Mary's Challenge

The last time I went to St. Peter's Basilica for my confession (Nov. 30, 2008) I noticed the guys working on the crib at one corner and remembered how only a few months back, I saw them putting it away!
2008 is indeed going...going... and in three-days' time, will be gone! The usual question that comes to mind at the end of every year is, "have I grown and if yes, how-- how much?"

As I continued my musings, I "chanced" on this article by Maggie Fergusson in the Christmas issue of The Tablet -- "Simple, awesome, invitation to love." It talks of the challenge of the Virgin Psychosostria (Saver of Souls), namely the invitation to growth. Contemplating on this 14th century icon, the author of the article rightly remarks - "The Virgin cradles her son, but, rather than looking at him, she offers him outwards -- to God? to the world? Her gaze, meanwhile, seems fixed on the deepest self of the person standing before her, and it is grave and searching."

The problem with Christian growth is a delicate one indeed. I guess it is because the basic challenge of Christ is that for us to be "more" we should be "less". The one who loses himself is the one who finds life, real life! In Christian life, to "nurture oneself" means to "die to oneself." How do we live with this paradox?
The same article mentioned here proposes the answer through the words of Dame Joanna Jamieson, Benedictine nun and former Abbess of Stanbrook Abbey.
Quote from the article: Dame Joanna began by citing the early Christian writers, and the notion of the capax Dei, the space for God that exists within each one of us. "God is not just with us," she says, "he is actually dwelling within us." The tragedy for many of us today is not so much selfishness as a chronic lack of self-esteem, she says, adding: "We are taught that we must love God, and love our neighbour, but we are not taught how to love ourselves. Most people can't begin to imagine how much God loves them." Dame Joanna turns to the image of God as the potter to illustrate her belief that we are never alone in our attempts to change and grow, saying: "Clay is a lumpy, messy, difficult substance, but once God, the potter, has thrown it on to the wheel of life, he never takes his hands off it until it has been transformed." So working on oneself, on one's inner space, far from being selfish, is actually a service to the wider world, she says." (to read the whole article, click here).

In the end, I guess the measure of growth for me would be the increasing capacity for "the three loves" -- love for God, love for others, love for oneself. Recalling the words of my spiritual director spoken more than 30 years ago, I remember him telling me -- no matter what happens, see to it that you are honest to God, to others and to yourself.
Indeed, that is the basic balance, the individuality and the connectedness that I've been working on year in and year out. Providentially, this was the theme by which I started Year 2008, with the help of another spiritual director and friend.
All things considered, I guess there's no harm in meeting the Virgin Psychosostria "eye-to-eye". She knows more than I do that if I say yes to her challenge, God himself will provide the means and the ways how this could be realized.

Divine Disturbance

Consider this unusual Annunciation painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, renowned Afro-American painter of biblical themes. Does it not capture well the emotion of surprise and trepidation which Mary felt as the Gospel narrative says so (cf Lk 1:26-38)?
I tend to think that at times, we get so used to this reading that we miss to see how difficult it must have been for Mary to understand what the messenger at hand was telling her. How much she needed to overcome her fear to be able to listen attentively to this mind-boggling message!
Come to think of it, together with Mary, all the other biblical personages mentioned during this Christmas novena, had to “suffer” first-hand divine disturbance. Consider Joseph (Mt 1:18-24); Zechariah (Lk 1:5-25), Samson’s mother (Judges 13:2-7;24-25). Surely, when God passes, he turns people’s lives up-side-down! Or maybe I should say, he turned heaven and earth up-side-down!
As I was reflecting on this, a message arrived from a friend, which serendipitously confirms my faith in our God-of-surprises. This is a piece from a Filipino Jesuit priest, Horacio de la Costa, entitled Heaven is Here: Down is Up and Up is Down:

Christmas is when we celebrate the unexpected; it is the festival of surprise.

This is the night when shepherds wake to the songs of angels;

when the Earth has a star for a satellite;

when wise men go on a fool's errand, bringing gifts to a Prince they have not seen,

in a country they do not know.

This is the night when one small donkey bears on its back

the weight of the world's desire,

and an ox plays host to the Lord of heaven.

This is the night when we are told to seek our King, not in a palace but in a stable.

Although we have stood here, year after year, as our fathers before us,

the wonder has not faded, nor will it ever fade;

the wonder of that moment when we push open the little door, and enter,

and entering find in the arms of a Mother, who is a Virgin,

a Baby Who is a God.

Chesterton has said it for all of us:

the only way to view Christmas properly is to stand on one's head.

Was there ever a house more topsy-turvy than the House of Christmas,

the cave where Christ was born?

For here, suddenly, in the very heart of Earth, is Heaven;

down is up and up is down,

the angels and the stars look down on God who made them

and God looks up at the things He made.

There is no room in an inn for Him who made room, and to spare, the Milky Way;

and where God is homeless, all men are at home.

