Catholic Center Christmas Gathering
BNS
21. XII. 2023
I. Mary Went in Haste
Yesterday, the Church remembered and celebrated that moment in history when the Angel announced to Mary that she would be Mother of the Savior. We waited with happy anticipation to hear Mary say the words that opened the way for the designs of God’s heart to come to fulfillment: “Let it be done to me according to your Word.”
But even as the Angel told Mary that she would conceive Jesus in the power of the Spirit, the Angel also told her that her kinswoman, Elizabeth,
who was thought barren and in her advancing in years, would conceive & bear a son, “for nothing,” said the Angel, “is impossible with God.”
And what did Mary do? The Gospel tells us that she went in haste into the hill country. Carrying the Savior in her womb, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth. The news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, in other words, did not remain an abstraction, a piece of interesting news, good news, that she merely mulled over in her mind. No, Mary hastened to encounter Elizabeth. She made a long and arduous journey into the hill country of Judah.
To see Elizabeth. To embrace her. To help her. To exult and rejoice with her: Mary who carried Jesus in her womb with love beyond all telling,
Elizabeth who carried John in her womb, the infant who leapt for joy as the long-awaited salvation from on high dawned upon the earth.
And what happened? As Mary and Elizabeth encountered one another, the Holy Spirit came upon them. Elizabeth celebrated Mary’s trust in God’s promises: “Blessed are you, O Mary, who believed God’s promises would be fulfilled.” Mary, for her part, sang God’s praises in her immortal canticle, the Magnificat: “The Lord has done great things for me, and holy is his Name!”
II. Going into the Hill Country
Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has urged all of us to develop within the Church “a culture of encounter,” a culture of listening, of prayerful discernment, a culture of mutuality. As you and I daily deal with the very practical challenges of Church administration, we know how challenging it can be to build up such a culture, and why? Because, despite the ease of transportation and the many means of communication that are at our disposal, the secular culture of which we are a part makes it all-too-easy to treat other people, and their views and concerns, as an abstraction.
And when the other person is reduced to an abstraction, it is easier to categorize the other person ideologically to ascribe motives, to criticize, and sometimes even to demonize.
We don’t like it when it happens to us, when we are lumped into the massa damnata known as “320”, or if you dress like I do every day, you might be numbered among “the suits”. Often complaints are lodged about “320”, but when colleagues in the field sit down with us as individuals,
and we have the chance to listen, to dialog, and to work together – it is frequently a different story – we and they are no longer an abstraction.
We are men and women of faith and good will who love the Church. It doesn’t solve every problem or smooth over every rough situation
but it surely helps when we strive to encounter one another in faith and charity in the power of the Holy Spirit.For when we do, Christ, though unseen, is present in us and among us.
Similarly, when we experience frustration in fulfilling our responsibilities, and find that we are blocked by non-responsiveness or indifference,
we can easily become frustrated and discouraged, and find ourselves treating those perceived as non-cooperative as an abstraction, an abstraction we can categorize, criticize, and complain about. I know; I’ve done it myself – and may God have mercy on my soul! But when we take the time to reach out, to listen, to try to understand the situation and challenges the other is undergoing, then, in the power of the Spirit, the non-cooperative person becomes someone real, someone who is known and loved by God, even as we are. And, as always, Christ is unseen but truly present in those encounters.
III. Going into the Hill Country
One message you and I can take from the story of the Visitation is our need, again and again, to go into the “hill country” – and by that I don’t simply mean Mountain Maryland! I mean that you and I need to travel over the rough and hilly terrain of disagreement, misunderstanding, mischance, and discouragement, so as to arrive whenever possible at the doorstep of encounter, at a point where no one in the Church is regarded as a stranger or a competitor, but rather as persons of faith and good will, and more than that, as those who bear Christ in their hearts as did Mary and as those who welcome Christ and Mary as did Elizabeth, and as those who announce Christ’s presence as did John.
And that is precisely what you strive to do on a daily basis … many of you are in the field day in and day out engaging parishes, working with pastors and lay leadership and consultative bodies, while others provide necessary support services at your desks. Either way, I know you are indeed seeking to travel through the hill country, not merely to get a job done but in the power of the Holy Spirit, to create a culture of encounter, dialog, and cooperation – all in the service of the Church’s mission of evangelization.
Thank you most sincerely, not only for what you do, but for how you do it. And as Christmas dawns, may you and your loved ones experience,
perhaps as never before the peace and joy of Christ our Savior!