The most perfect example of allowing peace, love, and true contentment into the deepest recesses of one’s heart is the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Annunciation, as seen in today’s Gospel, and the Visitation story, which is the other optional Gospel reading for this day. At first, Mary questions the angel Gabriel as to how she might be with child. Quickly, she denounces her hesitations and proclaims one of the most quoted lines in Scripture, “Let it be done to me according to thy word.” Then she goes quickly to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is also expecting a child, after many, many years of carrying the cross of infertility.
Today, the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego in Mexico City in the 1500s. Her appearance was reminiscent of that in today’s first reading from Revelation. The sash around her waist was a symbol indicating pregnancy in that time and place.
As my husband and I prepare to welcome our first child into our arms next Spring, the motherhood of these women, and our patron, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, is not lost on me. As an expecting mother, deeper recesses of my heart have been unlocked, and new ailments have opened possibilities for greater gratitude. Without glossing over the hardships of pregnancy and motherhood, I seek to offer my suffering for others as often as I can (which may be only 10% of the time, in full transparency). Offering the round-the-clock nausea for patients undergoing chemotherapy or the sciatica pain for those in chronic pain allows me to enter into their journeys and invite them into mine as well. My husband and I have had to cancel plans with family and friends when I am unwell; the journey can be isolating and depleting. The loved ones who consistently check in on me or have helped in a multitude of ways stir extra gratitude. After all, true hospitality is in our Eucharistic hearts.
Every person on this earth is the gift of a mother who endured with a hopeful look at eternity. To be entrusted with this life, this journey, this gift from God in front of us, no matter what it is, is a blessing unique to each of us. No matter what race we are enduring, we look to the “finish line” or the next milestone for hope. It is a glimmer that allows us to keep going. Allowing the chilling wind to blow over our heads, we look to the examples of peace and love through gratitude and piety, and we continue yet another day.
