The Sin and Virtue Series, #6 of 8
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For Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Just Say YES
Luke 1:35-38 – 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 ” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:41-45 – 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
All of this led to this exquisite moment in history when Jesus was soon to be sleeping Away in a Manger. That "YES" from Mary can be likened to the point where the two loops in an infinity symbol (↔ Click Link) cross. Everything that had been planned in the first loop came to fruition in the second loop and infinity never changed. It just kept going and everything that was there is still there. That's the whole idea behind Contemporaneous Concomitance. Nothing is begun until nothing is unfinished so that everything is completed once everything is begun.
All it took to get it working like that is one simple – but very great – YES. It reminds me of another very simple but very great YES by Abram. God told him to go to a place Abram had never seen, and he said YES. He kept doing that until there was a whole Nation of his descendants. Later God changed his name from Abram (father) to Abraham (father of nations). Looking back at that infinity symbol, I see Abraham is also standing right at the pinch between the two sides of forever. That means two of my good friends are right at the moment of change – Abraham and Mary.
I thought about how to approach this weekend's readings and decided to tackle the Catholic-Christian and non-Catholic-Christian similarities rather than differences. Catholics know that some non-Catholics think we are idolaters, that the Pope is the antichrist, and that we have no concept of what's in the Bible because we never study it. Truthfully we don't worship statues, but we do surround ourselves with images of people we love. We do refer to the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, which merely means he has the responsibility to carry out the obligation given to Peter by Jesus "feed my lambs" … "tend my sheep" … "feed my sheep." Jesus was passing on to Peter the shepherding responsibility he instituted in his own ministry. As for the Bible, there are 6-9 Scripture passages used in daily Masses, the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church includes literally thousands of Scripture references, and many Parishes (including ours) have structured, in-person Bible studies as well as Religious Education Classes (Crucita and I have been catechists most of our married lives), and faith-based, live-streaming educational and entertainment resources. I think where things get really unclear is deciding what to do about Mary.
If you are any kind of Christian at all, you know Mary's story. She was likely just a teenager betrothed to an older man – probably not greatly older – when she had a visit from Gabriel. After a brief exchange, she began carrying the fetus that would grow up to be Jesus of Nazareth, the Only Begotten Son of the Living God. There are contentious debates about her perpetual virginity, and of her Immaculate Conception so that she was conceived and born without the stain of original sin. "She couldn't possibly deliver a child and remain a virgin, and no one but Jesus is sinless, That's biblical." Maybe that's how it works in someone's book, but in my book, the whole thing is a miraculous mystery. I have no idea how the Trinity made her pregnant. I don't have to know. I just know that God asked her if she would allow that, and she said YES: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Her presence in the Bible, in the history of Jesus, in the history of the Church, and in God's eternal and Absolutely Perfect Plan (the APP for Eternity), teaches us Mary is real, essential, and undeniably Apostolic. Along with Abraham and Mary, we are part of the Family of God (↔ Click Link please), and like almost every real family we have a Father, a Mother, a Son and an incredible number of adopted siblings. That is mysterious, miraculous, but certainly not impossible For nothing will be impossible with God. Not all readers will follow that link, so I'm going to pull just a segment out of the context of that message because I want to be consistent in what I say:
It seems too impersonal to write someone off because they disagree with me about how my relationship with Jesus works. “Of course I have a personal relationship with Jesus,” I tell them. “In fact, I have a close, personal, and deeply satisfying relationship with the whole family – Father, Son, Holy Spirit, our Blessed Mother, and all the Angels and Saints.”
