HIS MOTHER, AND OURS

     In this week we mark the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and early next week we celebrate Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. It’s especially appropriate, I think, to commemorate Mary in this way in Advent which is the time of waiting and preparation for the manifestation of her Son—once entering into our world in time, finally appearing at the end of time, for our entrance into the world of eternity (as we all hope!).

     It’s especially appropriate, as well, to see the ways of the Lord in all of this, including the appearances of the Blessed Mother in these last centuries.   Starting with Mary herself, she was a teen-aged girl in 1^st century Palestine—confronted with the angelic visitation that (if she were to say yes) guaranteed her being regarded with scorn, and possibly with death-threats, for being pregnant out of wedlock. No wonder she “fled in haste to the hill country” to visit (and hopefully be protected by) her cousin Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah!

But let’s consider what are perhaps the three most famous of our Lady’s appearances: Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima. What do they have in common? She came to “little ones.”

Juan Diego was an Indigenous Christian in a world ruled by Spaniards who had little regard for those who lived in the “New World” for centuries before they arrived. Bernadette was a teen-aged girl to whom Mary identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception” only about 4 years after the solemn definition of this dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854. And the three children of Fatima were all very young—within 2-3 years, two of them, Francisco and Jacinta, died of influenza. Lucia lived as a Carmelite nun and died at the age of 97 in 2005.

There is a lesson here for us, and it is reflected in the Gospel (which was today’s reading for Mass—Tuesday of the 1^st week of Advent): “You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to the child-like.” In another place, Jesus remarks, “Unless you turn and become like children you will not enter the Kingdom…”

Why is this important? St Paul makes it clear (II Corinthians 8:9): “…for [our] sake [the Lord Jesus Christ] became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty [we] might become rich.” Jesus regularly makes the same point: “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled” (Luke 18:14, among other places).

In this Advent season, we are invited to take the example of the Blessed Mother, and those to whom she appeared, and the sayings of her Son, to heart: be forgetful of ourself, not to put ourselves down in the false pride of pseudo-humility, but rather to be more sensitive to the needs of those around us, to see the ways (even small ones) we can be people of active love. We are invited to say YES to the call of God, to pray for peace, and to live as God’s children. Then, when we come to the manger at the end of this month, we will see Him who gave all for our sake, to bring us home—our true home. And yes: speaking of humility, I am convinced that the first ones to greet us there (perhaps even before our Lord Himself) will be our dogs—the ultimate examples of unconditional, humble, trusting love.
    -Fr. David