LENT -- THE SILENCE THAT CALLS US

INTRODUCTION

Lent has always been a part of the liturgical life of the Church. Hippolytus wrote the history of Lent in Rome in the year 217 while Cyril wrote its history in Jerusalem in the 4th and 5th century. Both historical accounts agree that Lent was the period for two important preparations in the life of the Church. One is the preparation of catechumens or candidates for baptism through catechetical instruction and reflection on the Word of God. Another is the preparation of the already baptized for renewal of baptismal vows. Both preparations reach their climax on the great feast of Pascha or the solemn celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection.

Meanwhile in the 4th century, a period of public conversion of penitents started in Rome. This pious practice developed even more in the 5th century and became closely linked with the sacrament of baptism as an integral part of the Lenten observance.

Moreover, when the Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity after a widespread persecution of Christians, Christianity was not only allowed throughout the empire but was adopted as the religion of the empire as well. This positive development, however, confronted the Church with a question: What should be done with Christians who apostatized during the persecutions but now want to return to the Faith? Responding to this issue, Lent became a period for apostates, wanting to return to the Church, to do penance in public and beg the public for prayers. Then on Maundy Thursday, during the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the penitents were welcome back into the Church amidst great joy and fraternal charity. While prior to Maundy Thursday, they were not allowed to join the Christian community in the celebration of the Eucharist, once welcomed back into the Church and re-established into full communion with all the Faithful, the penitents once again would participate in the Eucharistic celebration, beginning with the Paschal Triduum or the three days of liturgical commemoration of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

From the days of its origin in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries up until today, we observe Lent every year. As we once again find our selves in the Lent, let us examine if we really understand the real meaning of the blessed season. Do we really know its value in our Christian life? What are its fruits in our life? In the midst of the colorful and heart-rending rituals of Lent, what really is the Lord calling us to during this season?

MEANING OF LENT

Lent is the liturgical season right before the Paschal Triduum. It starts on Ash Wednesday and ends just when the Mass of the Lord’s Supper begins on Maundy Thursday. From Maundy Thursday through Easter Sunday, we have the shortest liturgical season: The Paschal Triduum.

There are six weeks of Lent and all those weeks are meant to prepare us for the celebration of the Paschal Triduum. The fifth Sunday is called “Laetere Sunday” or “Sunday of Rejoicing” while the sixth is “Palm Sunday” or “Passion Sunday”.

What does Vatican II say?

The Church’s Dogmatic Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium nos. 109-110, two elements are mentioned as the special characteristics of Lent: renewal or preparation for baptism and penance or conversion to God. It stresses the value of catechetical instruction on the sacraments of baptism and reconciliation. Moreover, it states that the Church should encourage all the Faithful to pray fervently, to read and reflect on the Word of God, and to an active participation in the liturgical celebrations of the season so that the People of God may be led unto sincere contrition of their sins and renewal of the life they received in baptism.

What do liturgical and paraliturgical guidelines say?

Liturgical and paraliturgical celebrations assist greatly to achieve this purpose of Lent set by the Church. The ambiance of the season is one of silence. The Alleluia and the Gloria are not sung. The over-all theme is repentance from sin and conversion to God. The liturgical color is purple, the color of repentance and penance. The spirit that pervades the season is preparation for the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection. The prayerful hope of everyone is that by sharing in the suffering and death of Jesus, all my rise with Him to new life as well. Prayer, penance, and works of charity are the three legs on which Lent stands.

THE NUMBER FORTY

The word “Lent” is translated in Latin as “Quadragesima”. In Spanish, the word simply means “cuarenta” or “Forty”. It is from the Spanish cuarenta that we derived the Filipino word “Kuwaresma” to denote Lenten season. The season is composed of forty days. With its emphasis on prayer, reflection on the Word of God, sacrifice, and charitable deeds, Lent is our annual 40-day retreat.
Forty in Scriptures

Forty is highly significant in Sacred Scripture. Both the Old and the New Testaments use this number to express something very significant. Following are a few of these references in both parts of the Bible.

In Gn 7:17, we are told that during Noah’s time the earth was subdued by the great flood for forty days. This signifies cleansing. In Dt 34:7, we read that Moses died when he was 120 years old, with his sight not growing dim nor his strength waning. 120 years is forty multiplied thrice. This symbolizes fullness of time, a ripening of life. In Ps 95:10, it is mentioned that the Israelite’s sojourn in the wilderness numbered to forty years: “Forty years I endured that generation; I said, ‘This people’s heart goes astray; they do not know my ways.’” This brings to mind man’s infidelity to God and God’s fidelity to man. In Acts 13:21, Paul the Apostle recalls, “Then they asked for a king. God gave them Saul, son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.” Saul was the first king of Israel. This connotes the beginning of Israel as a nation under the leadership of a human ruler chosen by God.

In the New Testament, the life of Jesus and the early Christian community are likewise marked by the number forty. In Lk 2:22-38, we have the story of the Lord’s presentation in the Temple. It says that Jesus was brought by His parents to the Temple, forty days His birth, to fulfill what was written in the Law of Moses. Here, the concept of offering comes to mind. In Mt 4:1-11, Mk 1:12-13, and Lk 4:1-13, we read how Jesus was tempted by Satan. Just before He began His public ministry, after His baptism in the Jordan, Jesus went into the desert where He fasted and was tempted by Satan for forty days and forty nights. Forty here symbolizes preparation. In Acts 1:3, Luke reports that Jesus, after His resurrection, showed Himself to the disciples and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God for forty days before He finally ascended into heaven. Clearly, this signifies the beginning of the Church and her understanding of her identity and mission in the world.

With these examples from the Scripture, we may conclude that the number forty represents the fullness of time that is characterized by an interplay of spiritual cleansing of man and God’s unchanging love that inaugurates a new order of things.

Forty in Ordinary Human Life

In ordinary human life, forty is also given a special meaning. A cliché says, “Life begins at forty.” Forty days are also allotted for mourning our beloved dead. Forty carries with it the double meaning of life and death. Thus, it signifies beginning, renewal, rebirth, hope, and belief in the immortality of the human spirit.

LENT AS SPRINGTIME

The early Church Fathers had always referred to Lent as “Springtime in the Church”. The word “Lent” in itself comes from the English vocabulary, “lencten”, which means “springtime”.

Cycle of Life

In countries of temperate climate, there are four seasons: winter; spring; summer; and fall or autumn. Winter is when the land is covered with snow and temperature drops dramatically. Spring is the rebirth of the earth as buds begin to sprout. Summer is when the earth ripens and life is at its peak. Fall or autumn is when the earth sheds its leaves and prepares for the coming of winter. This cycle repeats itself as it constantly renews the earth, renews life.

In our individual lives, we go through these four seasons too. Winter is fetal stage. It is when we are most helpless and are totally dependent on others. Spring is birth. It means more than just physical birth because it also connotes the opening of our awareness, the widening of our consciousness, and the waking up of the different dimensions of our self-existence. Summer is adulthood. It is the prime of our life when we have supposedly found our place in society, established our own identity, and owned our individual responsibility for our selves and for others. Autumn or fall is the twilight of life. It stands for old age when we seem to return to the fetal stage of dependency on others and make our greatest and final act of self-surrender. This changing of seasons in our life is both linear and spiral. As linear change, they refer to the chronology of events in one’s life, corresponding to the development of our physiological, biological, and psychological make up. As spiral, they repeat themselves with the purpose of achieving our apex, our maturity, our fullness in any given human affair.

Life-Having and Life-Giving

Lent is about rebirth, re-awakening, renewal. It is about having life and giving life. It is about being alive and being a life-giver. It is not about sacrifices that have no bearing in life. It is not about self-mortifications or penitential deeds that have no relationship with life. Lent is not about dying; rather, it is about dying so that others may live. Lent is not about doing penance solely for personal agenda. If Lent is about having life and life-giving, there is always and should always be a social dimension to the sacrifices and self-mortifications we submit our selves during this season.

Take for example, fasting. Why do we fast? How do we fast? We fast for our personal need to atone for our personal sins and develop strength of personal character so that we may be stronger in fighting our battles against evil. When we fast, we express our sorrow over our sins. We also discipline our selves by taming our basic instincts, by delaying gratification, by learning more and more to say “no” to our cravings that, when used by the devil, can be the causes of many of our sins. However, there is something more about fasting than that which is for the self.

Quite often, we forget the social dimension of fasting. In the early Church, Christians fast and the money they saved from fasting was given to the Church for her the poor in the community. Rightly, Bp. Socrates Villegas once said that the money we save from fasting no longer belongs to us. We have no right to use them for our selves because the money from our fasting belongs to the poor. When we spend that money, we steal from the poor. This dimension of fasting is very often forgotten or intentionally brush aside. We fast today, then feast tomorrow. Where does the money we save from fasting go? Are we not guilty of stealing from the poor?