Perhaps it is unkind to respond that way, and I confess I have taken the wind from the sails of an occasional evangelizer by saying, “Yes I’ve accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. Have you accepted Mary as your personal Mother?” I believe a personal relationship with Jesus is a very good and doable idea, and I do continuously reassess the relative distance between us. It is the Trinity, however, to whom I gravitate. When I say, “God,” I mean “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” When I say, “God bless you,” I am asking the Trinity to bless you. They are, after all, three distinct Persons all in one Being. Because I am created “in the image and likeness of God,” I can see the same patterns in me. This is why I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
I have a small statue of Our Lady of Fatima (↔ Click Link) in our bedroom. It reminds me of how much I love Mary because I know how much Jesus loves her. There are religious pictures and crucifixes in every room of the house. These are family pictures and remembrances that bring comforting, warming, hope to my day-to-day struggles with pain, with sin, with confusion about what's happening outside my Christian life. Sometimes I wonder what is happening inside our Church when I hear some in the upper hierarchy saying it's OK to distribute the Eucharist to people who are obviously, publically, and unrepentantly living in grave sin. I rest my heart in the hope I have in Christ Jesus. I do not hold my Peace – I let loose on things like that from time to time (it's a miracle I have any of my mind left! I've hurled so many pieces of it at others that exasperate me!) – but I am held in Peace. In our own right we are weak, but he is strong (↔ Music Link – it’s a POWERFUL one!) . When we hold our peace, we are held in peace. Many years ago I wrote a song called “Man of Peace.” It was so long ago that I can no longer remember all of it. However, this little scrap has existed for well over fifty years, and it still speaks to me.
I am a man of Peace. I own no other name.
I stand before you, gird about with gifts of Love.
You ask me of my Peace, and how I hold it so.
Good listener, I do not hold my Peace.
I am held in Peace.
It's a mysterious miracle, or a miraculous mystery – take your pick – but the bottom line is we really never should be lonely even when we are alone because our entire Family is with us whether we're walking in that long lonesome valley, or taking a seat on that slow train a-comin'. When I read Mary's Canticle (song, often called "The Magnificat" because that is the first word of Mary's Canticle in Latin), I identify with her lyrics:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
This reminds me of Our God our Help (↔ Music Link)
In my heart, my mind, my soul I hear her speaking those words and to me they are the soothing words of a mother sharing her life story – my Mother. No matter where I am, the Hope I have in my eternal Family is "the Light that drives away the darkness and draws me and everyone I meet to God's Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, and Eternal Salvation." And how did I come to possess that light? John 8:12 – 12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Jesus is Hope. Jesus is Light. Jesus is All because he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 – 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (↔ Music Link) I have, you have, we have that promise because Jesus took on every sin, every moment of pain, every abandonment and turned it into Glorious Praise to God Our Father. Jesus did that
Like they say in the movies, he took a hit for you. He took thousands of hits for us. It is explained in the post for August 11, 2006: The story of the Dart Test and the effect of taking out our hurt on others. Jesus ends up taking the hurt for us. Check it out at this link.
Get together in Church again with your family this weekend and with your Family every day. You, too, will be held in Peace as your "soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; [your] spirit rejoices in God [our] Savior. Then you will know the meaning of "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." When God asks – and he will – just say YES.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Chick Todd was reared as a "Baptiterian" in Denver, Colorado and grew up to become an American Roman Catholic. After several years of feeling called to the Roman Catholic Church, I made my First Communion as a Catholic at Easter Vigil in 1969. That happy event was followed two weeks later with the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony with Crucita at Chapel 2 on Lackland AFB in San Antonio TX.
We are shown here at the celebration of our 50th Anniversary which included a renewal of our Vows. During those fifty years we have been Catechists, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Eucharist, Lectors, and the RCIA/C Coordinators for our Parish, St. Catherine of Alexandria Parish on the island of Kaua'i in Hawai'i.
When we married, we devoted our Marriage Vocation to establishing and maintaining a Christ-Centered Home. It still works that way today. The love we have shared with each other has been multiplied as we share it with others, especially our two adopted children, and all the children and adults we have helped catechize.
I have always been a serious Bible student and now run a blog called The Moon Beam Network at www.aloha-friday.org where I publish a weekly Catholic Bible study every Aloha Friday. Crucita is an exceptional Master Teacher, and so we find abundant opportunities to share our love of Word and Sacrament with many others. Come visit us at The Moon Beam Network. E komo mai!
