace.

    Mary’s reflection on the life of Jesus is really a model for us.  Keeping those events close to her and reflecting on them later is her way of reflecting on the Word of God.  She kept all these crazy events in her heart, and went back to them later in her life – even after the death and resurrection of Jesus – and came to a new understanding guided by the Holy Spirit.  And thank God she did that.  It’s probably her later reflection on those events that made the early Church Evangelist able to record them and pass them on to us.

    We too, must reflect on the Word of God if we are to make sense of the craziness of our time and the story of our life.  We have to put ourselves in the presence of The Story, story with a capital “S,” and ponder it in our hearts.  If we’re confused by Scripture, we have Mary as our patron to help us reflect on that Word and come to understand it, guided as we are by the Holy Spirit.  But we also have her encouragement to keep those Scriptures in the scrapbook of our hearts, to keep coming back to them.  That’s the only way the Spirit can work on us and help us to come to new and more beautiful understandings of the Word of God, and in doing that, to come to a renewed and vibrant relationship with our Lord.

    If we would make a resolution for this new year, let it be to follow Mary’s example.  Maybe we could set aside some time on a regular basis – even if just once a week or five minutes in a day – to put ourselves in the presence of the Word of God.  And not just here at Mass, although that’s a good start.  But maybe in private prayer or even in an organized Bible Study – we have a few of them going on in our parish on a regular basis.  If we regularly open ourselves up to the Word of God, maybe we too could come to new and more beautiful understandings of the Scriptures and understanding of our own lives, and a closer and more beautiful relationship with Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God.

    Mary, mother of God the Word, help us to understand the Word as you did.

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God:
    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Prevenient Grace

    The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Prevenient Grace

    Today’s readings

    I love that the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated during the season of Advent.  Advent is a season of anticipation: God’s promises echo through the Old Testament, and in these Advent days, we see those promises coming to fruition in exciting and world-changing ways.  Today’s feast is a glorious glimpse of that reality.

    We are honored today to celebrate this, the patronal feast day of our parish and of our nation.  This, of course, celebrates Mary’s conception, not that of Jesus, which we celebrate on the feast of the Annunciation.  Blessed Pope Pius IX instituted the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on December 8, 1854, when he proclaimed as truth the dogma that our Lady was conceived free from the stain of original sin.

    This feast celebrates the belief that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to be our Savior, and gave to him a human mother who was chosen before the world began to be holy and blameless in his sight.  This feast is a sign for us of the nearness of our salvation; that the plan God had for us before the world ever took shape was coming to fruition.

    The prayer over the offerings today uses a very technical theological term to describe how Mary was born, conceived actually, without sin, and that term is “prevenient grace.”  The prayer specifically says, “…Grant that, as we profess her, on account of your prevenient grace, to be untouched by any stain of sin…”  Prevenient grace is the same as other kinds of grace in that it relies on the saving action of Jesus on the Cross at Calvary, dying for our sins.  But prevenient grace refers to grace applied before that happened, as would have been in the case for Mary who was obviously conceived before her son was put to death.  This prevenient grace relies on the fact that God loved us so much that he foresaw the sacrifice of the Cross and applied the grace of it to Mary at her conception.  As the Collect prayer today said, “…as you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the Death of your Son, which you foresaw…”  All of this is a very technical discussion that boils down to the fact that God will not let the constraints of time limit the outpouring of his grace.  And that’s the really good news we celebrate today.

    So, I think we know why this prevenient grace, this Immaculate Conception, was necessary: the readings chosen for this day paint the picture.  In the reading from Genesis, we have the story of the fall.  The man and the woman had eaten of the fruit of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat.  Because of this, they were ashamed and covered over their nakedness.  God noticed that, and asked about it.  Of course, he already knew what was going on: they had discovered the forbidden tree and eaten its fruit.  They had given in to temptation and had grasped at something that was not God, in an effort to control their own destiny.

