This past Thursday, December 12, I shared a reflection at the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet’s monthly “Signs of the Times” prayer service.
Specifically, I was invited to share my thoughts on the Advent reading of Luke 1:26-38, which is the story of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to Jesus. I was asked to reflect on this story in the context of current events in the U.S. and the world. I then facilitated a discussion around a number of questions – Advent questions; questions that guide us in mindfully considering and remembering how we are called to bring forth Jesus into the world today through our thoughts and actions.
Following are my words of reflection.
Friends, it is a great honor to be with you as together we explore the signs of our times and our response to them. And what times we are living through! As always, we embark on this journey of exploration and response in a spirit of trust and with a love of God and the dear neighbor without distinction.
The wisdom we heard from the Gospel of Luke is a fitting resource and guide for our shared journey. Perhaps like me, you appreciate the depth dimension of the wisdom literature of our faith tradition. What do I mean by this?
Well, on one level, today’s reading is a story that took place 2,000 years ago. At this level we recognize and celebrate Mary as a woman who lived and responded within her specific time and place in history.
But we can go deeper. All types of wisdom literature – both within our Christian tradition and beyond it – speak to humanity in the here and now. Yes, on one level, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph are historical figures. Yet on a deeper psychological and metaphysical level they serve as archetypes, as representatives of aspects of our own psyche. This is true of biblical figures we admire as well as those whose actions we abhor.
I’ll give an example. In the Christmas story, of which our reading today is really the beginning, we can recognize that part of ourselves called to – and longing to – bring forth into the world the light of Christ. Said another way, we all have a Mary aspect to us. Yet, if we’re honest, we also have to acknowledge that we have an ego which, like Herod, fears what this light will illuminate for us and within us. We have a part of ourselves that fears and seeks to avoid the hard work of recognizing and overcoming our own fears and perceived limitations.
Yet here’s the beautiful thing in which we can trust: As we heal and transform these false and broken aspects of ourselves, we contribute to the healing and transformation of the world. This is because at the deepest level of who we are, we are not only one with the source of all creation, but with all creation itself.
Friends, we are living in and through a time where our world is under great stress and strain, where the most justice-seeking and life-honoring structures and institutions of our society are under threat from political figures and movements opposed to justice, democracy, and compassion.
Many of us have been shaken by the election result of last month and the shifts in our society that this result both signifies and seeks to expand in ways that many of us find profoundly disturbing. It’s hard to know how to respond to this.
We can look for guidance, however, in the wisdom of Luke – and specifically in the story we’ve come to call the annunciation. The setting of this story is not unlike our own present moment. Mary and her loved ones lived under an occupying imperial force. Such forces of empire – both corporate and military – continue to dominate our world, causing untold suffering.
Yet like Mary, we are called to bring forth Jesus – the “Light of the world.” In that deeper, mystical understanding of which I spoke earlier, Jesus is one of many names for that divine, transforming love that all of us share.
Can we, like Mary, trustingly say “Yes!” to birthing this Love?
How do we hear the call to do so? Who or what are our Angel Gabriels?
How do we connect with – and stay grounded in – the Mary aspect of ourselves?
What does our unique manifestation of the Light look like?
These are the types of questions that surface when we open ourselves to the deeper significance of our wisdom literature. Indeed, it’s our questions, our exploration of them, and our response to them, that makes these stories sources of wisdom and guidance in every age – our troubled and troubling one included.
So let us start our shared journey of exploration and response with this question: In these times of challenge and change, what am I drawn to say “Yes” to?
In the discussion that followed, many of those in attendance said that in the midst of the challenges and changes of our times, they felt renewed to continue being an informed, hope-filled, proactive, and loving presence in the world – starting with how they interact with their family and friends during the approaching holiday season. Many also said they were renewed in recommitting and/or seeking out new ways to help those who will most likely be negatively impacted by a second Trump administration, immigrants in particular.
One attendee, a friend within the CSJ community, voiced feeling totally overwhelmed by recent events, so much so that she simply didn’t know what she can or should do. I talked with her afterwards and acknowledged how she is feeling. I also reminded her that Mary too felt confused and unsure at one point in the annunciation story, but that her story – and ours – doesn’t end there; it goes on. We can sit in the midst of unknowing, surrender our discomfort and uncertainty to God, and trust that the way will open for us; that we’ll discern what to do next. My friend appreciated this perspective and was, I believe, heartened by it.
Right: With friends Jane and Christine at Thursday’s Signs of the Times prayer service at Carondelet Village in St. Paul.
Related Off-site Link:
The Advent of Divine Love – Marianne Williamson (Spirituality and Health, December 2024).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Chill of Winter, a Prayer of Light and Love
• For 2015, Three “Generous Promises”
• The Vatican and U.S. Women Religious (2009)
• Beginning the Process
• Making My Consociate Commitment
• The Inspiring Brigid McDonald
• In Wintry Minnesota, An Australian Afternoon Tea
• Celebrating the “Sisters of Peace”
• (Old) Catholic Thoughts on the Feast of the Theotokos
• Celebrating the Dormition of Mary
• Something to Think About (and Celebrate)
• How the Light Comes
• Christmastide Approaches
• Clarity and Hope
Images: Michael J. Bayly.
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