Fasting, as a form of penance, should not benefit only the one who fast but also those for whom fasting is not an option but a daily experience because they are too poor to eat everyday. Lent is about becoming more and more a life-giver. Sacrifices, self-mortifications, penances, and alike have no significance whatsoever with Lent, and with Christianity for that matter, if they do not lead us to the fullness of life and make us more and more like Christ, the Life-giver.

It is worth noting here that in the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines declared that the Lenten season is the season of “Alay Kapwa”.

“Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth….”

The Church has critics who say that her business is to make people unhappy, for the moment people are happy, the Church runs out of business. Some of these critics even accuse the Church that she keeps people unhappy by her positive teaching on sacrifice, self-mortification, dying to one’s self, and calling temperance, patient endurance, and fortitude amidst trials and sufferings as “virtues”. Karl Marx commented, “Religion is the opium of the poor”. These critics are gravely mistaken.

Human suffering is not the sole concern of Christianity. It is also a question that relentlessly disturbs other sciences such as psychology, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology. It is not only Christianity, or religion in general, that addresses itself to the perennial issue of human suffering.

However, the greatest mistake of the Church’s critics is their misunderstanding of the what is central for the Church, what is core to the Christian Faith. And what is the core of our Faith? At the heart of our Christian Faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the center of our lives, of our Faith, of our religion, of our Church.

And what is central to Christ Jesus? The answer is what we say when we proclaim the mystery of Faith in every Mass: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” Jesus is the heart of our Faith. And at the heart of Jesus is His Paschal Mystery.

Thus, everything in our life as Christians points to the Paschal Mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in our spirituality as disciples of Jesus is oriented to sharing in His Paschal Mystery. We are called to die and rise again with the Lord. At the core of our spirituality is the call to die so that we may live: “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). We cannot rise unless we fall. We cannot bear fruit unless we die. We cannot live fully unless we die with the Lord. Unless we die and rise we the Lord, we are not life-giving. The Paschal Mystery of Jesus is the pattern of our lives. And it is to this kind of life that Lent prepares us, for this kind of life that Lent renews us. Lent is springtime in the Church when the grain of wheat dies so that it bears much fruit.

CONCLUSION

From the foregoing reflection, we come to a conclusion that sounds seven calls for us to respond to.

Grow!

The first call is the call to growth in the correct awareness of our own sinfulness. This awareness should lead us to repentance and conversion of life. Yes, it should cause us sorrow for our sins but never hopelessness in the midst of our guilt. Rather, it should deepen our appreciation of the unfathomable love of God for us and strengthen us in our resolve to amend our ways unto greater fidelity to our baptismal vows.

Rejoice!

The second call is the call to rejoice. This call may sound almost out of tune to the common understanding of many regarding the silence of Lent. The silence of Lent is not a hopeless silence. It is not the silence of despair. It is rather the silence of the deepest joy known to man. Lent is not only about profound sorrow for sins. It is also equally unfathomable joy because we celebrate the Paschal Mystery of the Lord – the central mystery of our Faith and the very pattern of our Christian life. Moreover, we rejoice at Lent because we are renewed, we are given the spirit of divine sonship, we are given the spirit of fraternal charity, we are given new life in Christ, and thereby the image of the Lord is brought to perfection within us. The First Preface for Lent rings out with this kind of sentiment:

“Father, all powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Each year You give us THIS JOYFUL SEASON
when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery
with mind and heart renewed.

“You give us a spirit of loving reverence for You, our Father,
and of willing service to our neighbor.

“As we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ,
You bring the image of Your Son to perfection within us.

“Now, with angels and archangels,
and the whole company of heaven,
we sing the unending hymn of Your praise…” (Roman Misal).

Wake up!

The third call is the call of re-awakening. Lent should re-awaken in us a sense of wonder over the ways of God and re-create in us greater sense of gratitude for the unfathomable love of God for us. The Easter Proclamation (Exultet) expresses this re-awakening of our sense of wonder and gratitude with these words:

“Father, how wonderful Your care for us!
How boundless Your merciful love!
To ransom a slave
You gave away your Son.

“O happy fault (felix culpa), O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!” (Roman Misal).

Convert!

The fourth call is the call to a “Copernican revolution” in our lives. Copernicus challenged the old belief that the earth was the center of the universe. After careful study, he came to the conclusion that the sun, not the earth, was (and still is until today) the center of the universe. The same revolution should happen to our individual and communal lives. We are not the center of everything. Jesus is. Lent refocuses us to that true Center. And because central to Jesus is His Paschal Mystery, we follow the same pattern of dying and rising again in our individual and communal lives.

Live and give life!

The fifth call is the call to become life-giving. Lent should transform us from merely existing to fully living. Jesus said that He came so that we might have life and life in its fullness (cf. Jn 10:10). Fullness of life means not only living but also becoming life-giving. This is the reason why to have fullness of life, we need to die to our selves. In dying, we come to life even as we give life as exemplified by the Lord’s own Paschal Mystery.

Moreover, we must discern well how we pray, sacrifice, and do charitable deeds – the three legs on which Lent as it were stands – because Lent is not about praying more, sacrificing more, and doing more charitable deeds. Instead, Lent is about praying better, sacrificing better, and doing charitable deeds better. It is the ‘better’ that gives life, not necessarily the ‘more’.

Listen!

The sixth call is the call to listen. From its very origin in the history of the Church’s liturgical life, Lent has always been devoted to the reflection on the Word of God. It is a special time for us to silence our selves so that we may hear God better. Lent is listening to God speaking to us through the events in the history of salvation. When the Lenten season is over and the greatest feast for which Lent prepares us comes, the Easter Vigil devotes a large section of its liturgy to the reading of, reflecting on, and praying with Scriptures. Thus, we have eight readings during the Easter Vigil Mass. The real spirit of Lent and the Holy Week is not in the sound of our rituals, not in the melody of our pabasa (Filipino traditional singing of the life of Christ), not in the scripts of our passion plays or senakulo, not even in our prayerful whispers, but in the Word that God speaks to us.

Go!

The seventh call is the call to go forth. Lent should not be taken in isolation. Its significance is found in the Paschal Mystery of Christ. The Paschal Mystery of Christ is understood in the light of the Pentecost. By His dying and rising to life, Jesus was able to breathe into us the new breath of life, recreating us, making all things new by the power of the Holy Spirit. The giving of the Holy Spirit – for Luke, on Pentecost Day, while for John, on the evening of the Lord’s Resurrection – completes the effects of Christ’s Paschal Mystery on us. Redeemed by the Lord and empowered by His Spirit, we are therefore sent forth to bear witness by our words and deeds to the truth of the Lord’s Resurrection. Authentic Christian witnessing should translate into the kind of lifestyle that echoes the words of a song that says, “In my heart I know my Savior lives. I can hear Him calling tenderly my name. Over sin and death, He has prevailed. In His glory, in His new life, we partake.”

The silence of springtime, the silence of Lent

Lent sounds its call to us. Let us hear it. Let us heed it. Ps 95:7-8 is the Lenten refrain: “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts….” This is the most important reason for the silence of Lent. This is the silence of springtime that ushers in the sound of a new creation. This is the silence of life fully renewed, fully lived, fully given. Yes, this is the silence of sorrow for sins but also of joy for the unmerited response of forgiveness from God who has been transgressed. This is the silence of the penitential spirit but also of the sense of wonder over the marvelous ways of God. This is the silence of Lent that calls us, “Come back to me, with all your heart, don’t let fear keep us apart.” This is the silence that bursts into the grand Alleluia of the new life that Easter promises us.

With Mary

May Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer and of the redeemed, the woman of silence, who stood beneath the cross of her Son, silently but actively participating in her Son’s Paschal Mystery, help us to hear and heed the call of Lent. May she whom we venerate as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pro-Life Patroness, intercede for us always so that we may have fullness of life and become life-givers ourselves as we go through our own Paschal Mystery each day. Amen.

THE MESSAGE OF LOURDES

Introduction

Between February 11 and July 16 of the year 1858, the Blessed Mother appeared eighteen times to an illiterate, sickly, peasant girl, named “Bernadette Soubirous”, at Lourdes, France. The Blessed Mother appeared as a beautiful young girl of sixteen or seventeen years old. She was dressed in a white robe, girded at the waist with a blue ribbon and wearing a white veil that gave just a glimpse of hair. The last folds of her robe covered her bare feet, with a yellow rose upon each of them. A rosary of white beads, linked by a golden chain shining like the two roses on her feet, was hanging on her right arm. Addressing Bernadette, she used the polite form “vous” rather than the informal “tu”. The humble virgin appeared to a humble girl and treated her with dignity.