    Thus begins the pattern of sin and deliverance that cycles all through the scriptures.  God extends a way to salvation to his people, the people reject it and go their own way.  God forgives, and extends a new way to salvation.  Thank God he never gets tired of pursuing humankind and offering salvation, or we would be in dire straits.  It all comes to perfection in the event we celebrate today.  Salvation was always God’s plan for us and he won’t rest until that plan comes to perfection.  That is why Saint Paul tells the Ephesians, and us, today: “He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.  In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ…”

    And so, in these Advent days, we await the unfolding of the plan for salvation that began at the very dawn of the world in all its wonder.  God always intended to provide an incredible way for his people to return to them, and that was by taking flesh and walking among us as a man.  He began this by preparing for his birth through the Immaculate Virgin Mary – never stained by sin, because the one who conquered sin and death had already delivered her from sin.  He was then to be born into our midst and to take on our form.  With Mary’s fiat in today’s Gospel, God enters our world in the most intimate way possible, by becoming vulnerable, taking our flesh as one like us.  Mary’s lived faith – possible because of her Immaculate Conception – makes possible our own lives of faith and our journeys to God. 

    Our celebration today is a foreshadowing of God’s plan for us.  Because Mary was conceived without sin, we can see that sin was never intended to rule us.  Because God selected Mary from the beginning, we can see that we were chosen before we were ever in our mother’s womb.  Because Mary received salvific grace from the moment of her conception, we can catch a glimpse of what is to come for all of us one day.  Mary’s deliverance from sin and death was made possible by the death and resurrection of her Son Jesus, who deeply desires that we all be delivered in that way too.

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    Today’s readings
    School Mass

    I think we’re so blessed that we get to come to church and celebrate so many of Mary’s feasts.  Today is a very special feast because Mary, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, is the patroness of the United States of America, and also the patroness of our parish, and so she is very special to us.

    I think today’s readings can be a little confusing.  The Gospel makes it sound like this day is about the conception of Jesus, but it isn’t.  We celebrate the conception of Jesus nine months before he was born, so that would be March 25th.  We call that day the Annunciation, because that was the day the Angel Gabriel came to announce to Mary that she would have a baby, but we’ll talk more about that in a minute.  Today we celebrate the conception of Mary, nine months before her birthday, so if you do the math on that one, her birthday is September 8th, just a few months ago.  This day celebrates that Mary was free from sin from the very beginning, the only person other than Jesus to be born without sin.

    The other confusing reading is the first one.  Why do we go all the way to the beginning of creation when we’re talking about Mary today?  Well, I think the reason is that Mary’s life and her faith in God solved a problem that began all the way at the beginning.  And that problem is sin.  From the very beginning, we human beings have been tempted to sin.  Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, and people have been committing sin ever since.  Again and again, God broke in to history, leading people back to him, giving them prophets to show them the way, and again and again, people turned away from God.  And we continue that today.  Again and again, we are tempted and we sin and we turn away from God.  Eve represented our fall into sin.

    But God didn’t want that to be the way things ended up for us.  So he sent his Son to become one of us.  God knew that in order for Jesus to be born among us, his mother was going to have to be pretty special.  So before Mary was ever in her mother’s womb, God chose her to be his Son’s mother.  He made her free from sin so that no stain of sin would ever touch his Son. 

    Because Mary was so special, she loved God very much.  So when the angel came and told her she would have a baby by the power of the Holy Spirit, she said yes to God’s plan.  She might not have known at that moment all the detail about how it was going to take place or what would happen to Jesus in his life, but she said yes anyway.  We call that her fiat, her “yes” to God’s plan for her.  Fiat is Latin for “let it be done.”  She took a big leap of faith that day, thanks be to God, because with her leap of faith, we have been blessed ever since.

    This is all very good news.  But there is even more good news: because Mary was so special to God, she shows us how special we are to God.  As we celebrate God’s love for Mary today, we also celebrate his love for us.  Mary got to hold her Savior – the One God promised us – in her own arms.  When those of us who are old enough come to Communion, we are able to hold our Savior – the One God promised us – in the palm of our hand.  Mary’s life was brightened when Jesus was born.  Our lives will be brightened too, this coming Christmas, and every time we make room in our hearts for Jesus.

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.

