Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Misa de Aguinaldo December 22, 2013: The Song of Mary, Queen of Prophets

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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