In a letter, Bernadette herself described her experience. Following is an excerpt of her letter.

“I had gone down one day with two other girls to the bank of the
river Gave when suddenly I heard a kind of rustling sound.
I turned my head toward the field by the side of the river, but the trees seemed quite still and the noise was evidently not from them. Then I looked up and caught sight of the cave where I saw a lady wearing a lovely white dress with a bright belt. On top of each of her feet was a pale yellow rose, the same color as her rosary beads.

“At this I rubbed my eyes, thinking I was seeing things, and I put my hands into the fold of my dress where my rosary was. I wanted to make the sign of the cross, but for the life of me I couldn’t manage it, and my hand just fell down. Then the lady made the sign of the cross herself, and at the second attempt I managed to do the same, though my hands were trembling. Then I began to say the rosary
while the lady let her beads clip through her fingers, without moving
her lips. When I stopped saying the Hail Mary, she immediately
vanished.

“I asked my two companions if they had noticed anything, but
they said no. Of course, they wanted to know what I was doing, and
I told them that I had seen a lady wearing a nice white dress, though
I didn’t know who she was. I told them not to say anything about it,
and they said I was silly to have anything to do with it. I said they
were wrong, and I came back next Sunday, feeling myself drawn to
the place….

“The third time I went, the lady spoke to me and asked me to come
every day for fifteen days. I said I would and then she said that
she wanted me to tell the priests to build a chapel there. She also
told me to drink from the stream. I went to the Gave, the only
stream I could see. Then she made me realize she was not speaking
of the Gave, and she indicated a little tickle of water close by.
When I got to it I could only find a few drops, mostly mud.
I cupped my hands to catch some liquid without success, and then
I started to scrape the ground. I managed to find a few drops of
water, but only at the fourth attempt was there sufficient for any
kind of a drink. The lady then vanished and I went back home.

“I went back each day for fifteen days, and each time, except one
Monday and one Friday, the lady appeared and told me to look
for a stream and wash in it and to see that the priests build a
chapel there. I must also pray, she said, for the conversion of sinners.
I asked her many times what she meant by that, but she only smiled.
Finally with outstretched arms and eyes looking up to heaven, she
told me she was the Immaculate Conception.

“During the fifteen days she told me three secrets, but I was not to
speak about them to anyone, and so far I have not.”

Incidentally, on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX officially defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. And, as Bernadette herself said, when she asked the lady’s identity, the lady answered in the native dialect and said, “Que soy era Immaculado Conceptiou”. Clearly, the Blessed Mother confirmed the dogma already defined four years earlier by the Church, even as it was highly improbable that Bernadette, who was then an uneducated fourteen-year old peasant girl, knew the dogma.

In 1862, after thorough scrutiny of the messages of the alleged supernatural vision and the miracles attributed to it, with Bernadette enduring many and various sorts of trials on account of it, the Church declared the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the cult of Our Lady of Lourdes for the diocese where the apparitions occurred. In 1876, the Basilica of Our Lady of Lourdes was consecrated. Then in 1890, Pope Leo XIII established the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Lourdes for February 11 of every year for the Diocese of Tarbes, but on November 13, 1907, Pope Pius X ordered that the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes be celebrated annually on the 11th of February throughout the Universal Church.

Since then Lourdes has always been a place of pilgrimage where healing and conversion of hearts abound. The Church, to this day, continues recognizing countless accounts of miraculous cures and conversion of sinners attributed to the Lady who once appeared to the illiterate, sickly, peasant girl, named “Bernadette”.

Bernadette Soubirous

Who was Bernadette Soubirous? Let us draw a brief sketch of her life.

Maria Bernadette was born on January 7, 1844. She was the eldest of the six children of Francis Soubirous and Louise Caserot. When she was born, her family was living in the Pyrenees during a turmoil in France. She has always been a sickly girl who suffered from asthma and, at one point in her early years, from cholera. She never went to school during her childhood and could only speak the Burgundian dialect. At the tender age of twelve to fourteen, she hired herself out as a servant. Her family was poor but very pious. Despite her illiteracy, she learned the basics of the Faith and received her first Communion just around the time of the apparitions at Lourdes.

The day that the Blessed Mother first appeared to her, Bernadette was at the bank of the River Gave, gathering firewood for her mother. The account of the apparitions are given in the preceding section of this reflection. Over a period of six months, Bernadette experienced eighteen visitations from the Blessed Mother. She was led to a spring of healing waters and conveyed to the local pastor, Cure Payramale, that it was the Blessed Mother’s desire that a chapel be built in honor of her appearances there. But the pastor did not believe Bernadette and instead accused her of lying about the apparitions. She was told to find out from the lady of her apparitions who she was and demand from her a miracle by making the rosebush in the grotto bloom. On the Feast of the Lord’s Annunciation, March 25, of that year, the pastor’s demand was met: the rosebush bloomed and the lady identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. From then on, even as official investigations on the authenticity of the apparitions were still being carried through by both church and civil authorities, thousands of pilgrims and even skeptics flocked to Lourdes. Healings and conversions came rather naturally from Lourdes, but Bernadette remained sickly and even maltreated, causing her so much sufferings.

Meanwhile, Bernadette moved into a house with the religious sisters of Nevers, Lourdes. There she lived, worked, and had the opportunity to learn to read and write. In 1866, at the age of twenty-two and returning to obscurity, she herself became one of the Sisters of Notre Dame who served by taking care of the sick and the indigent. She was given the religious name “Sour Marie Bernarde”, and was assigned to work in the sacristy so as not to be accessible to the public as much as possible. When referring to herself, Bernadette would say, “I am a broom which Our Lady used, but now I have been put back in my corner.”

The convent was not a refuge from sufferings for Bernadette though because even as she was always sick, she was also often maltreated by her superiors. After a long and painful illness, Bernadette passed away on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35 years old, with a prayer for the Blessed Mother’s help on her lips.

Bernardette was beatified in 1925 by Pope Pius XI and canonized also by him on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 1933. She is venerated as patroness of Lourdes, France, of people ridiculed for their piety, of shepherds, and of those who are suffering from sickness and poverty. Her body today lies incorruptible inside a glass casket with the words in gold: “I cannot promise you heaven here on earth but in the next life” – the Blessed Mother’s pledge to her.

Three Points to Ponder On

Much has already been said and written regarding the messages of Our Lady of Lourdes. But little attention is given to the fact that the life of Bernadette in itself was a lesson that the Blessed Mother wishes to teach us even today. I propose three things for further reflection in this regard.

First, the messenger is not guaranteed exemption from suffering. On the contrary, the message of the messenger becomes even more convincing when the messenger suffers on account of his or her message. Through Bernadette, the Blessed Mother conveyed the message of her maternal care in which we all find spiritual and physical consolations. Bernadette’s life, however, seemed to be lacking in such consolations. She was maltreated, maligned, and called names on account of her conveying the message of the Blessed Mother. She was ridiculed not only by her peers; she suffered also from the hands of both church and civil authorities. But despite it all, she stood her ground that the apparitions and the Blessed Mother’s messages and requests were true. That fact in itself was a point considered by the Church in the process of declaring the Lourdes apparitions to be true.

Second, the instrument may not always benefit from what it benefits others. Bernadette was used by the Blessed Mother to give to the world a stream of healing waters. That stream still exists today at Lourdes. Many who are sick in various forms and degrees continue to go to Lourdes today to take a bath or drink from this miraculous stream. And still, many are healed fro their infirmities. A long record of miraculous healing from Lourdes is kept and continues to get longer. Hundreds of crutches, left hanging by the grotto by people who were healed there, powerfully testify to the miracles at Lourdes. But despite all the healings attributed to the miraculous stream dug by Bernadette upon the instruction of the Blessed Mother, Bernadette herself was never healed from her sickness. She did not benefit at all from what she benefited others. Indeed, she was, as she once remarked, like “a broom which Our Lady used,” for after cleaning so many from their illnesses, she remained sickly all throughout her life.

Third, the Blessed Mother cannot promise heaven here on earth for those who love her, but to heaven in the next life, she can bring those who love her until the end. In the first place, heaven is beyond the limitations of the present life. The Blessed Mother cannot disguise heavenly life as earthly life. But she can help very greatly, and indeed she does, in attaining the heavenly life that the living aspires from the earth. The sufferings in this life can be a vehicle that brings souls to heaven. But these sufferings are not just any kind of sufferings. As the suffering of the Blessed Mother was a suffering united to her Son’s suffering, as she stood by Him underneath His cross, so are the sufferings of all her children must be united to Christ. Only those that are united with the sufferings of Jesus can be meritorious and, therefore, bring souls to heaven.

