Evangelized, we evangelize – with Mary

MARIAN VIGIL

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Evangelized, we evangelize – with Mary

Evangelize

The stars on the Miraculous Medal are a symbol. They represent the twelve Apostles.

In the Gospel according to Mark we read: And he went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, to be with him… (Mk 3, 13-14).

Before the Apostles started to do what Jesus asked them, before they started to evangelize, they had been with Jesus, they had been getting to know him, and they had been learning in His school, they have been creating their personal relationship with Him.

Christian theology finds in Mary an ideal and perfect disciple of Jesus. Mary accompanied Jesus, Mary was present at the most important moments of the salvation history – the Annunciation, birth, wedding at Cana, the passion of the Christ… Mary was with Jesus.

Pope Paul VI introduced Christ’s Mother as an active, dynamic person who follows God’s call with full responsibility…

Only Lord and His mercy can be present in people and angels – but only in case they give Him some “space”. Mary let this space to be fully occupied by God. God calls her through words of the angel: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High (Lk 1, 30-32). Mary’s answer to God’s call is: Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word. (Lk 1, 38).

God calls you to evangelize too. And He awaits your reply. If you say YES to Him, He will take you to His school and will teach you the same he taught Mary and the Apostles. The only thing you have to do – is to be with Him, to fully trust Him and to love Him above all.

On the third day there was a wedding-in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him (Jn 2, 1-11).

A celebration, a wedding feast at Cana……..….…and “they ran out of wine”.

Mary, always so discreetly sensitive to the needs of others, simply tells her Son.

There is no pleading, not even the voicing of a helpful suggestion of what He could or should do,

Just the fact: ‘They have no wine’, stated in confident trust, Mother to Son.

“Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not yet come”, Son back to Mother.

There had, as yet, been no “signs”, his “glory” had not yet been seen,

But Mary knew that His hour would come. She had been waiting patiently, quietly in faith, for its manifestation, waiting ever since the angel had greeted her “full of grace”, waiting from the moment she had lovingly “wrapped Him in swaddling clothes”.

Would this be His hour, here at Cana?

She turns to the servants: “Do whatever He tells you”,

She shares her own faith with others; it draws the servants into the mystery of the Kingdom, into this Mother-Son relationship, into the hope that is her Son.

And the servants respond. They draw water and dare to offer it as wine to the steward!

They alone share the secret of the miracle, the miracle accomplished through their everyday actions, through their obedience to the Son’s words.

Mary’s last recorded words – given to each one of us, given to us as Church……

“Do whatever He tells you”……..

...with Love

...with a listening heart

...in the silence of prayer

...patiently, sensitively, courageously . ....with joyful generosity

...holding nothing back.

Then…….. we, too, confident that His hour has come, see the “signs” and witness His glory.

We, too, like Mary, give ourselves, in faith, for our lives to be transformed

....from water…….into the glorious wine of the Kingdom.

Activity:

You’ve been given a paper drop. The drop you are holding has two sides – one blue (water) and the other red (wine). Write on the blue side something you wish Jesus would change/transform, something you want to give into his hands and like Mary – say to Jesus ‘’I’ll do whatever you tell me’’. Once finished, write on the red side of the drop ‘I will do whatever you tell me’.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven He gave His last instructions to His close friend Peter, a person whom He entrusted leadership of His Church. What did He tell him? What important principles and rules did He point out? Love. Instead of blaming Peter for having betrayed Him, for giving too many promises, there is only one question Jesus had for Peter. Jesus could blame us for many things, many betrayals, broken promises, but He asks us the same questions as he asked Peter… Do you love me? Peter understood that only love is what matters to Jesus. With what love, what ardor do I do to what I was called as a Vincentian, lay person, sister? Is all done with my heart?

We evangelize

The stars on the Miraculous Medal also remind us that we should be apostles, that we should seek indifferent and faithless people so that we can lead them to Jesus with Mary.

Evangelist Matthew writes that Jesus sent the Apostles with the words: As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. (Mt 10, 7-8)

Jesus sends me and you to the world too and He wants us to bring Good News to people around us. He wants us to bring Him to them and to love Him in them.

Pope Benedict XVI said: ‘’Dear friends, our time needs Christians who have been grasped by Christ, who grow in faith through their familiarity with Sacred Scripture and the sacraments. People who are, as it were, an open book that tells of the experience of new life in the Spirit, of the presence of that God who supports us on our way and opens us to everlasting life’’.

Bishops who gathered at the synod dedicated to the New Evangelization left us this message: Leading the men and women of our time to Jesus, to the encounter with him is a necessity that touches all the regions of the world.

It is up to us today to render experiences of the Church concretely accessible, to multiply the wells where thirsting men and women are invited to encounter Jesus, to offer oases in the deserts of life. Christian communities and, in them, every disciple of the Lord are responsible for this: an irreplaceable testimony has been entrusted to each one, so that the Gospel can enter the lives of all. This requires of us holiness of life.

Pope Francis said that the problem of today’s evangelization not being effective is the fact that evangelists themselves fail.

We do not have to make great things, it is enough, for instance, to be interested in each other. Not only in how someone is at work, how they are in terms of health, but in how they are doing in their life with Jesus. We should invite each other for visits, not only for celebrations or a glass of wine, but also for a discussion about Sunday’s gospel or maybe to be brave and ask for a prayer during such meetings.

Pope Francis says in his apostolic exhortation:

With the Holy Spirit, Mary is always present in the midst of the people. She joined the disciples in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14) and thus made possible the missionary outburst which took place at Pentecost. She is the Mother of the Church which evangelizes, and without her we could never truly understand the spirit of the new evangelization.

Mary was able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus, with poor swaddling clothes and an abundance of love. She is the handmaid of the Father who sings his praises. She is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain. As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice. She is the missionary who draws near to us and accompanies us throughout life, opening our hearts to faith by her maternal love. As a true mother, she walks at our side, she shares our struggles and she constantly surrounds us with God’s love.

The evangelizing activity of the Church has a Marian character. When we look at Mary we can always believe again in the revolutionary power of tenderness and love.

And therefore we walk with Mary and pray:

(all read)

• Mary, Virgin and Mother,
• you who, moved by the Holy Spirit,
• welcomed the word of life
• in the depths of your humble faith:
• as you gave yourself completely to the Eternal One,
• help us to say our own “yes”
• to the urgent call, as pressing as ever,
• to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
• Filled with Christ’s presence,
• you brought joy to John the Baptist,
• making him exult in the womb of his mother.
• Brimming over with joy,
• you sang of the great things done by God.
• Standing at the foot of the cross
• with unyielding faith,
• you received the joyful comfort of the resurrection,
• and joined the disciples in awaiting the Spirit
• so that the evangelizing Church might be born.
• Obtain for us now a new ardor born of the resurrection,
• that we may bring to all the Gospel of life
• which triumphs over death.
• Give us a holy courage to seek new paths,
• that the gift of unfading beauty
• may reach every man and woman.
• Virgin of listening and contemplation,
• Mother of love, Bride of the eternal wedding feast,
• pray for the Church, whose pure icon you are,
• that she may never be closed in on herself
• or lose her passion for establishing God’s kingdom.
• Star of the new evangelization,
• help us to bear radiant witness to communion,
• service, ardent and generous faith,
• justice and love of the poor,
• that the joy of the Gospel
• may reach to the ends of the earth,
• illuminating even the fringes of our world.
• Mother of the living Gospel,
• wellspring of happiness for God’s little ones,
• pray for us.
• Amen. Alleluia!