The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today include extra Scripture choices that underline the experience of the Church that the call to God often comes through people who are outside the privileged classes.
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| Full moon on 12/12 |
The reading from the Prophet Zechariah praises daughter Zion.
* [2:15] Many nations…my people: a way of expressing God’s relationship to people in covenant language. The covenant between God and Israel (see Jer 31:33; 32:38) is here universalized to include all nations.1
The passage from the Book of Revelation is the vision of the battle between the Woman and the Dragon.
* [12:1–6] The woman adorned with the sun, the moon, and the stars (images taken from Gn 37:9–10) symbolizes God’s people in the Old and the New Testament. The Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:5) and then became the new Israel, the church, which suffers persecution by the dragon (Rev 12:6, 13–17); cf. Is 50:1; 66:7; Jer 50:12. This corresponds to a widespread myth throughout the ancient world that a goddess pregnant with a savior was pursued by a horrible monster; by miraculous intervention, she bore a son who then killed the monster.2
The response from the Book of Judith celebrates a daughter, blessed by the Most High.
* [13:12–20] Elements from chaps. 8–9 are echoed here. The assembly of the people at Judith’s return parallels the meeting of the town officials summoned by Judith in 8:10. Uzziah blesses Judith in 8:5 and again in 13:18–20.3The simple conclusion from these and other details is that the work is historical fiction, written to exalt God as Israel’s deliverer from foreign might, not by an army, but by means of a simple widow.4
In the Gospel of Luke, Mary Visits Elizabeth and sings a hymn of praise.
* [1:45] Blessed are you who believed: Luke portrays Mary as a believer whose faith stands in contrast to the disbelief of Zechariah (Lk 1:20). Mary’s role as believer in the infancy narrative should be seen in connection with the explicit mention of her presence among “those who believed” after the resurrection at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1:14).5
Luis Rodriguez, S.J. comments that God writes straight with lines that to us may look crooked as he shares how our ignorance of colonized cultures is ironically showing the blessing of America in Our Lady of Guadalupe.
There exists in Midwest Spain a centuries old shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (my own mother’s name was Guadalupe) and that was all that Juan de Zumárraga, bishop of Mexico, knew. So, when he asked Juan Diego for the name of the Lady that had appeared to him and he heard in the Nauatl language the name Coatlaxopeuh (translated crushes the serpent and pronounced Quatlasupe), the non-exculturated bishop, who knew only of Spain’s Guadalupe, felt a need to “correct” Juan Diego: “you, ignoramus, it has to be Guadalupe”. And the non-inculturated name sank roots locally and beyond.6
Friar Jude Winkler shares the presentation of God as not distant but in our midst. Revelation gives two visions of God protecting the Holy Child and the Church. Friar Jude shares the link of Mary to the new Ark of the Covenant.
Bishop Robert Barron reflects on his visit to Guadalupe during the filming of the CATHOLICISM series in Mexico: (https://youtu.be/j9QmxmZBSR4 ).
The post by Franciscan Media outlines the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.
Mary’s appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary—and the God who sent her—accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for the indigenous population. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God’s preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God’s love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, introduces Ron H., a beloved staff member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, who shares from his own experience how humility and honesty are needed throughout the Twelve Steps.
About five years into my recovery journey, I got to know a man in Los Angeles named Pepe. Like so many we get to meet in the rooms, he was a compelling character. His stories were spellbinding and masterfully delivered, his wisdom was simple and always rang of truth, and his heart was out there where you could see it, humble, genuine. When he told of how he took his wheelchair-bound teenage son Tony, dying of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, to the river to go fishing, the entire room would hang on every word (no matter how many times we had heard the story). Completely bereft as he watched Tony painfully work to get his line in the water, Pepe began to cry. “Dad,” Tony said, “Why are you crying? There’s nothing wrong with me. It’s just my Earth suit that is having trouble. Nothing is wrong with me.”8
Messengers telling of their experience of the Divine may not be speaking in the language of the dominant culture, the powerful gender, and physically attractive.
References
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