Luke 1: 39 – 56
Sunday Reflection by Sister Tess Rynn, SNDdeN
“You couldn’t make it up !!” How often have I said those words over recent months in relation to the ‘Coronavirus.’ Had we read about this present scenario in a novel I imagine we would be inclined to think it to be somewhat far-fetched and dismiss it as totally unbelievable. Yet, this is where we find ourselves – the unreal has become real, in a world pandemic.
The Gospel today tells of Mary’s visit to her cousin Elisabeth and today I read that passage with new eyes. Mary decided to go and visit and then she went !! That is something still denied to many of us – to choose where to go and to actually do just that. So many quite ordinary experiences are still longed for and are still beyond our grasp.
It is easy and understandable to see these days of isolation as ‘absence’ rather than ‘presence.’ We feel suspended between what we have lost and what is not yet attainable — life before Covid and life post Covid – eventually! But this is real time – this is all we have at the moment. Times between significant events in life are often described as ‘liminal spaces,’ ‘in-between places.’ But these places are not just empty waiting times. In their own right they invite stillness, reflection, and transformation for the way ahead. Mary the young Jewish woman from Nazareth is the one to teach us about these significant times in life. After the earth shattering experience of the Annunciation Mary needed to talk to someone she could trust and that person was her cousin Elizabeth. Mary’s Magnificat greeting to Elizabeth recognises her present reality, with the knowledge too, that her God is with her.
‘For He has blessed me lavishly
And makes me ready to respond.
He shatters my little world
He takes from me all my plans
And gives me more than I can hope for or ask.
He gives me opportunities and the ability to break free
And to burst through my boundaries.’
During those days together what wonderful sharing must have gone on – tears, laughter, mutual words of comfort and support. Mary moved through her ‘liminal space,’ crossed a threshold and returned to Nazareth a changed woman, ready to face her new reality, carrying ‘one treasure only, the Christ the Lord’ in her ‘earthen vessel.’
The ‘Visitation’ and the ‘Assumption’ are complementary feasts. The ‘Visitation’ highlights the human in Mary, and her need to be with another human being. But it also speaks to us of that secret, sacred uniqueness. Mary had conceived the Son of God, but the preparation for that event goes way back to her own beginnings. It was fitting that she herself would be conceived immaculate, sinless and ready for the momentous ‘Annunciation.’ Today’s feast of the ‘Assumption’ is the culmination of Mary’s uniqueness. She came into this world in a unique way and she leaves it in a unique way without passing through the usual elements of death. Now she transcends that all-encompassing ‘liminal space’ of life, as she is taken from this world to be reunited with her Son in the glory of Resurrection.
In these days of ‘lockdown’ do these Magnificat words speak to me?
‘He shatters my little world
He takes from me all my plans
And gives me more than I can hope for or ask.
He gives me opportunities and the ability to break free
And to burst through my boundaries.’
What is my response?
Luke 1: 39 – 56
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 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.”
And Mary said: “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. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.”
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
The Gospel of the Lord
Meet Sister Tess Rynn, SNDdeN