Conclusion

The life of Bernadette in itself was the message of Our Lady of Lourdes. In this life, we will always have sufferings – physical or otherwise. Some may be miraculously healed from their sufferings, but most will have to go through life carrying their crosses as Jesus carried His. However, as this majority, in union with Christ’s sufferings, carry their crosses and eventually are crucified to their crosses, there always stands by their side the Blessed Mother who once stood by the cross of her own Son.

This is the true consolation that comes from true healing: that we are able to transcend our pains because we know that while our bodies may be wasting, our sufferings are not wasted but are, on the contrary, made powerfully useful by Christ as they are united to His in continuously redeeming the world. This is what true healing means.

Is this the kind of healing that we pray for? Is this the kind of healing we ask the Blessed Mother to give us? If ‘yes’, then real healing will come.

PRAISED BE THE THEOTOKOS!

PRAISED BE THE THEOTOKOS!

Introduction

Our thoughts on the Blessed Mother highlights for this first month of the year her title and role as Mother of God. For Catholics around the world, while the liturgical year begins with the First Sunday of Advent, the calendar year is joyfully ushered by the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.

Because the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God is on January 1, other themes converge on this holy day. January 1 concludes the Christmas Octave; thus, celebrating Mary’s divine motherhood on this day adds a further note of Christmas joy. January 1 is also a day of prayer for world peace; hence, remembering Mary’s divine motherhood on this day reminds us that Jesus, her Son, is our Peace. January 1 is of course the first day of a new year; for this reason, venerating Mary as Mother of God on this day focuses our adoring hearts on her Son Jesus who continue to renew our life and in whom we have all become sons and daughters of God.

Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, whose final chapter is devoted to the Blessed Mother, calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times. This alone says the importance of the Church’s teaching on Mary as the Mother of God.

History

It is true, the title “Mother of God” in reference to Mary of Nazareth, as such, cannot be found in the Scripture. In Luke 1:42-43, however, Elizabeth exclaims upon Mary’s visit to her, “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?” Here Elizabeth already declares Mary to be “Mater Domini” or “Mother of the Lord”.

In Galatians 4:4, Paul the Apostle was just short of naming Mary as the mother of God’s Son who is not only truly human but is also truly God. Paul affirms: “In the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law….” Moreover, as Paul asserts that “God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’” we are led to acknowledge that Mary is mother to us all who are, therefore, brothers and sisters of Jesus, the Father’s only Begotten.

But the origin of the precise title “Mother of God” in reference to Mary is in the 3rd or 4th century. Records show that the title was first used by St. Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235 A.D.). However, Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople (c. 428 A.D.) contested the attribution of this title to Mary because his view was such that Jesus as Son of God was one thing and Jesus as Son of Mary is another. Nestorius’ view sees in Christ two Persons: one Divine (the Logos), the other human (Jesus). Thus, Nestorius could not accept that Mary could be referred to, in the real and strict sense of the title, as “Mother of God”.

Nestorius’ view runs totally counter to our Catholic doctrine. We believe, uphold, and teach that in Jesus there are two natures, not two persons. Jesus is one Person with two natures. He is the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity in whom the mystery of having divine and human nature exists. Technically, we call this mystery of the human and divine natures equally and simultaneously present in the one Person of Jesus, the Eternal Word, the Logos, as “hypostatic union”.

Just as Mariology is always the function of Christology, clarifying the Church’s teaching on the Person of Jesus became the avenue to understanding Mary’s divine motherhood. In 431 A.D., the Council of Ephesus clarified, defended, and declared officially the Church’s teaching that Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God and Only Begotten Son of the Father, is one Person with two natures; namely, human and divine. The Council, having approved by acclamation the Second Letter of St. Cyril to Nestorius regarding the Mariological and Christological disputes, condemned Nestorius and his followers, and officially confirms the attribution to Mary of the title “Mother of God”.

At the end of the session that finally resolved this Mariological and Christological issues, a large number of people marched through the street at Ephesus, shouting: “Praised by the Theotokos!” And in 451, the Council of Chalcedon, promulgated as dogma the normative decision taken at the Council of Ephesus.

Theotokos

The Greek term Theotokos (“God-bearer) became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation. The Council Fathers insisted that it is always right to call the Blessed Virgin Mary Theotokos because Jesus, Whom she gave birth to, is not only true man but is likewise true God, and that the two natures in the one Person of Jesus cannot be separated. Hence, she who gave birth to the man-Jesus also gave birth to the God-Jesus. There are no two persons given birth to just as there are no two deliveries made by the same Mary for the same Jesus.

Thus, while it is the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation of the Word, the meaning of the title “Mother of God” directly flows from the Incarnation of the Word. Jesus is God from all eternity and Mary conceived and brought Him forth into the world. Jesus is not God by the fact that Mary conceived and delivered Him. If that is the case (we know and believe it is not of course!) then the Incarnation of the Word of God is an absurdity, not a mystery, because it would make Mary mother of the divine nature. Mary is Mater Dei because from her own flesh she gave to the Word a human nature like hers. There is something of Mary in Jesus because of the Incarnation. Mary is Theotokos because “the Word was made flesh” in her and through her.

The Most Sublime Privilege

Just as in the case of all that the Blessed Mother enjoys, her being the Mother of God is God’s pure and free decision and action. It is grace. It was God who chose Mary to be the mother of His Son and not Mary who chose to be the mother of God. A merely human child does not and cannot choose the mother it wants to have. But not so with God-becoming-man. In the case of the God-man Jesus, It was the Baby who chose who His mother would be. The choice was Mary of Nazareth. Because of this choice, God preserved Mary from all sin and corruption, from the first moment of her conception (i.e., the dogma of the Immaculate Conception), by virtue of what is technically called “preservative redemption” (i.e., that God applied the merits of Jesus’ death and resurrection to Mary even before the actual death and resurrection of Jesus took place), even until the end of her earthly sojourn (i.e., the dogma of the Assumption).

Evidently, the most sublime of Mary’s privileges is her Divine Maternity. Without that Maternity, her other privileges would not exist because she was created to be the Mother of God. Moreover, the reason for Mary’s other privileges, such as her Immaculate Conception, her miraculous virginity, her fullness of grace, her Assumption, and her spiritual motherhood of all humankind, is her Divine Maternity. Her role and title as “Mother of God” explains everything in Mary; without it, nothing can be explained about her.

Other implications reveal the importance of Mary’s Divine Maternity. If we could not assert that Mary is the Mother of God because she gave a body to the Son of God, then neither could we adore this Body; nor would we have been redeemed by the death and resurrection of this Body’ nor would we be united to this Body and share in the divine life by receiving this same Body in the Holy Eucharist.

Conclusion

The Relationships Established by Mary’s Divine Maternity

While Mary’s Divine Maternity exults Mary above all the rest of creation, making her surpass all creatures – angels included – in an immeasurable degree, and makes her the first among equals, wonderful and deeper relationships between her and the Most Holy Trinity and between her and us have been established.

We, too, have our sublime dignity as children of God by adoption through Jesus Christ who alone is God’s Son by nature. Mary, however, is not the adoptive mother of the Son of God; she is His real mother. While we can lose our divine adoption, Mary can never lose her Divine Maternity.

Her Divine Maternity places Mary in the most intimate relationship that a creature can ever have with the Three Divine Persons. Mary is the beloved daughter of the Father, the loving mother of the Son, and the immaculate spouse of the Holy Spirit.

As daughter of the Father, she was predestined at the same moment that God decreed the Incarnation of His Son (cf. Gen 3:15). As Mother of His son, Mary is associated with the Father in the generation of His Son; thus, He gave her exceptional privileges and loved her first among all creatures. With the Father, Mary, too, can say of their Son, Jesus: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

As mother of the Son, Mary did not only give flesh and blood to the Eternal Word of God. She fulfilled the duties and enjoyed the rights of a true mother over the Son of God. She nourished Him, clothed Him, educated Him. She commanded Him and He obeyed. In Jn 2:1-12, we are told that Jesus performed His first miracle (or “the first of His signs” in the style of expression in the Gospel of John) upon the intercession of Mary, His mother, who was present with Him in a wedding at Cana.

In relation to the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, Mary is His spouse because the Gospels and the Apostles’ Creed clearly say that she conceived the Son of God through the Holy Spirit. In a most unique way, the Holy Spirit dwells in her, His immaculate spouse and worthy temple.

Because of the most singular manner she is related to the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, Mary’s relationship with all humankind is enhanced and given a special role and meaning. She who is God’ daughter, mother, and spouse is mother to us all. She is mother of the Church and of all humankind, even those who refuse to acknowledge her motherhood. She who is the mother of the Redeemer is likewise the mother of the redeemed. She who is mother of God is also mother of all the God loves.

