The famous image and story of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an important part of the history of the Evangelization of the America - a continent evangelized more quickly than any other in all of Church history. Mary appeared to a poor Indian with a message for the local bishop - that a church should be built. As a sign, he collected beautiful rare roses which she pointed out to him. When he brought these gifts to the bishop, a miraculous image of Our Lady appeared on his tilma (a kind of poncho) in which the roses were carried. She became a sign of hope for a demoralized people in the midst of the trials and tribulations of being colonized by Europe. Interestingly enough, her image is honored in many Churches around the world today, even throughout Europe, during a time when many believers feel demoralized and under attack.
Guadalupe may be the transliteration of a Nahuatl word which means "who crushes the serpent." This makes a wonderful connection with Genesis 3:15. Ancient liturgical texts have celebrated the Mother of the Lord with the one who crushes the serpent's head. Along these same lines, asking Mary to pray for us during times of spiritual battle, especially at the hour of death, may have always been part of the Christian tradition of prayer - just as the Scriptures say that all generations will call her blessed. Whatever the meaning of the name Guadalupe, it would be difficult to dispute that under this title, Mary has helped many come to believe in her Son, giving hope in sometimes the most hopeless situations.
Our Lady of Guadalupe has also been associated with the title Mystical Rose - a title associated with the words of the beloved in Canticle of Canticles 2:1, "I am the Rose of Sharon. I am the Lily of the valleys." Tradition has understood the beloved of this biblical love poem to be not only an image of Israel, but also of the Church, the new Israel. Mary, because she signifies the Church by her very person, has also been associated with these words as has every soul that is generous in responding to the love of God. For Saint Bernard, the delicate beauty of a rose is in contrast to its thorns and signifies the spiritual passion and purity of charity friendship love of God. He teaches that in contrast with Eve's disobedience by which we lost access to God, Mary's obedience gave us Christ Jesus - the image of the invisible God, the One who is our total access to all true worship of the Lord.
The mystical life - beautiful, passionate and pure - is a participation in the life of Christ by faith. This life progresses by way of the Cross - by following our crucified God. The inexhaustible mystery of his risen life not only purifies us of sin but fills us with certain truth, deep holy desires and great confidence. Mary is part of this mystical life, the rose of this mystical life, because the Virgin Mother Mary is an inseparable part of the life of her Son.
"Let it be done to me according to your word." These words of Mary to Gabriel betray a holy audacity which informs the Christian faith. The mission of the Mystical Rose - to be part of our life of faith in Christ Jesus, and the mission of Guadalupe - to crush the head of the serpent, coincide in the life of prayer. Mary not only exemplifies the kind of faith we must have in the Lord, she also prays for our life of faith - and through her mysterious maternity, helps us realize the victory of good over evil so that we might not lose hope in the face of trials and tribulation.
December 11, 2010
December 8, 2010
Mary, True Freedom and Prayer
Today we celebrate the Immaculate Conception - Mary through the redemption of Christ and a special outpouring of the Spirit at the moment she was concieved is the first human person to have perfect freedom. We thank God for the most beautiful realization of our humanity. She, like all the wonderful gifts given to us by Him, is completely unmerited, a wonderful sign to us of his unfathomable love. By sheer grace, she was completely free to thrive in the face of God, to be fully alive. And because she lived life to the full, she shows us what it means to be fully ourselves, to really live, to be truly free.
The Virgin shows us that the freedom we have in the grace of God allows us to tread a pathway beyond anything our limited imagination could possibly anticipate or our feeble intellects calculate or even of which our intuition might provide some remote suggestion. Such freedom goes beyond feeling and instinct. For it is the essence of humanity to go beyond its self and all its natural capicities in giving itself in love - in love to God and in love for one another.
Mary, the Mother of God, needed this freedom in order to fully respond to God and we can even say this beautiful freedom drew the Lord to her. There is a hidden greatness in the authenticity of the truly human - the Lord actually delights in the innocent vulnerability, endless trust and undaunted determination manifest in this particular work of his Hand. This is why through the words of Gabriel He declared her "full of grace." And, what He sees in her, He sees also in us when we turn to Him in living faith, faith guided by love -- he makes us free and in this freedom, authentically our true self.
The freedom given her at her conception was just the beginning. It is like the freedom we have when we first believe. Such freedom still needs to mature - it is only the beginning. How did she grow in this freedom? How did it come into maturity in her? If we consider this question carefully, we will understand what St. Augustine meant when he said she concieved Christ first in her heart before she concieved Him in her womb. We must use our freedom like she did - opening our hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit - ready to obey Him in everything and in this loving obedience and trust, ponder all these things in our heart. Prayer - silence before the mystery of God who makes us free - this is where Mary, concieved without sin, always leads.
The Virgin shows us that the freedom we have in the grace of God allows us to tread a pathway beyond anything our limited imagination could possibly anticipate or our feeble intellects calculate or even of which our intuition might provide some remote suggestion. Such freedom goes beyond feeling and instinct. For it is the essence of humanity to go beyond its self and all its natural capicities in giving itself in love - in love to God and in love for one another.
