The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.   The Gospel reading is Luke 1: 26-38, which recounts the angel’s appearance to Mary.  We all know the story well.  We know the angel’s message and we know Mary original reaction—she is extremely troubled—and her final statement: “Be it done to me according to your word.”  And the angel leaves her.

There she is pregnant out of wedlock. She could be put to death once this word gets out, yet she only asked how is she going to conceive a child since she has had no relations with a man.  And the angel, matter of factly, informs her that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and the child will be the Son of God, whose Kingdom will have no end. Mary surrenders to the will of God, knowing in faith that nothing is impossible with God. Once the angel left her, she takes recourse in her cousin Elizabeth, who is part of God’s plan of salvation (God includes women).  Mary has just exhibited unbelievable strength and faith as a woman.  In the words of the psalmist (Psalm 113), God has raised “the poor from the dust and lift[ed] the needy from the dunghill to give them a place with rulers, with the nobles of…[God’s] people.” 

 

What if  God, today, asks the impossible of me? What if God, today, asks something of me that would turn my life upside down and put my life, as I know it, at risk.  What would I do? How would I respond? Would I have the faith of Mary?