“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28
This week as we begin the second week of Advent, we honor and remember our Blessed Mother Mary in a very special way. On Monday, we remember her Immaculate Conception, and then, on Friday, we commemorate her apparition to Saint Juan Diego in 1531 under the title of Our Lady of Gudalupe. First, we’re brought into the mystery of Mary’s conception. Having been chosen by God, “favored one” or filled with God’s grace, Mary was set aside from birth to be the perfect vessel to bring Jesus Christ, the Savior, into the world, and so, from the moment of her own conception, Mary was preserved from original sin. This Solemnity gives us the opportunity to see the great work that God not only does in Mary but the great work that He does in us when we remain obedient like Mary, how He too can fill us with his grace to proclaim his greatness with our souls. In Mary, we encounter an amazing soul who embodied the entire mystery of salvation, a soul that was open to God’s work, allowing him to bring forth the greatest gift which the world has ever and will ever receive, Jesus Christ. With this solemnity, we come then to appreciate not only Mary’s relationship to Christ and a sense of God’s plan, but we also come to appreciate our own relationship with Christ and what God has planned for us. Here, we come to appreciate how Mary is for us a model of obedience, humility, gratitude, and hope.
Finally, on Friday when we commemorate Mary as Our Lady of Gudalupe, we experience and appreciate her role as “Mother” to us all and how like a mother, she takes care of us, watches over us, prays for us, and loves us. Here, she demonstrates her commitment to listening and caring for those in need. When she appeared, her request was to have a place where she could hear petitions and heal the suffering of the people. It comes to show how her love extends to all and continues to lead others to her Son. In this way, she becomes a model to us of charity and love for one another, how we too are called to care and pray for each other, and so, we come to appreciate how Mary is for us a model of faith, love, poverty, mercy and prayer. And so this week as we join with Mary in preparing for the birth of our Savior on Christmas Day, we ask for her intercessions and say Blessed Mother Mary, pray for us.
In Christ
Fr Robert