And How Does This Happen to Me?
The sound of my lover! here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills… “Arise, my friend, 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 turtledove is heard in our land.” (Song of Songs 2:8, 10B-12)
“And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Luke 1:43-45
Piety
Hope is the cardinal virtue without which life comes up blear and barren. It takes hope to carry on in confusion. It takes hope to assume that God is present even when we cannot see the road ahead. It takes hope to trust that if we just keep doing what we must do for others, even in the midst of our own emotional chaos, that the God who leads us into darkness will also lead us out of it. Indeed, Mary of the Visitation is a model of hope for us when we would become totally consumed with ourselves.
Mary, a woman of hope, be with us in these dark, cold, closing days of Advent. Help us to put our heart with yours – in God.
(From Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, a booklet on the Rosary)
Study
Special Liturgical seasons and Feasts give the Magisterium the chance to dive into some of the many books of the Bible that we do not often get to “hear” from throughout the year. In fact, today’s first reading from the Song of Songs is the first of only two times we have a passage from that book this year.
So, let’s set the stage and consider why this reading was selected to complement the Joyful Mystery of the Visitation.
The Song of Songs (or Canticle of Canticles) is an exquisite collection of love lyrics, arranged to tell a dramatic tale of mutual desire and courtship. It presents an inspired portrayal of ideal human love, a resounding affirmation of the goodness of human sexuality that is applicable to the sacredness and the depth of married union…While the lovers in the Song are clearly human figures, both Jewish and Christian traditions across the centuries have adopted “allegorical” interpretations.[i]
It is not surprising that the poet uses lovers as the allegory for the Church. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all characterize the covenant between the Lord and Israel as a marriage.
The book opens with a woman speaking of her lover and how near is love. Can the anticipation be any more like Advent? She remembers her lover’s last visit and anticipates his return. In this sudden change of scene from contemplation to action, the woman describes a rendezvous and pictures her lover hastening toward her until his voice is heard calling her to him. The lovers HAVE to be, and they have to be TOGETHER.
While we are still five days off from the Nativity, we see several figures united in anticipated love. Mary is hastening to see her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth is greeting and praising the visit from her young relative. The babes inside both mothers-to-be playfully leap around.
This Visitation harkens forward like the Song of Songs to the visit of Emmanuel to be, Christmas yet to be.
Action
What does Mary do upon getting the news that she is pregnant? She drops
The no-longer barren woman about to have her first child just like her virgin-cousin about to have her first child. Each full of tension, but each full of compassion, giving hope – a cardinal virtue – to the other.
God certainly does not come to us at a convenient time. He did not come to Mary that way either. There is too much to do. Trees to decorate. Cookies to bake. Dry cleaning to drop off, no pickup, we dropped it off already. When we are mired in our own life’s challenges, it is very difficult to think like Matthew 25 and put a priority on everyone else’s needs. We are far too busy wallowing in our own problems.
Where are you this Advent season not only physically but emotionally and spiritually, too? Let Mary of Advent inspire our piety, study, and action. Despite, nay because of your own busy-ness, reach out to others who need a visit from you no matter what news you just got.
How does this happen to me? Love.
What is God’s Annunciation to us today? Pick up your cross daily and follow Him to visit others.
No comments:
Post a Comment