Celebrating 100 years
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Cycle B
B194: What is so wrong with King David trying to spend his riches on the Lord, by building a temple in his honor?
We Americans have a big "head" problem - we always want to be in charge, to be in control. The line between good pride (realistic self-esteem) and bad pride (e.g., arrogance) is many times blurred. King David was like that, sometimes (First Reading, 2 Sam 7). He decided that HE needed to build the Lord a house to dwell in. The Lord's answer sounds kind of like Robert de Niro in the movie "Taxi Driver" (i.e., "Are YOU talking to ME?"). The Lord said to David through Nathan the prophet, "Should YOU build ME a house...?" Nathan further advises David that the Lord said HE would establish a house for David, not the other way around. It is the Lord who is in charge!
However, by contrast when we read today's gospel story (Luke 1:26-38), we see the simple humility of the Virgin Mary. When the angel tells her that she is "highly favored" and "blessed among women," there is not a hint of pride. There is no "D-u-u-u-h! Of course I am blessed!" Instead she responds in meek lowliness, "I am the maidservant of the Lord." Whatever you want, Lord. Let it be done that way.
The Savior of the world, the Messiah, chose this way to come to us: through Mary. It is only a small step to realize that our own attitudes toward God are in focus: am I totally reliant on God and his mercy and providence, like Mary, or do I dictate to him in my prayers the way I think it ought to be?
Know Your Catechism! The 10th Commandment deals with internal vices (greed and envy, CCC #2534); it talks about the "root" of those things forbidden by the 7th Commandment. In other words, it is all about our heart attitudes. True humility is "poverty of heart," to depend on God's providence for everything by being detached from all material possessions (CCC #2544). Another name for this is "poverty of spirit" (CCC 2546-47), which the Blessed Virgin lived so perfectly. Do I realize that Mary's attitude and example is the way I must travel to eternal life? What is my next step?
Nothing is Impossible!
Mrs. Marie Norton of Elmira, New York, died in the fall of 1951, admired and praised by all who had known her. Before she had any children, she was afflicted with cancer, and physicians advised her against becoming pregnant. But Marie decided to ignore advice and leave matters in God's hands. She went ahead and brought ten children into the world, and they were healthy children. When her brother-in-law lost his wife, she took his children in, too. It was no easy chore to keep house for such a brood, but she did it and was also her own cook and laundress.
Had Marie's malady vanished? By no means. For thirty-five years she was under treatment for malignancies and submitted to as much radium therapy as her body could tolerate. Forty-two times she went under the surgeon's knife.
After Marie's death her son-in-law's mother wrote a letter to the paper in praise of Mrs. Norton. "As I observed her giving, besides services, joy and sunshine ... to us all, it has left me with a new reverence, a feeling that I have witnessed something this sick world needs today... an assurance that God does hear and answer those who love and trust Him." Yes, He hears and He gives us of Himself: the supreme Christmas gift was His beloved Son
"... For nothing is impossible with God" (Luke, 1:37. Gospel of the day).
-Father Robert F. McNamara
Q. 350: In today’s gospel (Luke 1:26-38), a divine messenger (Gabriel) brings Mary the awesome news of the forthcoming Incarnation of the Messiah, and we hear the Blessed Virgin Mary’s assent. Other than “rejoicing” at the memory of this long-awaited Good News, where can my meditation take me?
Mary’s response to God can lead us in many directions, but today let’s focus on just two points. The context, of course, is Mary’s humble submission of her will to God’s will in all things, and the fact that the “birthing process” began at that very moment of her “Yes.”
There is a Dominican mystic from the 14th century that is often quoted, because his words capture so well our own participation in this birthing process. Meister Eckhart asks the questions that we all ought to consider. First he asks: “What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and my culture?” Mary’s “Yes” that brought Christ to the world is not just a “memory event,” such as recalling Babe Ruth or Tiger Woods setting records to remember. Instead, it ought to lead us to ponder how to imitate her: how can I bring Christ to the daily world that I live and participate in? Do I reflect Christ in what I say and do? Am I a true disciple, like Mary the model disciple?
A second question that Meister Eckhart asks: “What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son . . . does not take place within myself?” When God comes to dwell within us at our Baptism, we are empowered to live the Christ-life, one oriented to loving God and Neighbor. Do I see that orientation in my own heart, or am I still oriented to selfishness? Do I humbly submit to all of the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church, without exception, so that its wisdom can grow in my heart?
In summary, in a sense your personal meditation can parallel Mary’s journey: have I truly given an unqualified “Yes” to Jesus in my own life, and what is the best way for me to bring this Good News to my own little world?
KNOW YOUR CATECHISM! Mary and all the Saints have one thing in common: they “will His will alone” (CCC #2827). This is our life, our desire and our destiny: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to Your word” (CCC #2817). Mary is the perfect model of the “obedience of faith” that we disciples are all called to imitate (CCC #148).
