Gospel Reflection 2021/2022

Mary exclaims in her Magnificat [cf. Lk 1: 46-55], “… He looks on His servant in her lowliness, henceforth all ages will call me blessed…” Mary is truly and really blessed for all ages because God looks on her lowliness and raises her up.

(1) Mary, the first and perfect disciple of Jesus.

When the message of the angel Gabriel was announced to her, Mary embraced God’s message and surrendered her whole being to God [Lk 1: 38], “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” She was the first to receive the Good News and she is the first to embrace the Good News. The Holy Spirit came upon her, the power of the Most High overshadowed her, and the Eternal Word was made flesh in her. In surrendering herself totally to God, she welcomed Jesus the Eternal Word into her heart and into her womb. Therefore, Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, the Theotokos (God-bearer), and she is the first and perfect disciple of Jesus.

(2) Mary, the woman of silence.

At the Annunciation, Mary listened to the message of the angel Gabriel and wondered at it [Lk 1: 29]. At the birth of Jesus, Mary listened to the visiting shepherds and treasured in her heart [Lk 2: 19]. When she presented Jesus at the Temple, she listened to the prophesy of Simeon and mulled over it [Lk 2: 33]. In her silence, Mary always listens and discerns. She is the model of prayer and the model of persevering silence.

(3) Mary, the woman of action.

Mary’s silence is never the silence of indifference, passivity or inactivity. Mary’s silence (her listening and discerning) leads her into loving actions. When a woman in the crowd exclaimed that, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that you sucked!” Jesus replied, “Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!” [Lk 11:27-2] Mary is highly favoured by God because she keeps the word of God and acts on it. She is exalted not simply because she is the Mother of God but more so because of her obedience, her humility and her total surrender to God.

Upon hearing that her elderly cousin Elizabeth was pregnant in her sixth month, Mary did not wait any longer, instead she hastened to visit Elizabeth. Did God command her to go? Did the angel tell her to help? No, neither God nor the angel instructed Mary to go and help Elizabeth. Mary had her own problems: she was about to get married, yet now pregnant out of wedlock. She could have told herself to “let me take care of myself and my own problems first”. She could have stayed in the comfort of her home – not going anywhere – and just prayed and hoped that God will send ‘someone else’ to help Elizabeth. No, in her silence, Mary prayed, discerned and acted promptly. She is both the woman of silence and the woman of action.

Learning from Mary.

It is said that silence is God’s first language. In the silence of our heart, God speaks. Let us therefore take time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud. To be faithful disciples of the Lord, we must imitate Mary our Mother to learn to listen, discern and take action, and to be obedient, humble and totally God’s.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we “commemorate her passing, body and soul, into Heaven, where she stands beside her Son ‘in garments of gold’. Though the dogma of the Assumption was only defined in 1950, it was widely believed by the early Christians. The Blessed Virgin truly leads the way, she fulfilled her vocation in humility and, given her Immaculate Conception, the grave was no place for her body. Where she is now, we one day hope to be.” [The CTS New Missal, 2012]

Let our fervent prayer be:

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, be with us and pray with us.”

Let us also pray with and pray for Ukraine that:

“The weapons of war be silenced, the evil of the aggressors be stopped, and those who hold the fate of the world in their hands may spare us from the horror and madness of war.”