Resolutions

As fruits of our meditation on Mary, Mother of God, I suggest three resolutions for us to make.

First, let us show our gratitude to God who created Mary and made her mother of His Son by loving Mary. The Father was first to have valued Mary so highly, should not all believers value her as much?

Second, since the Lord Jesus commanded us from the cross: “Behold your mother” (Jn 19:27), let us fix our eyes on Mary, whose only desire is to lead us closer and closer to her Son, so as to follow her discipleship from Bethlehem to Calvary and beyond. Is it not that Mary’s command to the servants at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever He tells you”, her command to us as well?

Third, because Mary became the mother of God by the power of the Holy Spirit whose immaculate spouse she is, let us strive to rediscover the power of the same Spirit whom we received at baptism and who dwells in us, too. Are we not temples of the Holy Spirit ourselves? In 1 Cor 3:16, Paul the Apostle reminds us: “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” And again in chapter 6, verse 19 of the same letter, we read: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”

Mary is Mater Domini; thus, Mater Dei; thus, Mater Ecclesiae. Mary is the Mother of the Lord; therefore, the Mother of God; therefore, the Mother of the Church. She was chosen by God; she gave birth to God; and she is in the midst of the Church, the People of God, for whose salvation her Divine Maternity was created, invented, and established by God

Mary is the Mother of God so that she may be our mother too. She is our mother because she is the Mother of God. Praised be the Theotokos!

THE ROSARY -- A SPIRITUALITY, NOT ONLY A PRAYER

Introduction

Today is October 1 and a First Saturday of the month. The month of the Holy Rosary this year begins with a First Saturday, a day we specially devote to the Blessed Mother. By divine design we are invited to turn our thoughts on the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary on this very first day of October.

By way of personal witnessing, please allow me to begin from the home I was born into and spent my childhood years. I remember growing up in a family that prayed the rosary together; and true enough, it remained a family that stayed together, as the Venerable Servant of God Fr. Patrick Peyton used to day, until we, the children in that family, left home either to raise our own family or, as in my case, to enter the seminary. No matter what we were doing, everything stops at 8:00 in the evening and we would gather around our family altar to pray the rosary. And quite often, interesting shows on television began or were half-way by 8:00 in the evening; thus, giving an element of little sacrifice for us in praying the rosary together. We never questioned that religious practice by my family. We were simply born into it. As we grew up, we felt a day was not complete without a rosary. When the time for my father to pass away came in 1998, it happened while he was praying the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, after praying the rosary, with my mother at 3:00 in the afternoon on a First Friday. Today, each time we visit my father’s grave, we are once again gathered to pray both the Holy Rosary and the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy – two of the prayers deeply cherished by my family. The first, the Holy Rosary, is a loving remembrance of our growing up years in home that produced a priest-son while the second, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, is a pious reminder of the prayer that my father’s lips uttered before he breathed his last. Praying together continue to unite our family even beyond the death of my father.

The Holy Rosary is one of the most popular and loved prayers among Catholics. Almost as soon as we know the basic prayers – the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Trinitarian Doxology – even a child can already pray the Holy Rosary. A child who is well versed in these basic prayers and already knows the Salve Regina can even lead the praying of the Holy Rosary. Because it is trained to pray and love the rosary early in life, a child receives its first Mariology not through a lecture but through prayer. Through the rosary, a young boy or girl is catechized on the mysteries of our salvation and on the role of Mary as Christ’s first and perfect disciple. This is undoubtedly good religious education for the young, something that even Catholic schools cannot give them on a day-to-day basis.

Through this reflection, let us answer three questions concerning the Holy Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. First is about its origin. Second is about the two documents of the Church on the Holy Rosary: Marialis Cultus and Rosarium Virginis Mariae by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II, respectively. And third is about the spirituality of the Holy Rosary.

The Origin of the Holy Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary

Our present form of the rosary developed in Carthusian monasteries in the Middle Ages as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who were illiterate. Instead of reading from the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 “Our Fathers” as they count them on a ring of beads known as the corona (“crown”). By the 12th century, as Marian devotion grew and became popular, the 150 “Our Fathers” were substituted by 150 “Hail Marys”. It was then called the “Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary”.

Subsequently, a young Dominican Friar, Henry Kalkar, divided the 150 “Hail Marys” into 15 decades, with each decade devoted to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. Ananus de Rupe, another Dominican, further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries. He likewise attributed the origin of the Rosary, then known as the “Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, to St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly called the “Dominicans”; thus, making the propagation of the praying of the Holy Rosary a special apostolate of the Dominicans.

But how did October become the month of the Most Holy Rosary?

October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary primarily because the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary is celebrated annually on the 7th of October.

But why is the 7th of October the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary?

The Most Holy Rosary was a form of prayer entrusted by the Blessed Mother to St. Dominic de Guzman as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. Years after St. Dominic’s death, the rosary continued to be a popular prayer for protection and victory of the Church against heretics. On October 7, 1571, the Christian forces were almost losing the battle with the infidels at Lepanto. Pope Pius V, a Dominican himself, then ordered the praying of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Christian forces won the battle. Pope Pius V attributed the miraculous victory to the “arms” of the Holy Rosary rather than to the weapons and bravery of the Christian soldiers who fought at Lepanto. Thus, Pope Pius V instituted the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary in 1571 to be celebrated annually on the 7th of October. In 1569, the same pope officially approved the rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifeces, with the inclusion of the second half of the “Hail Mary” and the Trinitarian Doxology at the conclusion of each mystery.

At the apparition of the Blessed Mother to the three children, Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia at Fatima in 1917, the following ejaculation was added, upon the instruction of the Blessed Mother herself: “O, my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who are most in need of Your mercy.” And on October 16, 2002, through the Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II gave us the Luminious Mysteries; namely, “The Baptism of the Lord at the Jordan River”, “The Wedding at Cana”, “The Proclamation of the Kingdom”, “The Transfiguration”, and “The Institution of the Holy Eucharist”. The year 2002-2003 was also declared by the same Holy Father as the “Year of the Most Holy Rosary”. It was in September of that Year of the Holy Rosary that our own Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish was canonically elevated into an Archdiocesan Shrine.

The Most Holy Rosary in Marialis Cultus and Rosarium Virginis Mariae

Marialis Cultus

The Church’s teachings on the Holy Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary can be read in many and various ecclesial documents. Marialis Cultus by Pope Paul VI and Rosarium Virginis Mariae by Pope John Paul II are two of the most important.

Marialis Cultus was issued by Pope Paul VI in 1974 but it has a long history. As early as 1969, Pope Paul VI wrote a letter on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the approval of the Holy Rosary. In that letter he expressed his desire that the rosary be a public and universal prayer.

But there was then a crisis in the Marian devotion. Msgr. Vergilio Noe, now a Cardinal, pointed out, in a book he wrote on the renewal of Marian devotion, that during its long history, the rosary had acquired a number of additions which made it easily given to distractions and weariness. He said that as a principle of prayer, quality is preferable to quantity as far as the rosary is concerned; meaning, better one or a few decades devoutly prayed than a hurried recitation of the full rosary. Concurrent to this statement was the elimination of a few popular Marian feasts and the demotion of others to optional commemorations. This development gave rise to the suspicion of some that both the Second Vatican Council and the postconciliar reforms it was trying to introduce in the liturgy were deeply anti-Marian.

In the midst of this crisis, Fr. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., director and main propagator of the Family Rosary Crusade, wrote an impassioned letter to Pope Paul VI, expressing thus, “My heart cries out for a papal document which could take the form of an encyclical. May I beseech Your Holiness to enhance, enrich, and raise to a higher level of efficacy the Family Rosary by proclaiming it a liturgical prayer.” Moved by Fr. Peyton’s letter, Pope Paul VI address the Church on the subject of the Holy Rosary and a papal document was drafted that would encourage the recitation of the rosary by families. Thus, on February 2, 1974, Pope Paul VI issued the apostolic letter Marialis Cultus, speaking about the role of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the liturgy and outlining the essential features of the rosary.

Marialis Cultus says three very important things about the Holy Rosary:

First, “By its nature, the rosary calls for a quiet rhythm and a lingering pace, helping the individual to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord’s life as seen through the eyes of her who was closes to the Lord”. The rosary is a contemplative prayer. Without contemplation, the rosary becomes a “mechanical repetition of formulas”, like a body without a soul.

Second, “The rosary is a ‘compendium of the entire Gospel centered on the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation”. The rosary is Christ-centered and Marian. It focuses on the events in the life of Christ as seen by Mary.

Third, the rosary is in harmony with the liturgy because the rosary is centered on the same mysteries celebrated in the liturgy. It is “excellent preparation” for and a “continuing echo” of the liturgy.

