Dad’s Lenten Blog

Thoughts during Lent

Tag: mary

  • The greatest Yes

    Their times in your life, many of them just fleeting moments, when you’re asked to do something that is either uncomfortable, inconvenient, or just plain hard. It could be a simple as getting up off the couch and doing a chore for Mom and or me. Maybe something much more difficult. Each of us has a story. At one time or another we had to make a decision. Yes, or no.

    Sometime today I want you to close your eyes and picture this scene. 

    In a small ancient town, over 2000 years ago, there is  a small, nondescript house, probably with stone walls and dirt floors. Inside, maybe there were just a couple of rooms. In one of those rooms there’s a young girl, maybe 13 or 14 years old. I’d like to believe she’s praying.

    All of a sudden, there’s an intense light. A man appears in the room. She is very frightened. The man kneels at her feet and bows his head. His words, “Hail Mary, full of Grace!“.

    We are so used to watching science fiction and monster movies and supernatural ghost stories with great CGI. Just imagine for a second what it would’ve been like for a young girl back then to experience this. Her heart racing with fear of the unknown and of what’s happening before her.

    Then, on top of this frightening moment, the man tells the young girl that she has been chosen by God to give birth to the savior of the world, the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus. At this moment in history, the Jewish people in Israel were under occupation by the Romans, so the prayer for the Messiah to deliver them from oppression was on everybody’s lips for decades. This message from the man to the young girl must’ve been incredible shock.

    Above all else, this young girl must have been so confused and fearful because she had never been with a man. But the man said, “Be not afraid”! 

    In this tiny, humble room, this young girl was asked do to do something very difficult, fraught with issues. How could she explain this? What would she tell her fiancé, Joseph??? What would her parents say? What thoughts must have been racing through her mind. 

    What would her response be???? I believe all the angels heaven stopped at that moment and were listening and hoping. She had free will to say yes or no.

    This was the moment that would change everything, forever.

    Her response, “ Behold, I am the handmade of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word“.

    At that moment, which we celebrate today, heaven must have rejoiced. 

    This young, simple, and innocent girl from a small, poor, insignificant town loved God and trusted Him. No matter what the repercussions.

    Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation. Today we celebrate like the angels did at that moment. Why?

    Because Mary said Yes.

  • A Good Vintage

    There is something special about really good wine. Where it came from, somewhere in the hills of France or Italy or California. And there, grapes were harvested, processed, and eventually bottled some times 10 or 20 years earlier. And when one of those wines are opened, its like they have a life of their own, as the air touches the wine for the first time in years the wine comes to life and the flavors just get better and better.

    Why is wine interwoven in our faith and in a bigger sense all human history? I don’t know. But it absolutely plays a huge part. The most significant is the fact of transubstantiation. It is wine, that becomes Christ blood. Jesus could’ve chosen any liquid, water, grape juice, anything, but he clearly chose wine.

    But outside of the Eucharist, it is Jesus‘s first miracle that has such deep meaning for me. It’s not necessarily about the wine, as it is about Jesus‘s mother, Mary.

    There are very few words that that Mary speaks in the Bible. They are all very substantial. But I do love the the night of the wedding in Cana. 

    So, these wedding feasts go on for days and I imagine a lot of wine is drunk. And as we all know the story, the hosts somehow run out of wine early.

    Though the Bible doesn’t specifically say it,  we have to believe that Mary senses the anxiety of the hosts. And so She goes to Jesus and simply says “they have no wine“. That’s it. Maybe She didn’t have to say another word. He knew what She was requesting because She and Joseph were the only ones in the world who knew who Jesus was. What was Jesus‘s reply? “ Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come”.

    Whoa! That was pretty tough response. Almost a rebuke.

    But then something amazing happens, Mary just turns to the servant standing near and says “do whatever he tells you“.