Mary, the Mother of God, needed this freedom in order to fully respond to God and we can even say this beautiful freedom drew the Lord to her. There is a hidden greatness in the authenticity of the truly human - the Lord actually delights in the innocent vulnerability, endless trust and undaunted determination manifest in this particular work of his Hand. This is why through the words of Gabriel He declared her "full of grace." And, what He sees in her, He sees also in us when we turn to Him in living faith, faith guided by love -- he makes us free and in this freedom, authentically our true self.
The freedom given her at her conception was just the beginning. It is like the freedom we have when we first believe. Such freedom still needs to mature - it is only the beginning. How did she grow in this freedom? How did it come into maturity in her? If we consider this question carefully, we will understand what St. Augustine meant when he said she concieved Christ first in her heart before she concieved Him in her womb. We must use our freedom like she did - opening our hearts to the power of the Holy Spirit - ready to obey Him in everything and in this loving obedience and trust, ponder all these things in our heart. Prayer - silence before the mystery of God who makes us free - this is where Mary, concieved without sin, always leads.
December 6, 2010
Saint Peter Chrysologus and Advent
Advent is a time to seek Christ who comes into our poverty with the Fire of Love. John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, Gabriel and many others are special messengers who help us learn to listen for angel choirs and to follow the signs of heaven. The Church also invites the faithful to ponder the writings of many others saints during the Advent season. One beautiful reading from the Office of Readings comes from a homily by a 5th Century bishop of Ravenna, St. Peter Chrysologus or Peter the Golden-Worded.
In one sermon, he reflects how the Lord would not abandon us after we sinned against Him, but rather acted in power to stir up in our hearts the desire to see God. The love God has for Fallen Humanity stirs us, even in our sinfulness, to seek Him, to want to see Him. This Father of the Church unfolds this insight by showing how the Lord gently guided us since time primordial from the beginnings of a kind of servile fear - unto the full filial love of sons and daughters of God. Chrysologus suggests that even the pagans were touched by this movement of God to us. God's love ignites in the human heart an intoxicating divine eros which moves people to what seems to be irrational - that is to want to see God with our own eyes:
But the Law of Eros is not concerned with what will be, what ought to be, what can be. Eros-Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation. Such love refuses to be consoled when its goal proves impossible, despises all hindrances to the attainment of its object. Eros destroys the lover if he cannot obtain what he loves; such passion follows its own promptings, and does not think of right and wrong. The yearning of love inflames desire which impels it toward things that are forbidden. But why continue? It is intolerable for love not to see the object of its longing. That is why whatever reward they merited was nothing to the saints if they could not see the Lord.
I have modified the translation provided in the Office of Readings to emphasize the Fire of God's love permeating this text. Anyone who has fallen in love understands the passion pushing beyond all reason that St. Peter is attributing to the saints - because to fall in love is to be seized by movements of the heart that our frail reason scarcely glimpses. This anticipates the wonderful modern proverb, the heart has its reasons that reason cannot know. And, we can also say, this reflection of Chrysologus suggests something much more. For if we look closely at his words, they suggest that, whatever divine passion has been stirred in the hearts of men, this powerful yearning was caused by an even more passionate God whose life is an unceasing circumcession of love.
There is something of the mystery of the cross in St. Peter's insight into love destroying the lover. But God's love is more powerful than death - and Christ who so passionately loved us to the end has saved human love and made it glorious in the eyes of the Father. And just as He is beheld, his human eyes behold the Father - the fulfillment of all desire. The Father in turn yearns that we should see the Son. It is this great movement of love in the heart of God - eternal, undying, unchanging, never ceasing, ever new - this eros pulses in the heart of advent, the heart of this season in which we await his coming. Such love is waiting to explode in those who silence themselves in prayerful receptivity before the Word made flesh, who seek Him in the poverty of Bethlehem, who listen for angel choirs in the night.
In one sermon, he reflects how the Lord would not abandon us after we sinned against Him, but rather acted in power to stir up in our hearts the desire to see God. The love God has for Fallen Humanity stirs us, even in our sinfulness, to seek Him, to want to see Him. This Father of the Church unfolds this insight by showing how the Lord gently guided us since time primordial from the beginnings of a kind of servile fear - unto the full filial love of sons and daughters of God. Chrysologus suggests that even the pagans were touched by this movement of God to us. God's love ignites in the human heart an intoxicating divine eros which moves people to what seems to be irrational - that is to want to see God with our own eyes:
But the Law of Eros is not concerned with what will be, what ought to be, what can be. Eros-Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation. Such love refuses to be consoled when its goal proves impossible, despises all hindrances to the attainment of its object. Eros destroys the lover if he cannot obtain what he loves; such passion follows its own promptings, and does not think of right and wrong. The yearning of love inflames desire which impels it toward things that are forbidden. But why continue? It is intolerable for love not to see the object of its longing. That is why whatever reward they merited was nothing to the saints if they could not see the Lord.
