We are getting ready to celebrate the blessed fruit of the womb of Mary. Today we pay special attention to her who was the most blessed among women, the ark of the New Covenant who brought the presence of the Lord to Elizabeth and then to the whole world.
"Most blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Mary's desire to help others connect with her son didn't stop at his birth. We see that clearly in her intervention during the wedding at Cana. We see it her appearances at places like Lourdes and Fatima. Her mission is never to cause other people to focus on her but rather to lead them to her son. Even beyond her relatively rare physical appearances she is constantly at work on a spiritual level to draw her all peoples to her son. Just as Jesus was hidden from the eyes of the world but revealed to Elizabeth through Mary so too can Mary help us to recognize and receive the hidden spiritual presence of Jesus in our lives.
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Mary's greeting can be for us a cause of great joy. Just as David danced before the ark, and as John the Baptist leaped for joy in the womb, so too can we be inspired by Mary's word to leap and dance for joy. This is the power of God at work in one who responded with complete acceptance and faith to his invitation.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.
We are, however, not meant to be only passive recipients of joy. We too are meant to see Mary as our model and bring the presence of Jesus to others. This was why Jesus said of his followers, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother" (see Matthew 12:49-50). Just as the disciples were empowered to bestow the peace of Jesus on the places they visited so too can we (see Luke 10:5-6).
Mary moved in haste because she realized she had become a part of a story that was bigger than herself, part of God's story. In similar circumstances we would probably tend to get bogged down in the details, in uncertainty, doubt, and preoccupation with ourselves. But Mary can show us how to be a part of a larger story and the joy that comes when we do so.
Here he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.
Jesus is so close. There are only a few days left until the feast of his incarnation. Often these days seem to pass almost without our awareness leaving us to wonder what happened. But let us allow some anticipation to build within us. We really can be different after this feast than before if we open ourselves to the grace it is meant to convey. If we truly invest our hope in it we can be transformed from a place of fear to one of hope, peace, and joy. What if our spiritual winter is truly and finally past? Just think of what that might mean for us.
My lover speaks; he says to me,
"Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,
and come!
"For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
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