Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
The Church reminds us that it is necessary to start all over again. Although we are adults, we have to start over. God Himself began anew at the moment of the Annunciation. It actually began at the moment when Mary Immaculately Conceived came into being. God created man through whom He wanted to influence man, God created an ideal that we define by the cry - You are all beautiful, Mary, You are Immaculate. Blessed and exalted above all women. An ideal that confronts man, who helps to believe that the difficulties of human life is not a permanent phenomenon. In the beginning, God wanted the ideal of the new woman not to be somewhere in the clouds, inaccessible, he wanted it to be in concrete life. God thus introduced Mary into concrete life and, through her, his Son. It is striking that Mary's life is extremely simple.
Reading the Gospel of Luke, especially the Gospel of the infancy of Jesus, we are struck by how this life is very ordinary, everyday, close to us. A room in Nazareth - there a young women caring for Joseph, Jesus and the house. Her life is close to our lives, life from this earth, not from the clouds. Mary, although painted in blue robes, is a normal woman just like any other parents. He gives birth to a child and then serves Him. She devotes herself entirely to maternal care, to service. Her life is actually spent in the service of man. She is beautiful as an ideal, but this ideal enters into concrete life, life among the women of this earth, sharing their destiny. God has implicated Mary in all our daily affairs. He did not free her from everyday ordinary life, troubles and ills. He told Mary to care for the Son of God, to think constantly about what he needed.
Let us not imagine that angels cleaned or swept after her. Mary's life was every day, gray like the life of every mother, like the life of every woman. This was the life of Mary, who was the nurse and nurture of Jesus. She is the patron saint of nurses and mothers. She - entangled in everyday simple life. Here we have before us a Mother who was not indifferent, because she was sensitive to people, she was filled with compassion. She was a good mother who noticed all the needs of her son and her loved ones. It is necessary to learn from Mary this attitude of being a mother to people.
Every woman, by her very nature, is directed to motherhood, both physical and spiritual. The desire to be a mother is very strong in a woman, as is the desire to love and be loved. To be a good and caring mother - here Mary is the model and ideal for women. To be able to use one's innate predispositions, one's emotionality, of course mature emotionality, to become a mother for the children entrusted to her, to become a mother to a man. It is necessary to educate them for God, to win them for God.
And to raise someone, a child or an adult, is to lift him up in his own eyes. Help him believe in himself, in his own abilities. Help him develop himself, stand on his own two feet and take his life into his own hands to create it. To achieve this, is needed to approach someone with full confidence in his capabilities, believe in the good that is in him. Then it is easier for the person treated in this way to open up to the woman, open up to her and submit to the influence of her heart. That is why we must imitate Mary who, like a good mother, loved with a warm, merciful love, one that encourages, inspires hope and consoles.
It is necessary to imitate Mary's sensitivity by looking at her closely. Indeed, we must follow the various expressions of Mary's tenderness, who is sensitive to all that the world rejects and tramples upon. Whoever wants to imitate Mary well must have something of her tender heart. Every man needs a mother, because a mother is the one who loves, because a mother has a heart with which she embraces each one of us. And Mary's heart is special, she understands everything, she will remedy everything, she remembers everything. The Gospels show us Mary's constant concern for Jesus. The concern that accompanied her throughout his earthly life. From start to finish. Only the anxious heart of a mother can love and sympathize in this way, perceiving everything, every need, and wants to remedy every deficiency.
Mary learns to serve others because her hearthas always been full of God. Hence, she wasalways ready to serve God and people. Here Iam the handmaid of the Lord, it was the mottorealized at every moment of her life. Her heartserved God above all. When she prayed, shedid it to worship God. When she worked, she did it with the thought of praising God, whenshe suffered, she had God's honor in mind.God was always her point of reference ineverything she did. She wasted no opportunityto be more for God. From the service of Godfollows the service of man. Mary is always atthe service of those who need her, and shedoes so with man in his concrete situation in mind. Mary understands that she must forgetherself and renounce herself. This is a greatsacrifice, because to be the handmaid of the Lord is to truly become a handmaid of thePeople of God in order to serve their needs.
It is a sacrificial feature of Mary worthy of imitation by every woman, every mother. It is a great thing to dedicate oneself totally to God's service in humility, renouncing oneself, one's peace and tranquility, seclusion, forgetting one's own affairs. To give oneself completely to God, to cease to belong to oneself. To be guided by the love of God and people, which is above self-love. Put the needs of others before own. All this requires great maturity and at the same time great dedication and the ability not to put oneself in the first place. Mary was extraordinary in this. She was full of sacrifice for others - for the Son, for the nation, for humanity, for the Church.
She could forget herself because she loved so much. And that is why we see her in action full of peace, silence and recollection. The Annunciation shows us, humans’ great victory over it, the ability to renounce, even its noblest impulses, in order to give itself completely to others. Everyone calls to her, everyone wants something from her, and she always serves in silence. Mary shows us that women usually work in silence. Because the many works and daily toil require great attention.
All the attention of a woman is directed to the person, to the society. Because the attitude of women is by nature an attitude of mission and of humanism. A woman does everything for the sake of others and through the prism of the needs of others. That is how God createdher. Such a woman, Mary, was chosen by the Heavenly Father to be the Mother of His Son. This is the ideal of a woman. This is what all humanity yearns for.
Mary is the ideal of the woman whom faith presents to us. It is this ideal by intimate union with Christ. Mary's example is meant to inspire every woman, every mother. But it is not enough to know Mary and her greatness. It is necessary to approach her, penetrate her heart and thoughts, and begin to imitate her, even taking over her whole style and way of acting. Mary teaches how to be a woman, but she also teaches us to understand and follow Christ better. Therefore, we must trust in her, follow her and go towards her, because she is the true apostle and herald of Jesus Christ. For she was the first to show him to the world, she was the first to carry him into the world. She always leads man to Christ, she never keeps us for her. Therefore, dear women - it is worth looking at her to be like her, to be truly a woman and a mother.
The year 2023, will be devoted to reflect on the dignity and vocation of women and men. Our reflections will be based on the teachings of the Church, specially Saint John Paul II.
Woman is the crown of all creation. If a woman recognizes her vocation and dignity, if men can see a mother in her, the world will be a better place to live and experience God, who is still creating us in every moment of our existence.
The reflections will be sent weekly. We already resumed the formation in person at Christ the King Parish in Hollywood. The calendar will soon be sent to all. The Moderators will be me and Fr. Juan Ochoa.
Please e-mail us your questions and comments. This way we will be able to go into a deeper understanding of the Church Documents and Saint John Paull II teaching.
Until next week
fr. george