  • The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    Today’s readings

    Matthew’s account of the genealogy of the Lord is unusual for many reasons, but most notable among those reasons, and the reason it was chosen for Mass today is because it contained the name of five women. This might not seem all that amazing to us today, but back in Matthew’s day, genealogies almost never contained the names of women. So Matthew is clearly telling us something important by including their names.

    The women mentioned include Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Four of them were women of the Old Testament and the last, of course, cooperated in bringing about the New Testament. Tamar was a childless widow whose brother-in-law, to whom she had been given in marriage after her husband’s death, refused to provide her with offspring. So she had to pretend to be a harlot and seduce Judah in order to have a child. Rahab actually was a harlot in Jericho. She hid and protected the spies of Joshua, so the Israelites protected her when they ambushed Jericho. Ruth was a daughter-in-law who cared so much for her mother-in-law that she accompanied her on a dangerous journey to Israel after her family died. Ruth is known for her devotion. Bathsheba was seduced by King David, who covered up the affair by arranging to have her husband Uriah the Hittite killed in battle. She became the mother of Solomon.

    All of these women represent the struggle and the blessing the Israelites had with God and his salvation. Tamar represented the struggle to follow the law and to protect the widows, orphans and aliens as God intended. Rahab represented the giving of the land to the people Israel. Ruth represented the devotion and faithful love of the Lord. Bathsheba represented the struggle with faithfulness, and the blessing of repentance. 

    And from all of these, we finally come to our Patroness, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the woman whose faith and willingness to cooperate with God’s plan made possible the salvation of all the world. Today we celebrate her Nativity, the traditional date of her birth, exactly nine months having passed since her Immaculate Conception on December 8th. 

    Every single birth is a sign of hope in our world, and therefore a cause for great celebration. Our world may be in a bad place, plagued by war, terror, and an actual plague, and dark from sin – both societal sin and our own personal sin. But birth brings joy because it is a sign of God’s wanting the world to continue to bring salvation to all people. Mary’s birth in particular stands out prominently among us because of the grace she received from God who chose her to be mother of His Son.

    The Byzantine Church Daily Worship proclaims well the joy that we have on this feast of Mary’s birth: “Today the barren Anna claps her hands for joy, the earth radiates with light, kings sing their happiness, priests enjoy every blessing, the entire universe rejoices, for she who is Queen and the Father’s Immaculate Bride buds forth from the stem of Jesse.” 

    Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

    Today’s readings

    The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a Solemnity in the Church because, in a real sense, it is a matter of life and death.  Death is a reality in this world, and we see it all the time.  But, because Our Lord assumed his Holy Mother into heaven, we can see that death is not intended to be our enduring reality.  Indeed Our Lord brought his Mother to the fullness of heavenly joy, that joy which we all long to attain, that joy which we all have been promised.  That’s the truth that the Church gives us in the Preface to today’s Eucharistic Prayer.  It says this:

    For today the Virgin Mother of God
    was assumed into heaven
    as the beginning and image 
    of your Church’s coming to perfection…

    In today’s Gospel, we hear the wonderful “Magnificat” prayer of Mary, which is part of the Church’s daily evening prayer.  Two incredible qualities of Mary come through in her prayer.  The first is joy.  She is one who not only allowed something incredibly unbelievable to be done in her, but allowed it with great joy.  That she did this with joy tells us something very important about who she was.  Teilhard de Chardin wrote, “Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.”  Those who live with joy, true joy, do so because God is at work in them and God is at work through them.  Mary knew this from the moment the angel came to her.  The second quality we see in Mary’s prayer is humility.  She knew this wasn’t about her; this was about what God was doing in her and through her.  It wasn’t she that did great things, no, “the Almighty has done great things for me,” she tells us, “and holy is his Name!”

    Mary had very humble beginnings, as we all know.  She wasn’t of a terribly well-to-do family, as far as we know, and she was a very young girl, probably around 14 years old.  Yet even in that humble state, she was called to do great things, or, more precisely, to let great things be done in her. In much the same way, many of us may not feel like spiritual masters, or like we have great knowledge of our faith.  But, we may very well be called to do things we think are too great for us. And that’s the truth, really.  When God calls us to something, it’s almost always too great for us.  But nothing is too great for our God, who can accomplish the redemption of the world with the cooperation of a humble 14-year-old girl.  The Almighty did great things for Mary, and the Almighty will do great things for us as well.