Marialis Cultus also approves other forms of praying the rosary, for example, the reading of meditative verses from the Bible to introduce every mystery. It likewise highlights the importance of and strongly recommends the praying of the rosary together by families.

Rosarium Virginis Mariae

On the Silver Anniversary of his pontificate, Pope John Paul II, a great Marian devotee whose motto Totus Tuus (“All Yours”) was addressed to the Blessed Mother, wrote the apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae. In gratitude to the Blessed Mother, Pope John Paul II wrote at the beginning of the apostolic letter: “many graces received in these years from the Blessed Virgin through the rosary: Magnificat anima mea Dominum!” and “…thanks to the Lord in the words of His Most Holy Mother under whose protection I have placed my Petrine ministry: Totus Tuus!” Then the same Holy Father proclaimed October 2002 through October 2003: The Year of the Rosary.

Rosarium Virginis Mariae gives us the following:

1.) Her eyes fixed on Christ and treasuring His every word, with His memories impressed upon her heart, Mary is the model of contemplation. This is the essence of the Holy Rosary. When we pray the rosary, we contemplate Christ with Mary. We look at Jesus through the eyes of His Most Holy Mother, who is at the same time His first and perfect disciple. With the praying of the Holy Rosary, we remember Christ with Mary, we learn Christ from Mary, we are being conformed to Christ with Mary, we pray to Christ with Mary, and we proclaim Christ with Mary.

2.) In the desire to have the rosary become more truly a compendium of the Gospel, Pope John Paul II instituted the Luminous Mysteries, inserting them between the Joyful and Sorrowful Mysteries. As they contemplate Jesus in the revelation of His public life, these new mysteries are called “Mysteries of Light”. They enlighten us on the real person and mission of Jesus Christ. As we pray the rosary, we are lead by Mary from the “mysteries” to the Mystery who is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Mystery of Christ sheds light upon the mystery of man.

3.) The present practice in praying the Holy Rosary is valid but can nevertheless be improved.

4.) The Holy Rosary is a sweet chain linking us to God. It is a prayer that bestows peace. It is therefore our treasure and yet it is a treasure to be rediscovered. The family is where this treasure can be found and appreciated.

The Spirituality of the Holy Rosary

More than a form of prayer, the Holy Rosary is a spirituality. Every Christian spirituality is a way of life that is patterned after the life of Jesus Christ. The Holy Rosary is a Christocentric spirituality because it is rooted in the Gospel which is the person, the message, the mission, and the life of Jesus Christ. Praying the rosary should nurture in us an ever greater affinity with, and development of, a personal Christocentric profile. However, while the rosary spirituality is Christocentric in purpose and structure, it has a definite Marian bent. As a spirituality, the Holy Rosary is following Christ in the company of Mary.

The rosary spirituality is composed of five elements: (1.) Memory, (2.) Assimilation, (3.) Conformity, (4.) Prayer, and (5.) Proclamation.

Memory

Praying the rosary is remembering Christ with Mary. Remembering Christ in the biblical sense is making present the works done by God for our salvation in Christ. These salvific events do not only belong to yesterday, they are also part of the today of salvation history.

Assimilation

Praying the rosary is learning Christ with Mary. This is not a matter of knowing what Christ taught or did, but “learning Jesus” Himself. The biblical understanding of knowing applies here. To know someone is to be intimate with that person. Learning Christ means achieving close union with Christ.

Conformity

Assimilation should lead to conformity. Assimilation is external while conformity is internal. Achieving intimacy with Christ, we eventually become like Christ Himself. By praying the Holy Rosary daily we gain familiarity with Jesus and Mary to the extent that we develop the priorities, lifestyles, and virtues they have.

Prayer

Praying the rosary is praying to Christ with Mary. The rosary is first of all a prayer to Christ before it is a prayer to Mary. It is the events in the life of Christ that we meditate on in the rosary. In the rosary, Mary is seen in the light of the mysteries in the life of Christ. Indeed, the rosary is a prayer to Christ, the One Mediator, with Mary, and not a prayer to Mary, the co-mediatrix, with Christ.

Proclamation

The litmus test of our conformity to Christ is in our practical lives. As we become more and more like Christ through the praying of the Holy Rosary, so should our lives give witness to the Christ we have become. The rosary spirituality is not merely reciting the rosary everyday. It is continuing the mysteries of the Holy Rosary in our lives as we live like Christ with Mary each day.

Conclusion

Next to the Holy Mass, we are attached to the Holy Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Thus, in many places today, the beginning of the month of the Holy Rosary is marked with special activities. Many people also make their resolutions to pray the rosary daily beginning today. That is praiseworthy. But more praiseworthy is a life that reflects the mysteries of the Holy Rosary day-in and day-out. The rosary is a spirituality, not only a prayer.

Consider this:

There is a woman who owns a place in the market, selling food commodities. She is also an active church worker and goes to church everyday. She is in the church earlier than anyone, including the priest. She carries a bag full of novenas to almost all the saints you can name. She prays the rosary three times a day: one upon waking up in the morning, another at noontime before siesta, and the third with her maid before going to bed.

One evening, she calls out to her maid, “Inday, have you put formalin in the fish we’re going to sell tomorrow in the market?”

“Yes, ma’am,” answers Inday.

“How about the bottles of vinegar, have you added water to them?” she calls out again to Inday.

Inday replies, “Yes, ma’am!”

“The weighing scale, have you placed extra weight on it?” the woman asks.

“Done, ma’am,” Inday says.

Then the woman tells Inday, “Very good, Inday! Okay, come upstairs now and let us pray the rosary.”

THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: MARY...CHRISTMAS!

Introduction

Merry Christmas!

If a foreigner heard me greet you today, “Merry Christmas!”, he would be confused. September has barely begun and the Christmas season is still three months away. Even Advent is a long shot from today. But in the Philippines, where, ironically despite immense poverty staring at anyone straight in the eye, the longest Christmas season is found , even as early as September, it looks like Christmas, feels like Christmas, smells like Christmas, and sounds like Christmas. As the “Ber” months of September, October, November and December begin so are Christmas songs already heard over the radio, Christmas shopping already commenced, Christmas traffic already endured, and, even Christmas decorations already put up. This Christmas euphoria will not end until mid-January.

Merry Christmas!

It is spelt differently but it sounds almost the same: “merry” and “Mary”. The word for rejoicing and the name of the mother of Jesus sounds almost identical. Filipinos even made a joke out of it. They say that the middle initial of Jesus is “C” because the family name of Mary is “Christmas”. It is not totally irreverent but the joke obviously far fetched. People in the Bible, though quite often are identified in reference to their genealogy, are, interestingly, given no surnames. In the case of the Blessed Virgin Mary, even her genealogy is not recorded by any of the four Evangelists.

Merry Christmas! Mary…Christmas!

While “merry” is misspelled by “M-A-R-Y”, Mary, the woman chosen by God, certainly has a profound significance in the season we call “Christmas”. She is the mother of Jesus, the Reason for the season. It was of her that the man called, “Christ”, was born.

It is quite absurd to go around greeting people, “Merry Christmas”, in September, but if it were for the woman of Nazareth, Mary, that Filipinos anticipate Christmas three months away from December 25, we can find a starting point to reflect on whose birth we celebrate on September 8.

The Development of the Liturgy of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Church does not celebrate the birthdays of saints. Feastdays of saints are either the day they pass away from this life to the next or an important date in their earthly lives. There are only two saints whose birthdays we celebrate: St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The great importance of these two saints in the history of our salvation is enough to explain why they are given this privilege.

The origin of the liturgy of the Blessed Mother’s Nativity brings us back to the 6th century when the Basilica of St. Anne was consecrated in Jerusalem. This basilica, which still stands today, was built on the same spot where once a basilica in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary stood but was destroyed. It was believed to have been the home of the Blessed Mother’s parents. When reconstructed it was dedicated to the Blessed Mother’s mother, traditionally named, St. Anne.

There is, however, nothing found in Scripture about Mary’s birth or her parents. The names, Joachim and Anne, purported to be the names of the Blessed Mother’s parents cannot be read in the Bible, but appear in the apocryphal “Gospel of St. James. According to this account, Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, were also beyond the years of child-bearing, but prayed and fasted that God would grant their desire for a child. This account, found in the apocryphal “Gospel of St. James” dates back to the 2nd century AD and is, however, not part of the authentic canon of Scripture.

In the 7th century, the liturgy of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was introduced in Rome by monks from the East. By the 8th century, it began to be universally celebrated by the Church. Five centuries later, the same liturgy developed into a solemnity with a major octave and a solemn vigil which prescribed a day of fasting. But during the pontificate of Pius X, the octave was simplified. Pius XII abolished, however, abolished the octave in 1955 and gave the liturgy the rank of feast.