I have modified the translation provided in the Office of Readings to emphasize the Fire of God's love permeating this text. Anyone who has fallen in love understands the passion pushing beyond all reason that St. Peter is attributing to the saints - because to fall in love is to be seized by movements of the heart that our frail reason scarcely glimpses. This anticipates the wonderful modern proverb, the heart has its reasons that reason cannot know. And, we can also say, this reflection of Chrysologus suggests something much more. For if we look closely at his words, they suggest that, whatever divine passion has been stirred in the hearts of men, this powerful yearning was caused by an even more passionate God whose life is an unceasing circumcession of love.
There is something of the mystery of the cross in St. Peter's insight into love destroying the lover. But God's love is more powerful than death - and Christ who so passionately loved us to the end has saved human love and made it glorious in the eyes of the Father. And just as He is beheld, his human eyes behold the Father - the fulfillment of all desire. The Father in turn yearns that we should see the Son. It is this great movement of love in the heart of God - eternal, undying, unchanging, never ceasing, ever new - this eros pulses in the heart of advent, the heart of this season in which we await his coming. Such love is waiting to explode in those who silence themselves in prayerful receptivity before the Word made flesh, who seek Him in the poverty of Bethlehem, who listen for angel choirs in the night.
December 5, 2010
St. Nicholas and Advent
St. Nicholas had a deep devotion to Jesus. This devotion made him a compassionate leader in the Church who fearlessly procliamed the Gospel of Christ. In the mystery of Advent, he continues to point to Christ. His feast day on December 6 has long been a beautiful occasion for generosity to the unfortunate and the vulnerable, and to prepare children for the real meaning of Christmas. For more on this wonderful bishop and miracle worker, check out: The St. Nicholas Center.
November 29, 2010
St. Dominic and Standing in Prayer
One reader who has been following these posts on St. Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer raised an important concern about the habitual nature of bodily posture in prayer. It is true that this kind of prayer inclines toward the habitual - as it should. We have all kinds of bad bodily habits - the habit of prayer for the body has something to commend itself in this regard. The problem is when our bodily gestures become mindless and empty. A mindless sign of the cross or genuflection when we walk into Church does not help our faith or build up the body of Christ or give glory to God. But this also happens with our words as well. The problem is not with the gestures or the words, but with the lack of heart, the lack of attention to the Lord. The only safeguard is a deeper devotion to Jesus Christ, a devotion that grows as our loving knowledge of Him increases. This is why contemplation is a key to the Nine Ways - beholding the Lord in faith keeps that devotion alive that makes our bodily movements in prayer a true act of worship.
Standing in deep contemplation is one of the ways St. Dominic battled the human tendency to be mindless in prayer. It was a posture of deep engagement with the Word of God. It is not that he would actually have a Bible in hand. Instead, he held his hands as if a Bible were there and would recite to himself from memory passages of the Holy Scriptures. He was fully engaging the texts that he knew by heart. It was an intense conversation with God. It is this kind of conversation that saves our gestures, our posture, from being meaningless. Such conversation is profoundly open to contemplation - a listening with our spiritual ears, a seeing with the eyes of the heart. It is also the posture of someone ready to act on what he has heard.
Today in our liturgy, at Mass, when the Gospel is read, we stand. Standing carries the idea of "taking a stand." We stand at the proclamation of the Gospel because when the Gospel is read in the Liturgy, Christ is present to us in a powerful way, teaching us here and now in mystery just as He taught his disciples in history. Standing is our total response to his teaching, and to his person. We stand in solidarity with Him. We stand to honor Him. On his words, we stake our lives, our honor, all that is of any value to us in this life. We also stand to listen to Him. We stand taking up our Cross to follow him. This too his how Dominic stood - in his holy conversation with the One whom he loved and who loved Him even more.
Standing in deep contemplation is one of the ways St. Dominic battled the human tendency to be mindless in prayer. It was a posture of deep engagement with the Word of God. It is not that he would actually have a Bible in hand. Instead, he held his hands as if a Bible were there and would recite to himself from memory passages of the Holy Scriptures. He was fully engaging the texts that he knew by heart. It was an intense conversation with God. It is this kind of conversation that saves our gestures, our posture, from being meaningless. Such conversation is profoundly open to contemplation - a listening with our spiritual ears, a seeing with the eyes of the heart. It is also the posture of someone ready to act on what he has heard.
Today in our liturgy, at Mass, when the Gospel is read, we stand. Standing carries the idea of "taking a stand." We stand at the proclamation of the Gospel because when the Gospel is read in the Liturgy, Christ is present to us in a powerful way, teaching us here and now in mystery just as He taught his disciples in history. Standing is our total response to his teaching, and to his person. We stand in solidarity with Him. We stand to honor Him. On his words, we stake our lives, our honor, all that is of any value to us in this life. We also stand to listen to Him. We stand taking up our Cross to follow him. This too his how Dominic stood - in his holy conversation with the One whom he loved and who loved Him even more.
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