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,

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?

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.”

Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, I proclaim your greatness and my spirit rejoices in you as my God and Savior. You have done great things for me, and holy is your name. Your mercy is everlasting. You humble the arrogant, the mighty, and prideful, and lift up the lowly. Lift me up in your mercy today to share more fully in your divine life.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Maternal Closeness: On Monday, we meditated on Mary as the Immaculate Conception, using the first part of the Church’s most recent document on Mary’s titles and her cooperation in the work of salvation. Mary, the document affirmed, has a unique collaboration in the saving work that Christ carries out in his Church. Mary intercedes for us in heaven and is a motherly sign of the Lord’s mercy. In this way, the Lord gives his merciful action in us a maternal face and dimension. “The various Marian invocations, images, and shrines show Mary’s true motherhood, which draws near to the lives of her children. An example of this can be seen in how she appeared to Saint Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill and addressed him with the tender words of a mother: ‘My dearest and youngest son, Juan.’ When Saint Juan Diego expressed his difficulties in carrying out the mission entrusted to him, Mary showed him the strength of her motherhood: ‘Am I not here, who am your mother?... Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms?’” (Mater Populi Fidelis, 43).

2. Motherly Intercession: “That experience of Mary’s maternal affection, which Saint Juan Diego lived, is the personal experience of all Christians who receive Mary’s affection and place ‘their daily necessities’ into her hands, trustfully opening ‘their hearts to implore her motherly intercession and obtain her reassuring protection’ (John Paul II, August 13, 1997). Beyond the extraordinary manifestations of her closeness, there are constant and daily expressions of her motherhood in the lives of all her children. Even when we do not request her intercession, she shows herself near to us as a Mother to help us recognize the Father’s love, to contemplate Christ’s saving self-gift, and to receive the Spirit’s sanctifying action” (Mater Populi Fidelis, 44). Mary is our Mother in the order of grace because she helps us prepare ourselves to receive the life of divine grace that only the Lord can pour into us (see Mater Populi Fidelis, 45). In bestowing the gift of grace, God fulfills our Mother’s desire. “As at Cana, Mary does not tell Christ what he should do. Instead, she intercedes by presenting him with our deficiencies, needs, and sufferings so that he may act with his divine power” (Mater Populi Fidelis, 49). Mary listens, decides, and acts to help us open our lives to Christ and to his grace.

3. Imitating our Mother: Mary intercedes for us, her children, and is close to us and invites us to open our hearts to God’s grace. As believers, we can imitate Mary’s preparatory role when we cooperate with God in his communication of grace. There are certain actions that we can do that prepare the reception of God’s sanctifying grace, such as preaching, teaching, and acts of charity and mercy (Mater Populi Fidelis, 57 and 59). We can help enkindle the faith of others through the proclamation of God’s Word, through our prayers, and through our works of love. “Works of love toward one’s neighbor — even daily labors or efforts to change this world — can then become a channel for cooperating with Christ’s saving work” (Mater Populi Fidelis, 62). When Mary intercedes for us, she implores God to grant us those internal impulses of the Holy Spirit, the divine aids that prepare sinners for justification and encourage those already justified by grace to grow in holiness. In this way, she is truly “Mother of grace.” “She humbly cooperates so that we may open our hearts to the Lord, who alone can justify us through the action of sanctifying grace: that is, when God pours his Trinitarian life into us, dwells in us as a Friend, and makes us sharers in his divine life” (Mater Populi Fidelis, 69). These aids that come from God have a maternal dimension and are filled with the tenderness and closeness of our spiritual Mother.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, your mother cares for me just as she cared for you. Listen to her intercession as she tells you what I most need. Bring her humble petitions before the throne of your heavenly Father.

Living the Word of God: How am I called to imitate Mary’s closeness and intercession today? How can I cooperate in God’s saving work and help those around me prepare to receive God’s grace? How am I called concretely to preach the Word, teach the Faith, and serve others with charity and mercy?