Deacon Rick Lapierre
A paramedic on a talk show was asked about his most memorable 911 call. He thought for a minute and then replied. "It was a Sunday morning at St. Aloysius on 11th Avenue. We had received a call for a man down at Mass. The usher stated that he found him in a pew after the homily with his eyes closed and not responding, and he was afraid he was dead."
"What's so memorable about that?" asked the interviewer.
The paramedic continued, "Well we carried out four guys before we found the one who was dead!"
Every night as part of Evening Prayer, I pray the Magnificat, Mary's wonderful prayer as she visits with Elizabeth and shares the Good News of her pregnancy with her cousin. I've prayed this prayer a couple of thousand times, but until yesterday afternoon I never really grasped the meaning of the opening line, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord." I noticed she did not say "God is good," or "God is OK". She says, "God is great, God is superlative."
I think we have to look a little closer at the real Mary revealed to us in the gospel of Luke. She is a young girl of around 14, engaged to Joseph who was probably older, perhaps even a widower. The marriage was not of her choosing, but had been arranged for her by her parents, possibly with the help of a third person. (Remember Yenta in Fiddler on the Roof?) An angel shows up in the middle of the night and announces that she is to be the mother of a child through the miraculous intercession of the Holy Spirit. She is skeptical at first, but the Angel Gabriel assures her that this is God's plan and that's all that Mary needs to hear. Mary gives her "Fiat," let it be done to me as you say, and God comes into the world.
For Mary to have that kind of belief in an angel's visit and to agree so readily could have only come from someone with great faith in God. Even though this was the turning point in her life, indeed in all of human history, Mary had to have been devoutly in contact with God from her earliest life. For the divine to be immersed in the humanity of Mary's womb requires not only her assent, but a humanity as close to divine as is humanly possible. And from this womb springs the ever present love and life of God, whose name is Jesus. Mary is the Mother of God because Jesus is God. And the Son of God is human, because He is born of woman. How can this contradiction come about? The answer is so simple that it defies conventional wisdom. The angel Gabriel tells Mary this simple truth when she is told of the miraculous conception of John the Baptist, "nothing is impossible with God."
God is so great that he not only sent His Son to be our Savior, but God even became one of us. Jesus is not only the way to God, He is God. And Jesus continues to be present in the lives of the people of God, the Church.
So here we stand at the dawning of the Year of our Lord 2004. As Mary pointed the way to God through her Son, we have only to follow. Mary gives us the example of being fully human without any divinity. If a 14 year old girl, pregnant out of wedlock, living in a poor village in a poor country can proclaim with such great conviction that God is Great, then can I do any less?
In 2004, can I see God's greatness in the lives of my brothers and sisters? Can I do my best to assure that all are allowed to live in peace? Can I reconcile the sinfulness of my life with the holiness that is Jesus? Can I accept the greatness of the statement of an angel "that nothing is impossible for God."
Elie Weisel, a survivor of the great horror of the holocaust tells the story of four men and a boy hanged at Auschwitz because of an escape attempt. The four men died quickly at the end of their ropes but the boy, due to his slight build, lived for many agonizing minutes, dying slowly as the inmates watched. Behind him Weisel heard a voice ask, "Where is God?" and Weisel felt compelled to answer, "Right in front of you, hanging on the gallows."
The greatness of God has always illuminated the darkness of humanity, and will continue to do so for untold millennia. God is great, and I pray this New Year that I will be able to say as Mary did, "I too proclaim the greatness of the Lord."
