| Letters of Aquila and Priscilla |
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My soul proclaims the greatness (Lk 1: 46) |
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Pope Paul VI concludes his Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization in the Modern World, Evangelii Nuntiandi, with the following prayer: This is the desire that we rejoice to entrust to the hands and the heart of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary. On the morning of Pentecost she watched over with her prayer the beginning of evangelization prompted by the Holy Spirit: may she be the Star of the evangelization ever renewed which the Church, docile to her Lord’s command, must promote and accomplish, especially in these times which are difficult but full of hope! As we celebrate the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe this 12th of December, we are reminded of our fundamental duty as Christians to “promote and accomplish” the task of evangelization “especially in these times which are difficult but full of hope.” It is a difficult task. For this reason, we “entrust to the hands and heart of the Immaculate Blessed Virgin Mary” this formidable, but at the same time challenging and essential, task, knowing that “on the morning of Pentecost she watched over with her prayer the beginning of evangelization prompted by the Holy Spirit.” The Lady of Guadalupe is the Virgin of evangelization. When the missionaries came to the Americas in the 1500s, there was only a trickle of conversions among the Aztec Indians despite the heroic efforts of the missionaries. Baptisms were administered mostly to the orphans cared for in church institutions and to some of the dying. The overwhelming majority of Aztec adults refused to embrace the Christian faith because it would have entailed abandoning polygamy. And yet after the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego, nine million Indians were evangelized and converted to the Faith within a relatively short period of time. This prompted the Jesuit priest, Fr. Anticoli, to write: Who will not recognize the Spirit of God moving so many millions to enter the kingdom of Christ. And when we consider that there occurred no portent or other supernatural event to attract such multitudes, other than the apparitions of the Virgin, we may state with assurance that it was the Vision of the Queen of the Apostles that called the Indians to the Faith. It is for the same reason that the Letter from the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome, 25 March 1988, cites how the missionary movement “progressively discovered the value of Mary of Nazareth, the first to be evangelized (cf. Lk 1:26-38) and the first evangelizer (cf. Lk 1:39-45), (as) fount of inspiration in her commitment to the spreading of the Good News.” Mary is the Star of evangelization. Just as the star of Bethlehem guided the magi to the child Jesus, Mary guides all those who proclaim the Good News and all those who hear it to her Son, Jesus. Evangelization involves first and foremost the proclamation of the Good News. Mary received the good news of our salvation from the angel Gabriel who proclaimed to her: Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus (Lk 1:31). Mary freely, humbly and gladly accepted the Good News when she responded: May it be done to me according to your word (Lk 1:38). Mary was the first to receive the Good News. She was also the first to proclaim it. We read in the Gospel of Luke that shortly after the angel Gabriel appeared to her, she traveled in “haste” to share the Good News. Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (Lk 1:39,46-47)”. It is important to point out that it was Mary who traveled to the city of Judah to visit her cousin and not Elizabeth who journeyed to Nazareth in Galilee. Mary’s eagerness to proclaim the Good News is apparent in Luke’s words that she “set out and traveled to the hill country in haste.” Mary’s Magnificat is a joyful proclamation of the good news of salvation. In response to the wonders that are being accomplished, Mary “proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” Indeed we experience great personal joy when we bring Christ to others. Mary experiences this and she exclaims, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Evangelization provides us a life full of excitement, challenge and joy. As with Mary, the proclamation of the Good News to others ought to be our thankful response to God’s action in our lives. The distance from Nazareth to the home of Elizabeth in Ain Karem, which is located southwest of Jerusalem, is about 110 to 130 kilometers. Accordingly, it may have taken Mary at least one full week to cover the distance. But to Mary, no distance is too far or travels too difficult for she knows the urgency of the mission. She knows that she must reach out to others and share the joy of God’s salvation. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, who is the primary agent of evangelization, Mary eagerly embarks on her journey so that she may share the Child in her womb with others. We read that today in Ain Karem there is a convent with a church surrounded by a garden. On the walls of the church are beautiful panels of the Canticle of Mary in about two dozen languages. The scene in this little village of Ain Karem, which is nestled in a valley surrounded by the gentle sloping mountains of Judea, is peaceful and refreshing. It is truly a place for prayer and reflection. Evangelization also involves witnessing to a personal and living relationship with Jesus. There is no person other than Mary who ever had such a close relationship with Jesus in all of the stages of his life. The entire life of the Blessed Mother is a witness of faithfulness to and love for Jesus, her Son. She is her Son’s perfect disciple. She is with Jesus from his conception to his birth, infancy, childhood, adulthood and death. She continues as a faithful disciple after his death and is present when Jesus’ promise of his Spirit is given at Pentecost. My brothers and sisters, evangelization is our primary mission in Couples for Christ. Our evangelization is to be rapid, massive and global. The world desperately needs to hear the Good News. And Couples for Christ has been tasked by the Lord to reach out to others, to proclaim the Good News, and to lead them to a personal and loving relationship with Jesus. We are to raise families in the Holy Spirit who will renew the face of the earth. This task is daunting. By ourselves, we will accomplish little. And thus, as in the prayer of Pope Paul VI, we should entrust this task to the heart and hands of the Most Holy Virgin of Guadalupe. Through her intercession, the Spirit of her Son will work powerfully so that the Good News that we proclaim will enter the hearts of men and renew the human race. |