In the Presence: Ardent Charity & Profound Humility
"In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"' (Lk 1:39-42).
"Mary's visitation to Elizabeth thus became a visit from God to his people" (CCC, 717).
This week, we reflect on the virtues of:
Ardent Charity - passionate/ glowing love for God and neighbour
Profound Humility - a deep and complete submission to God’s will
Mary had no sense of self-importance despite knowing that she was carrying the Son of God because she had a deep and complete submission to God’s will (profound humility). She could have easily become insular and choose to prioritise her own safety, comfort and convenience; after all she was carrying the Son of God in her womb. When God told her to go and visit her cousin Elizabeth who was also with child, Mary simply obeyed and trusted that the Lord was guiding her next steps even if she could not see the full picture of how it was all going to unfold. She was able to hold the weight of this revelation and still go on her way to be of service to another by giving of herself to be with her cousin Elizabeth in her pregnancy too. There was no desire to glorify herself but rather a desire to let God’s glory shine through her.
We see how her love of God also naturally extended into her love of neighbour (ardent charity) leading her to also go and act - not just ponder in stillness - but to go forth and see how she could love others and be of service. Mary simply went to aid Elizabeth, her pregnant, elderly cousin in her time of need without any fanfare. There is a certain hiddenness of Mary’s actions that reveals her profound humility in knowing that none of this was by her own merit but by God’s grace. It was just a quiet obedience and her passionate love of God that she allowed herself to be used as an instrument to literally bring the face of Christ to another in their time of need.
In this season of Advent, let us pause to reflect on what shapes our daily life, in our big and small decisions. The world we live in idolizes comfort, self-preservation and convenience. We are often guided by questions like how will this affect me? What will this cost me? Or perhaps we feel we are too broken, too overwhelmed, too stretched to think of anyone other than ourselves. But do we recognise that all that we have in our lives is a gift from Christ and His providence is what sustains us? Nothing that we have on this earth is our entitlement, everything is a gift - including the dawn of each new day. With each new day is another opportunity to realise that all that we have is a gift and thus we too are called to be a gift freely given to others.