Scripture:
Reflection:
Mary Found Favor with God
Every Sunday when we proclaim the Creed, we remind ourselves that we believe in the “Communion of the Saints.” But what does that mean?
Often when I feel down or caught in discouragement, I like to read the lives of those canonized icons from our rich history, like Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross, or Paul of the Cross, or sometimes I’ll have dinner with saints of today — like my good friend, Gabriel, a Benedictine monk and pastor in a nearby diocese. Like his eponym, the archangel, my generous and kind friend, Gabriel, is a remarkable bearer of Good News or Gospel. That’s what angels do — because they are “God’s messengers.”
In today’s Gospel, the Archangel Gabriel announces to Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (Luke 1:30)
But have you ever pondered?
Abel found favor with God, and his brother killed him (Genesis 4:9)
Abraham found favor with God, and was told by God to sacrifice his son (Genesis 22:2)
Hebrew children found favor with God, and wandered for 40 years in loneliness, thirst (Numbers 21:5)
Moses found favor with God, listened to the daily complaints of his people, and never saw the promised land (Numbers 20:12)
David found favor with God,and suffered bitterly the death of his son (2 Samuel 19:1)
Job found favor with God, and lost fortune, family, wealth & health (Job 1:13ff)
Elijah found favor with God, and waited under a juniper tree, pondering suicide
(1 Kings 19)
Joseph found favor with God, and he was sold by his bothers into slavery (Genesis 37:36)
Daniel found favor with God, and ended up in a lion’s den (Daniel 6:10)
Jeremiah found favor with God, and felt the quiver of God’s arrows in his flesh
Hosea found favor with God, and his wife became a prostitute
John the Baptist found favor with God, and he was violently decapitated (Matthew 14:10)
Stephen found favor with God, and he was stoned (Acts 7:59)
Paul found favor with God, and was shipwrecked, starved and in prison
Jesus found favor with God, and was beaten, spat upon, crucified
Maybe today is a good time to reflect also on that provocative passage (Isaiah 55:9), “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” Confident of God’s unconditional love, we, too, remember St. Teresa of Avila as she was bucked off her horse into a river on the way to visit one of her monasteries: “Dear Lord, if this is how You treat Your friends, it is no wonder You have so few!”
Fr. Jack Conley, CP, is the local superior of St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.