After 7 weeks of non-stop Easter, it feels a little refreshing to get back to the work at hand.
Today would normally be the first day back to Ordinary time – ordinary, not like ho-hum, but rather “ordinal” or counted time to the next season.
But Pope Francis surprised us with a brand new Memorial on the Liturgical Calendar today – the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
This is a day set aside to pray, ponder and meditate on Mary as more than just Mother of Jesus, but as Mother of our Church.
An appropriate thing to consider the day after our “birthday” on Pentecost Sunday.
Still, we are now entering ordinary time, and I for one am happy.
Some Catholics, myself included, find it hard to be in full-blown celebration mode for 7 weeks.
It’s time for some sorrowful mysteries, for penance, for the humility that comes with self-examination and somber moments of deep reflection.
Not that we need to forego our sense of Easter joy. We have that every Sunday.
But it’s nice to change things up a bit … a “seasonal change” so to speak.
And, frankly, it’s nice to grab our time cards, punch our spiritual clocks and get back to work.
What is our work during this upcoming ordinary season, counting the weeks until Advent?
We might look at the work of Mary as inspiration, particularly how she was called to do battle against evil, just as our Church does today.
Consider our first reading … right out of the Garden of Eden, where God foretold the spiritual battles that would take place.
“On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat … I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers…”
I remember when I first noticed the statues of Mary … so beautiful, but she was standing on a snake – crushing it. That’s odd, I thought. Why would such a loving, peaceful woman bother to smash a slithery snake?
I was very young at the time; had not delved deeply into Scripture or our Faith’s teachings about the Mother of our Church. But today, on this new Memorial, we have the opportunity to ponder God’s perfect plan for our salvation, and how Mary and her perfection play such a key role … still today.
During a time when awareness of a “holy spirit” had either not been known, nor understood, Mary found herself as a young girl, face to face with an angel who was telling her that this spirit would come upon her and change her future forever.
Mary, the new Eve, who did not disobey God, accepted her role as the perfect vessel and home for our Lord. She would be near to Jesus throughout his ministry and his passion, death and resurrection.
And she was in the upper room at Pentecost, present at the birth of our Church, just as she was at the birth of our Savior.
What does this mean for us today?
Certainly, we can take this opportunity today to reflect on how we can follow in the footsteps of Mary by opening our hearts to accept the will of the Holy Spirit – which, quite frankly, does not always match what we think is best for us!
How do we encounter the Holy Spirit today? He moves in mysterious ways … like a whisper in the wind, thunder in the skies or something we might first think is a coincidence.
(My opinion … there are no such things as coincidences).
But if you think about it, perhaps the most direct way we encounter our Lord in the Holy Spirit is when we receive Him in the Eucharist.
That begs the question: If the consecrated Host and Cup are truly the Body, Soul and Divinity of the Son of God, then isn’t this Christ coming into our lives again?
If the Eucharist is to be consumed into our bodies, where its power should grow and transform us into being “more like Him and less like Us,” isn’t that similar to how God planted His seed of salvation into Mary?
Mary would go on to give birth and give us Jesus, our Savior. Similarly, when we leave Mass on Sundays, we are charged with giving others Jesus throughout the week in our daily lives.
If we are to be perfect bearers of Christ, should we not do all we can to purify our hearts before we present ourselves at Holy Communion. We pray each Sunday, Lord I am not worthy to receive you under my roof …
As he suffered on his cross, the Lord looked down with eyes that could see eternity and gave Mary a new family to watch over … “Behold, your son.”
And he gave us a new mother … “Behold, your mother.”
We are still figuring out what that meant that day and what it means now. Today’s new Memorial, forever placed on the Monday after Pentecost, is a pretty good indication that the secret to grasping all that the Holy Spirit and Holy Mother Church has to offer is centered on Mary.
Grab those beads … start pondering the mysteries that will lead all of us to Christ.