We were promised a Savior,

but we never dreamed that God himself would come to save us.

We knew that He loved us,

but we never dared to think that He loved us so much as to become like us.

But that is the way God gives.

His gifts are never quite what we expect,

but always something better than we hoped for.

We can only dream of things too good to be true;

God has a habit of giving things too good to be false.

That is why our faith is a faith in the unexpected, a religion of surprise.

Now more than ever, living in times so troubled,

facing a future so uncertain, we need such faith.

We need it for ourselves, and we need it to give to others.

We must remind the world that if Christmas comes in the depth of winter,

it is that there may be an Easter in the spring.

Gaudete!

Yesterday, Gaudete Sunday, the Advent Sunday of Joy, I had been wonderfully filled with both spiritual and “secular” joy, thanks to a friend from the Venerable English College here in Rome.
I was invited to their 2-part Advent presentation: the first featured Advent and Christmas musical pieces in prayer setting sung by their Schola Cantorum; the second, an entertainment package entitled “A Venerable Christmas Cracker” which displayed the wide-range of artistic talents of the students and staff of the College.

What did I bring with me after the event?
First, the spirit of friendship which was lavishly poured on me.
Second, this piece from St. Bernard’s homily in praise of the Virgin Mother (the Fifth Reading in the First part) which I choose to accompany me in these days of the Christmas novena.
“You have heard, O Virgin, the announcement of the great mystery; the means designed for its fulfillment have been unfolded to you, each wondrous, each replete with joy. “Rejoice, O daughter of Sion, and exult exceedingly, O virgin daughter of Jerusalem."
And because to you has been given joy and gladness, allow us to hear from your lips the answer and the good tidings which we desire, that the bones that have been humbled may rejoice. You have heard the fact, and have believed; believe also in the means which have been explained to you. You have heard that you are to conceive and bring forth a Son, and that it will not be through the power of man, but by the virtue of the Holy Ghost.
The angel awaits your reply, for it is time that he should return to God, Who sent him. We, too, are waiting, O Lady, for a word of mercy we, who are groaning under the sentence of condemnation. See, the price of our salvation is offered to you; if you consent, we shall at once be delivered. By the Eternal Word of God we were all created, and behold we die. By your short answer we shall be refreshed and recalled to life. Adam, with all his race Adam, a weeping exile from Paradise, implores it of you. Abraham entreats you, David beseeches you. This is the object of the burning desires of the holy fathers, of your fathers, who are still dwelling in the region of the shades of death. Behold the entire human race prostrate at your feet in expectation.
And rightly, for on your word depend the consolation of the wretched, the redemption of the captive, the freedom of the condemned, the salvation of your entire race, of all the children of Adam. Hasten, then, O Lady, to give your answer; hasten to speak the word so longed for by all on earth, in limbo, and in heaven. Yea, the King and Lord of all things, who has greatly desired your beauty, desires as eagerly your word of consent, by which He has purposed to save the world. He whom you have pleased by your silence will now be more gratified by your reply.
Hark! He calls to you from heaven: "most beautiful among women, give me to hear your voice." If you let Him hear your voice, He will enable you to see our salvation. And is not this what you have sought for, what you have prayed for night and day with sighs and tears ? Why, then, delay? Are you the happy one to whom it has been promised, or "look we for another"? Yes, you indeed are that most fortunate one. You are the promised virgin, the expected virgin, the much- longed-for virgin, through whom your holy father Jacob, when about to die, rested his hope of eternal life, saying: "I will look for thy salvation, O Lord."
You, O Mary, are that virgin in whom and by whom God Himself, our King before all ages, determined to operate our salvation in the midst of the earth. Why do you humbly expect from another what is offered to you, and will soon be manifested through yourself if you will but yield your consent and speak the word? Answer, then, quickly to the angel yes, through the angel give your consent to your God. Answer the word, receive the Word. Utter yours, conceive the Divine. Speak the word that is transitory, and embrace the Word that is everlasting.
Why do you delay? Why are you fearful? Believe, confess, receive. Let humility put on courage, and timidity confidence. It is certainly by no means fitting that virginal simplicity should forget prudence. Yet in this one case only the prudent virgin need not fear presumption, because, though modesty shone forth in her silence, it is now more necessary that her devotion and obedience should be revealed by her speech.
Open, Blessed Virgin, your heart to faith, your lips to compliance, your bosom to your Creator. Behold, the desired of all nations stands at the gate and knocks. Oh, suppose He were to pass by while you delay! How would you begin again with sorrow to seek Him whom your soul loveth! Arise run open! Arise by faith, run by devotion, open by acceptance.
Mary speaks. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done unto me according to thy word."

And last, but not the least, the fun and laughter. The grand finale, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus, was the part which delighted me most. It was an imitation of this “piece” – though in a smaller scale - but equally amusing and truly entertaining. Click here and see for yourself.