23 Sept 2014 - intimacy not image

Padre Pio

He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers 
are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

Thank you Jesus. You want to be so close to us that we share in the tender bond between mother and child. We can be your brothers and sisters. Your mother in the flesh shows us the way. She is doubly your mother. She is the mother of your mother in the flesh. But she is that because she first hears the word of God and acts on it. She holds you in her arms. She holds your word in her heart. She treasures you with unutterable tenderness.

We are called to let the word of God transform us. We are called to take care how we hear, as we read yesterday. The light naturally shines through us. We mustn't cover it. Mary is so open to God's word that he takes physical form within her. She is a model for all of us.

Mary embraces the word with profound humility. It is no boon to her reputation. It is quite the opposite. There are flashes of glory throughout her life. But she must also accept all of the ill-repute that comes from a virgin birth and the ill-repute that comes from being the mother of so controversial a figure as Jesus. She must accept the sword that pierces her own soul as well.

Our motives are never so pure as hers and so our acceptable is always more partial. There is always some pride mixed in with our acceptable. We always adapt it so we can have a particular self-image. Without realizing it we place conditions on our acceptable of the word. We say, in effect, that we will hear this word and act on us when it lets us think of ourselves in a certain way or appear before others in a certain way.

Image separated from reality is the necessary condition of hypocrisy.

All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes,
but it is the LORD who proves hearts.

Padre Pio is known for his ability to see through the facades of the people with whom he spoke. We may wish to have someone like him handy when we examine our consciences for confession. Or perhaps we don't wish that, if we are honest with ourselves. Nevertheless, we know we need it. But we are not completely at a loss. Mary teaches us that if we are humble and do not concern ourselves with our own image we are able to embrace the word in its entirety. Humility shields us from self-deception. It is not false humility that looks on oneself negatively. It is true humility that looks out toward other. It is the gaze fixed on Jesus.

Through Padre Pio's intercession we ask the LORD to guide us in the way of his commands. We need discernment and understanding to follow his laws. The grace that shields us from self-deception comes from him alone.  He will answer us because he has a plan for us just as he does for Mary. He gives us Mary as a model for embracing that plan perfectly and without self-deception. Then our hearts will be like the king's:

Like a stream is the king’s heart in the hand of the LORD;
wherever it pleases him, he directs it.