The Bible does not concern itself with the historical date of Mary’s birth. It first mentions Mary in the account of the Annunciation, the Incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of the Blessed Mother. But how did it come to be that we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8?

September 8 was the former Byzantine New Year. Byzantine belongs to the Eastern Church where most if not all of our Marian feast originated. In the East, the Blessed Mother’s birth is celebrated as one of the twelve great liturgies. The title of this feast in the East is “The Birth of Our Exalted Queen, the Birthgiver of God and Ever-Virgin Mary”. The Church today still has in her keeping the oldest sermon for the liturgy; it was written by St. Andrew of Crete. Though the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated on various dates throughout the centuries, September 8 predominated. In fact, even when Pope Pius IX instituted the annual celebration in honor of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, the September 8 feast of the Blessed Mother’s Nativity was the point of reference in determining that the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception be celebrated every December 8, exactly nine months prior to the traditionally held birthdate of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary in the Understanding and Teaching of the Church

This is not a complete course on Mariology. We cannot treat here each and every teaching of the Church concerning the Blessed Mother. We constrained our selves within the parameters of a general view of the Church on Mary so as to assist us in our reflection.

Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, penned and promulgated by the Second Vatican Council (1963-1965) contains the core teaching of the Church on Mariology. It situates Mary not outside, much less above, the Church, The People of God. It is in the Church that Mary belongs. Though first among equals, the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of us.

The arrangement of the chapters of Lumen Gentium, however, places the treatment on the Blessed Mother at its conclusion. It does not mean that she is the last among us. Rather, it implies that the unique role that the Blessed Mother has in the redemptive work of her Son completes the whole understanding of the Church about its true identity. It also brings to mind the teaching that “Mary is the Icon of the Church”. Everything that God desires the Church to be and all that the Church envisions itself to become have already been fulfilled in the Blessed Virgin Mary. Just as Mariology is a function of Christology, Ecclesiology – the study of the Church – is never complete without a word on Mary.

Moreover, it is interesting to note that the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council entitled this final chapter of Lumen Gentium, “Our Lady”. Presuming that the documents of the Second Vatican Council were carefully written, the Fathers of the Council must have deliberately chosen to entitle the last chapter of Lumen Gentium, “Our Lady” to emphasize that the Blessed Mother is one of us, ours, from us and for us.

Lumen Gentium, 55 has this to say:

“The sacred writings of the Old and New Testament, as well as
venerable tradition, show the role of the Mother of the Savior in
the plan of salvation in an ever clearer light and call our attention
to it. The books of the Old Testament describe the history of salvation,
by which the coming of Christ into the world was slowly prepared.
The earliest documents, as they are read in the Church and are
understood in the light of a further and full revelation, bring the figure
of a woman, Mother of the Redeemer, into a gradually clearer light.
Considered in this light, she is already prophetically foreshadowed
in the promise of victory over the serpent which was given to our
first parents after their fall into sin (cf. Gen 3:15). Likewise she is the
virgin who shall conceive and bear a son, whose name shall be called
Emmanuel (cf. Is 7:14; Mic 5:2-3; Mt 1:22-23). She stands out among
the poor and humble of the Lord, who confidently hope for and
receive salvation from Him. After a long period of waiting the times
are fulfilled in her, the exalted Daughter of Sion and the new plan
of salvation is established, when the Son of God has taken human
nature from her, that He might in the mysteries of His flesh free man
from sin.”

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Light of Lumen Gentium

The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary lies at the confluence of the Old and New Testaments. Her birth brings to an end the stage of expectation and promises concerning the Savior of the world. Her birth inaugurates the new times of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ, her Son. In this sense, Mary, the Daughter of Zion and ideal personification of Israel, is the last and most worthy representative of the People of the Old Covenant. At the same time, she is the hope and the dawning of a whole new world. In her the times are fulfilled and a new economy of salvation is established. Thus, the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is of immense significance.

Moreover, the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is ordained in particular toward her mission as Mother of the Savior. Her life is indissolubly connected with that of Christ, partaking in a unique plan of predestination and grace. God chose her to be the mother of His Son even before she was conceived. This further strengthens the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Mary was predestined to become the mother of the Redeemer of the world; thus, through the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, Mary was kept free from any stain of sin from the first moment of her conception onwards because she was the first to have been redeemed by her Son, Jesus the Christ, even before the actual events of the Lord’s Paschal Mystery. She has been predestined to be full of grace all throughout her life because through her Grace in itself shall appear. God’s mysterious plan regarding the Incarnation of His Son, therefore, embraces also Mary who is His mother. In this way, the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is inserted at the very heart of the history of salvation.

Conclusion

Merry Christmas! Mary…Christmas!

To remember the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to anticipate the birth of Jesus Christ, her Son. We see from a distance the Incarnation and Nativity of our Savior because we already stand on the day of His mother’s birth. Preparing for Christmas essentially includes rejoicing at Mary’s birth. Yes, indeed, Mary…Christmas. The birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary points to, leads to, and is ordained to the birth of the Lord.

Zacchariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesied in his canticle, “The Dawn from on High shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Jesus is that Dawn. Mary is the horizon from where Jesus dawns. Jesus is that Light that shines on those who sit in a land of gloom and death. Mary is the vessel of that Light. Jesus is our Peace. Mary is our hope.

As devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must strive to become what she has been in the economy of salvation. We are called to be the horizon from where Jesus dawns, the vessels of Him who is the True Light of the world, and the hope that brings peace and makes peace. Where we fail in these accounts, our devotion to the Blessed Mother is nonsense.

Because Mary is the Model and Icon of the Church, the Church must be a horizon for Jesus to permeate every human affair with the dawning of the Kingdom. The Church has to be ever-conscious of its missionary mandate to bring the light of Christ in all corners of the world. The Church, likewise, is ordained not only to be a sign of contradiction but, most importantly, always the sign of hope for every man and woman.

Because we are the Church, the Church becomes what we strive to be in cooperation with God’s grace. We are the Church, let us make the Church a mirror of our Blessed Mother’s love, fidelity, and obedience to its Lord and Master. The Church will not make us Marian. We make Marian the Church.

Mary…Christmas!

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY -- OUR LIFE, OUR SWEETNESS, AND OUR HOPE

Introduction

First Year Anniversary of the Monthly Marian Recollection and Healing

On this First Saturday of the month of August we mark the First Anniversary of our monthly Marian Recollection. For one whole year now, we have been coming to this simple but holy Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Makati City to pray, to reflect and be blest, always together with the Blessed Mother, always through Jesus Christ, her Son, always by the work of the Holy Spirit, her Spouse, and always by the call of God our Father and hers. We thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for this monthly outpouring of God’s graces through her. We thank her for bringing inspiration to many devotees. We thank her for the countless favors constantly granted to those who trust in her and come to join us – the childless gives birth, the jobless finds employment, the sorrowing rejoices, the contrite is forgiven, the helpless child in the womb is respected and protected, the unborn reposes in peace, the aging receives strength and wisdom, the dying is assisted in their passing away, and many others. We praise God the Father who created Mary. We thank Jesus who gave us Mary to be our own mother. We glorify the Holy Spirit who made Mary holy.

Because we believe that devotion to the Blessed Mother – and any religious devotion, for that matter – must always be accompanied by formation, we started last year offering this monthly Marian recollection. Without catechetical and theological formation, any devotion leads to fanaticism.

There is no other church in the entire Philippines where Marian recollection is held every month. This monthly formation can be found, received and benefited from only here in the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Archdiocese of Manila.

This special privilege that already blest and continues to bless many souls is not to be credited to any individual – my self included – but to the Lord Jesus alone who revealed to us His dying wish, “Behold your mother” (Jn 19:27). We came here the past year and beheld our mother. We kept on coming here and the more we beheld her the more we wanted to see her. And we hope we could continue coming here every month, even every week or everyday if possible, as another year begins, to behold our Merciful Mother and, with her who is also the Mother of Life, contemplate the face of Christ.

We contemplate the face of Christ even as we behold our mother. She was first to tell us, “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5). She has every right to tell us so, not only because she is the mother of the Lord, but, most importantly, because she was also the first to have done all that Jesus tells us. Mary is the first and perfect disciple of her own Son who is our Lord. While normally it is the child that takes in itself the image of its parents, in the case of Mary – as it should be in our case, too – it is she who has been configured to Jesus Christ, her Son. Thus, when we contemplate her life, we see the face of Christ.

We beheld our mother the past year and contemplated the face of Christ. We move on to another year of contemplating her life so that we may see even more the image of her Son. As we continue to move on to the second year of our monthly Marian recollection, we pray that, by following her example and aided by her prayers, we would become more and more like Jesus, the Master. For we are convinced that our ultimate joy is becoming like the Master.