    We know the story, Jesus tells the servants to fill six jars that held 30 gallons each, with water. ( ok, I had to look that up ; -) That would be like 180 gallons. And with the His first miracle, turns that water into wine. And when the master of the wedding tastes it, he can’t believe the quality! Can any of us imagine how good that wine must have been!

    But not only did Jesus fulfill Mary’s request to help someone else. He fulfilled in a way that was bountiful. 180 gallons!!!!! That must have been some wedding.

    Mary is our mother. And as any good mother, She is concerned always for the well being of Her children. A mother senses things about her children. So when Mary senses what was happening, the embarrassment and bummer for all the party goers and the bride and groom, what did She do? She went directly to Her Son. And He could not turn Her away.

    Why do we ask our Blessed Mother to pray for us? Because She loves us only a mother could. And Jesus can’t say no to His mother. She knows what is good for us. What is good for our souls. And She wants us to be with Her Son, forever, in Heaven. 

  • How did he do it?

     How did he do it?

    How in the world did he do it?

    Mary would’ve been about 15 years old when they were engaged. I can only imagine how beautiful she would’ve been. Imagine with the singular grace she received from God, never having sinned in her whole life. When Joseph laid eyes on her for the first time, I can’t imagine what he must’ve felt. Can you picture the sheer beauty that would be before his eyes?

    Sometime during their engagement, Mary conceives Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Immediately following that moment, Mary goes to her cousin Elizabeth to take care of her during the later stages of her pregnancy. I can imagine that Joseph took Mary to Elizabeth to protect her along that journey. And while she was there for three months, he most likely returned home to work.

    So he is working hard and anticipating marrying this beautiful girl. But when she returns three months later, she is noticeably pregnant. What could possibly be going through his mind? I can’t even imagine the anxiety, the questions, the doubt. 

    He went from being on top of the world to distressed beyond belief. I like to think that he decided one night to pack up his things and just leave and travel to a far off place never to be heard from again so that Mary’s virtue would be protected.

    How much did Joseph pray during those trouble moments? How many times he must’ve said to our Lord “what should I do?” 

    And then, Joseph gives us perhaps the greatest example of trusting in God. In a dream, an angel tells Joseph to not be afraid, to take Mary into his home, and that the baby, Jesus, would be the savior of the world. And what does Joseph do? He trusted in God’s will and took Mary as his wife and raised Jesus as his son.

    Each time we hear of Joseph in the Bible, he is undergoing some incredible test. When Mary is nine months pregnant, they must make the journey to Bethlehem. A very difficult thing to do. And then, upon arriving, having no place to stay. Joseph must’ve felt like a failure as a protector and provider, especially knowing who Jesus was. And then the humility it took to stay in a lowly stable. Could you imagine? 

    When they presented Jesus to the temple to be circumcised. Simieon, the priest, fortold to Joseph and Mary that Jesus was the Christ and that in the end, Jesus would suffer, as would Mary, for the sake of the whole world. Can you imagine Joseph’s reaction. How that must have hurt his heart to hear that. Yet he persevered.

    Soon after Joseph, because of another dream, would have to take Mary and the baby and flee in the middle of the night on an incredibly dangerous journey to Egypt to save Jesus’ life. I’m not sure if I had a dream that I would get up and undertake such an incredible difficult task. At the time, Egypt was a place where Jews were not liked. Joseph had to provide for his family in a strange place, probably without any tools. I just can’t imagine the stress he must’ve been under. Yet he persevered.

    Maybe the one that gets me the most, because I can identify with the sheer vulnerability, is when while traveling from Jerusalem back to Nazareth, Jesus is separated from Joseph and Mary. They searched for Him for three days!!!! Can you even conceive of the stress, the prayers, the anxiety that Joseph must have felt. 

    Joseph was one of us. And he gives us the greatest example of trusting in God’s plan. He had to abandon his will to trust in Gods. And God always gave him the strength to persevere, to protect, to nurture, to love, to be a great father. 

    That’s how he did it.