December 2: Mary in God's plan

ADVENT WEEK: MONDAY

MARY IN THE PROJECT OF GOD

The free love of God the Father prepares Mary from eternity in a singular way, preserving her from all evil, to associate her with the event of the incarnation of the Son. We appreciate not so much what she has done, but what God has accomplished in her. God wanted her "full of grace". God has found in Mary a person willing to fully fulfill the divine will. The scant news that the Gospels give about Mary are certainly not a chronicle of her life, but they are sufficient to express the mysterious plan that God has been counting on her. Thus we know Mary's response to God; but what does God mean to us through Mary? The Gospel narrative describes the experience that Mary has of God in meeting him, but also lets us glimpse how God behaves with Mary and how he wants to behave towards the creatures he created free. The Virgin of Nazareth responds with humble availability and adores the omnipotence of God. The evangelical image of Mary appears to us as God's plan and Word, reflects her face; the "full of grace" reveals God, is the "spotless of sin" from the beginning, is the Immaculate Conception, an icon of God.

PRAYER

O Jesus, in Bethlehem You have turned on a light, which definitively illuminates the face of God: God is humble! While we want to be great, You, O God, make yourself small; while we want to be the first, you, O God, put yourself in last place; while we want to dominate, You, O God, come to serve; while we seek honors and privileges, You, O God, seek men's feet and wash and kiss them lovingly. How much difference between us and you, O Lord! O Jesus, meek and humble, we stop on the threshold of Bethlehem and pause thoughtfully and hesitantly: the mountain of our pride does not enter the narrow space of the cave. O Jesus, meek and humble, take away the pride from our hearts, deflate our presumptions, give us your humility and, going down from the pedestal, we will meet You and our brothers; and it will be Christmas and it will be a party! Amen.

(Cardinal Angelo Comastri)

FLOWER OF THE DAY:

I commit myself to know the near and far hopeless situations to be a witness of consolation