Even as she already assured us through St. Juan Diego with the words “…you are in the hallow of my mantle and in the crossing of my arms”, may Our Lady of Guadalupe allow us to enter her womb as often as needed so that we could be formed unto the image and likeness of her Son. As she once gave birth to Jesus, may she continue delivering more “Jesus-es” into the world through our being configured to Christ.

The New Format of The First Saturday Monthly Marian Recollection

We wish to make our Marian recollections for this year more focused and thematic. Beginning today, a theme for every month will be selected in relation to a particular feast of or dogma on the Blessed Virgin Mary that is to be celebrated within the given month. For example, this month, let us highlight the dogma of the Assumption as we prepare to commemorate it on August 15. Next month, we may reflect on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary or her Seven Sorrows, since we will celebrate them on September 8 and September 15, respectively. October may well be a recollection on the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And so forth and so on.

It would also be helpful for us who regularly come for this monthly spiritual nourishment to finalize its format. It is worth having printed copies of prayers, songs, and readings that are neatly arranged to be used for the regular flow of our monthly Marian recollection. Volunteer benefactors to produce this prayer booklet are, of course, most welcome.

Aside from the reflection proper in itself, the usual elements of our monthly Marian activity remain. We begin by exposing the Blessed Sacrament at 3:00 P.M., followed by the praying of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy because Our Lady of Guadalupe introduced herself to St. Juan Diego as the Merciful Mother, then moments of silence precede the reading from either the Sacred Scriptures or a spiritual writing. After the reading is we return to a more prolonged silence that prepares us for the points for reflection on the theme of the month. The 12th of Life prayer, a song to the Blessed Mother, and a prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe follow the points. Individual and sacramental confession is then made available even as the Blessed Sacrament remains exposed for personal adoration. Those who feel the need for a break may step out of the church to satisfy their need during this period, but always in silence. The Blessed Sacrament is reposed at 5:30 P.M. and the praying of the Holy Rosary immediately follows. Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe is prayed at 6:00 P.M., which precedes the celebration of the Sunday Vigil Mass. The Holy Mass is concluded with the healing blessing where the Blessed Sacrament is brought close to the people, most especially the sick.

The Theme for August

Following the new format of our monthly Marian recollection, let us focus our reflection today on the greatest Marian feast celebrated this month: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So great is this feast that the Church celebrates it as a solemnity.

Solemnities are the highest in rank among all liturgical celebrations. All Sundays, for example, in the light of the first Easter Sunday, are solemnities. All Holy Days of Obligation are solemnities, too. But not all solemnities are Holy Days of obligation. In the Philippines, while the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a solemnity, it is not a Holy Day of Obligation.

Today is August 6. Perhaps, none, if not very few, of us are aware that today is exactly nine days before the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If we were to make a novena in honor of this Marian dogma, we would have to begin today. Let us, therefore, reflect on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary – Theotokos, God-Bearer

Honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary had a late start in the Church. In the first four centuries there was no devotion to Our Lady and little reflection on her place in salvation history. The main issue during those centuries was the true identity of Jesus. The Church was fully absorbed in forming her theology on Jesus Christ. The Church struggled to find an answer to the complex questions surrounding the humanity and divinity of Jesus. In those days, this issue was a matter not only of the bishops and theologians but of everyone in the Church. Whole cities were divided over the answers and battles had been fought on account of them.

The attention of the Church turned to Mary only after the divinity of Jesus was proclaimed. In 431, the Church convoked the Council of Ephesus where she defined her teaching regarding how the Son of God was given human birth. It was then that one of the titles of Mary was accepted by the Church: Mary was theotokos, meaning, “God-bearing”. To affirm that the Son of God had human birth, the Council Fathers proclaimed that Mary was theotokos: she bore Jesus in her womb and gave birth to Him like any mother. It was, however, only in 1964, at the Second Vatican Council, that the Church officially referred to Mary as “Mother of God”.

The Dogma of the Assumption

Until the middle of the sixth century, there were no feasts in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the West. She was celebrated alongside with the other saints and martyrs of the Church. However, in the Eastern Church there were many Marian feasts early in history, celebrating her conception, birth, presentation in the Temple, annunciation, and even assumption that was called by different names like “dormition”. In the East, the most important Marian feast was always the Assumption. This feast and all other Marian celebrations were later adopted by the West and included in its liturgical calendar.

The belief in the Assumption originated in the popular faith of the people. Given her unique role in salvation history, the Faithful could not believe that Mary’s body underwent corruption and disintegrate when her earthly life was over. She who had no stain of Adam’s sin could not share in the consequence of Adam’s fall, which is the decay of sinful flesh. The Faithful, from the start, came to believe that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven, thus, assuring that she was present in God, even now, body and soul.

But it took hundreds of years before the Church finally defined this Marian dogma. It was only on November 1, 1950, through the apostolic constitution entitled, Munificentissimus Deus, that Pope Pius XII defined the dogma. The definition may be summed up in these or similar words: The belief that the Most Holy Virgin Mary, after her earthly sojourn, was taken up into the glory of heaven, body and soul, really forms part of the deposit of faith, received from the apostles.

When the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was defined, humankind was yet rising from the ashes of the last world war. To a world that languished in misery brought about my man’s inhumanity to man, the Church offers as the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a gift of hope and a beacon of light.

Our Life, Our Sweetness, and Our Hope

The phrase “our life, our sweetness, and our hope” has always been referred to the Blessed Virgin Mary. If parallelism would be permitted, we may say that while Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope. These are the qualities we attribute to her when we pray or chant the Salve Regina. Mary, though called upon as Queen in this beautiful prayer, is not far from us because she, who is at the same time our Mother, is our life, our sweetness, and our hope. Part of the vocation of motherhood is the role of delivering life, providing sweetness, and giving hope; not one without the rest but always the three together. This is likewise integral in the motherhood of Mary in relation to us.

The glorious Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in itself, and not the Blessed Virgin Mary in herself only, may also be viewed as our life, our sweetness, and our hope. In the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we see what we are really destined for. What already happened to her through the mystery of the Assumption will also happen to us at the end of time, when all the dead shall be raised and the just taken up by the Lord with Him in heaven. The belief in the resurrection of the body forms part of the articles of our Faith, as we proclaim each time we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy, catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.” The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the proof of the veracity of our belief in the resurrection of the body.

Thus, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary tells us what our life really is. On earth, our life is the locus of God’s glorification. St. Irenaus said, “Gloria Dei vivens homo” (“The glory of God is man alive” as commonly translated, but better yet “The glory of God lives in man”). In heaven, our life is meant to be glorified with God, body and soul.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the balm that shall heal all our wounds and the promise of sweetness after this valley of tears. The Blessed Mother was a woman of contradiction herself, like her Son. In her, God “raised the lowly and threw the mighty from their thrones”, “fed the hungry with good things while the rich were sent away empty.” Her Assumption into heaven certainly has eschatological overtones, too, for even now she enjoys bodily and spiritually what St. Paul wrote as “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9).

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the glimpse of how our hope of sharing in the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus will come to pass. Our hope for our own resurrection has been confirmed by the Risen Lord through the Assumption of the Blessed Mother. With each a body to experience God, we will be resurrected from the earth and assumed into heaven by the same Lord.

Conclusion

Our belief in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary entails among other things three important tasks.

First, we must be guided by this belief to live our lives here on earth with heaven in our minds as our final goal always. Everything we do here on earth should be oriented by our belief that we are destined to be resurrected so as to be assumed into heaven. Earth, no matter how comfortable we may become with it, is not our true home. We are on a pilgrimage to heaven where we are meant to arrive at not only as spirits but as embodied spirits.

Second, our belief in the Assumption should provide reason for us to give utmost care and reverence for the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human body. While we concern our selves with the salvation of souls, we should equally labor to meet the material needs of the human body. When we defend the souls of people from evil, we must also deliver their bodies from all harm and violation. Both our souls and our bodies belong to God. Both our souls and bodies, Jesus came to save and redeem.

Third, with Mary already assumed into heaven, we see her to be the icon of the Church. God accomplished in her what He wishes to accomplish to His Church. The Church must therefore imitate Mary in her complete submission to the will of God, every-rooted in Him, yearning for full re-union with Him in heaven, and always faithful to her role of being a beacon of hope in the midst of a despairing world. And because each one of us constitutes the Church, with Christ Jesus as our Head, this is a mandate for each one of us individually and not only communally.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is our life, our sweetness, and our hope. Her Assumption into heaven, body and soul, is likewise our life, our sweetness, and our hope. We pray to be like Mary as we behold her and contemplate Christ in her so that one day we may be assumed into heaven, body and soul, like her too.