A priest told the story of his conversion. Before being called to the priesthood he had wandered away from the Church, and by a miracle of God turned from sin, returned to the Church, and eventually heard the voice of God calling him to be a priest. A news reporter asked him to share the details of his conversion. How did it happen? “It happened when I met Mother Teresa during a visit to India.” “What did she say that caused you to suddenly turn back to God,” asked the reporter. “She said, ‘Hello.’”
Imagine the power of the Holy Spirit that lived inside Mother Teresa, that a mere “Hello” would bring a sinner to his knees. She didn’t offer the man a sermon or even say a prayer over him. Her simple greeting was enough to bring about this miracle of grace.
Today we meet a woman who was thousands of times more powerful than Mother Teresa in her measure of grace. It is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Notice in the gospel story the unbelievable power of her greeting (Luke 1:39-47).
“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…”
“Hi Elizabeth” was all Mary said. With Mary’s simple greeting, the Holy Spirit rushed out of her, into Elizabeth’s womb, and overwhelmed the heart of the greatest prophet who ever lived—John the Baptist. It was this prophet who led thousands to repentance at the river Jordan and prepared a highway for Jesus to make his entrance into the world. The seed of grace that came from Mary’s lips changed the entire course of history and opened a door for God’s only Son to begin his ministry on earth. We cannot even imagine the power of the Holy Spirit that lived inside this simple teenage girl from Nazareth.
“…and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, and said, ‘Most 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?’”
Mary’s greeting also caused Elizabeth to be flooded with the Holy Spirit and explode in prophecy. She was given a direct word of knowledge that not only was Mary the greatest woman who ever lived but that the child in her womb was Elizabeth’s “Lord.” Elizabeth was given eyes to see something that was unthinkable…that God himself lived in the womb of Mary. This moment of grace is so far beyond our comprehension, that we can hardly talk about it.
Fast forward to the year 1531 A.D. and Mary intervenes again in history. Her greeting to the simple peasant Juan Diego set off a wave of evangelization unparalleled in the history of the world. Her appearance released a wave of grace that brought about the conversion of over six million Mexican people who had been enslaved to idolatry.
On this day of grace, may we dare to ask Mary to visit us and greet us, so that we too may be evangelized and undergo a miraculous conversion in our lives. May the child inside each of us leap with joy and be filled, in a new way, with the power of the Holy Spirit. Imagine what would happen with our struggling Church if we opened the door to Mary’s visit in our time. 2023 A.D. would go down in history as the greatest turning point in the history of the Church!
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death.