    Having given birth to our Savior, Mary is also the Mother of the Church.  Her life is prophetic in the sense that it shows us what can and will happen to and for us who believe.  In her Assumption, we see that God does not intend death to be the last word for any of us.  Death no longer has power over us, because of the death and Resurrection of Christ.  In Mary’s Assumption, we know that we are not destined for death and corruption, we are destined for life in the world to come, where death and sorrow and pain no longer rule over us.  On that great day, death, the last enemy, will be completely destroyed, as St. Paul tells us today.  On that great day, the great joy that Mary experienced in the Assumption can be our great joy too, for all of us who believe, and for all of us who allow the Almighty to do great things in them.

    On that great day, we can join the loud voice in heaven and say,

    Now have salvation and power come,
    and the Kingdom of our God
    and the authority of his Anointed One.

    Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
    that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

  • Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God

    Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God

    Today’s readings

    And Mary kept all these things,
    reflecting on them in her heart.

    This is definitely the kind of reflection a mom would do. Saint Luke notes all throughout Jesus’ young life that Mary kept the events of Jesus’ life and reflected on them in her heart. At the visit of the shepherds, and again after finding Jesus in the temple, Mary kept those memories for later reflection. Maybe she understood them, or perhaps had to work them out later, but keeping them in her heart, she was able to ponder the Word. She got to savor those moments over and over; it shows us the joy of Mary’s heart as a mother.

    This idea of Mary reflecting on these things in her heart almost reminds me of a kind of It’s kind of scrapbook of memories in her heart, and I found myself wishing during these Christmas days, that I could take a look at that scrapbook.  She had a first-hand view of how Jesus grew in wisdom and grace, and as Luke tells the story, her perspective of God’s work in the life of her family had to be incredible.

    Mary’s reflection on the life of Jesus is really a model for us.  Keeping those events close to her and reflecting on them later is her way of reflecting on the Word of God.  Whether she understood them at the time or not,  she didn’t just live through the moment and move on.  Sadly, in our frantic-paced lives, we do that all too often.  But Mary went back to those events later in her life – even after the death and resurrection of Jesus – and came to a new understanding guided by the Holy Spirit.  And thank God she did that.  It’s probably her later reflection on those events that made the early Church Evangelist able to record them and pass them on to us.  I can just imagine Mary sharing those reflections with Luke and the other disciples.

    We too, must reflect on the Word of God.  We have to put ourselves in the presence of the Story, and ponder it in our hearts.  If we’re confused by Scripture, we have Mary as our patron to help us reflect on that Word and come to understand it, guided as we are by the Holy Spirit.  But we also have her encouragement to keep those Scriptures in the scrapbook of our hearts, to keep coming back to them.  That’s the only way the Spirit can work on us and help us to come to new and more beautiful understandings of the Word of God, and in doing that, to come to a renewed and vibrant relationship with our Lord.  But we have to do that following the example of Mary’s reflective pondering, or just like everything else in our lives, we’ll fly through the moment and miss it.

    In Advent, I encouraged all of us to take some quiet, reflective time to be with the Lord.  Today Mary shows us how to do that, pondering her God incarnate in her own arms.  Imagine that!  The Incarnation is definitely a mystery worth pondering!

    If we would make a resolution for this new year, maybe it could be to follow Mary’s example.  Maybe we could set aside some time on a regular basis – even just those five minutes – to put ourselves in the presence of the Word of God.  And not just here at Mass, although that’s a good start.  But maybe in private prayer or even in an organized Bible Study – we have a few of them going on in our parish on a regular basis.  If we regularly open ourselves up to the Word of God, maybe we too could come to new and more beautiful understandings of the Scriptures; and a closer and more beautiful relationship with Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God.

    Mary, mother of God the Word, help us to understand the Word as you did.  Help us to ponder the great mystery of the Incarnation and savor its joy every day. 

    Pray for us, O holy Mother of God:
    That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.