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| All generations will call me blessed. |
Praised be Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph!
The Holy Spirit filled John the
Baptist and sanctified him in his mothers’ womb. The Holy Spirit filled
Elizabeth and made her recognize the blessedness of Mary. Rejoicing in the same
Holy Spirit, Mary sang a prophetic song about the consequences of the favor
that the Lord has shown her. First, Mary acknowledged that what God has done to
her will change her life forever: All generations will call me blessed for the
Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
Mary recognized the fact that the
wonders that God has done for her will change not only her life but the
direction of the history of the world. The Incarnation of God the Son in her
womb was the decisive intervention of God into the affairs of the world. By the
mystery of the Incarnation, God resolutely acted to save man who cannot save
himself. Christ, the new Adam, will inaugurate a new creation that will restore
whatever sin has destroyed. Christ will challenge the order of things in the
world whose sense of values was upset by sin. Sin has created a world order
wherein the proudly conceited, the powerful kings, and the constantly satisfied
rich are always on top and they get to have their way at all times. Sometimes,
they demand that courtesy be accorded to them on account of what they have. But
Christ confronts this order and reveals to us that God is always at the side of
the lowly, the humble, the hungry and the down trodden. When God magnified the
Virgin Mary, he magnified all those who are like her: the humble, the poor, the
down trodden. When God blessed Mary, he blessed all those who are like her.
Thus, Christ would later on say: Blessed are the poor in spirit…The Lord Jesus
in the womb of Mary will inaugurate a new order of things where the proud are
scattered, the kings are cast down from their thrones, and the rich are sent
away empty. In the new order of things, the lowly are exalted and the hungry
are filled with good things. This new order is the order in the Kingdom of God
that Christ establishes in the Church.
However, as we see it now, Mary’s
prophecy is far from reality. Pope Francis speaks of the imbalance in the gap
between the poor majority and the earning minority. This is caused by the prevalent
idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy that has no
real concern for human beings. As is constantly taught by the world, the thirst
for power and possessions knows no limits. And so, anything that stands in the
way of increased profits is devoured. [Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 55-56.]
The constant witness of the
Church is the humble path towards the spread of the order of the Kingdom of
God. The Pope said: “Money must serve, not rule! The Pope
loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to
remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you
to generous solidarity and to the return of economics and finance to an ethical
approach which favours human beings.” [EG, 58.] Like the Pope, we should
never tire of giving witness to the teachings of Christ. The Kingdom of God is
slowly built by constant witnessing. May we keep following the Lord along the
road of humility, service, and solidarity with the poor.
Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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