Dec. 8, 2011 Thursday: Immaculate Conception
From Mother Teresa: In the Shadow of Our Lady by Fr. Joseph Langford MC (pp. 82-86)
It is Mary's role and her dignity to bring together the yearning of God and man, as she did first of all in her womb, as she did for John on Calvary, as she did for the disciples at Pentecost, as she did for Mother Teresa and Juan Diego, and as she will for each of us. She is the wedding place of God and man, the biblical "enclosed garden" (Song 4:12), the new Eden to welcome and shelter our meeting with God.
Mother Teresa would extend, two thousand years later, Our Lady's mission in the time and space. She would constantly beg of Our Lady, in her own name and in the name of her Sisters and co-workers, "Lend us your heart." What might this mean? Whether Mother Teresa realized it or not, this request has biblical roots going back to the prophet Elijah. Our Lady's heart is still hers, but in God's plan it is also to be ours. The prayer, "Lend us your heart," is not unlike Elisha's prayer as he begs the departing Elijah to lend him a "double portion" of his spirit, of her interior grace, her "heart," as she begins her new mission, carrying on the sacred task begun by Mary at the foot of the Cross. Mother Teresa's mission made Our Lady's presence and role visible before our eyes.
How is it possible for Our Lady to "lend us her heart"? The answer lies in Mary's privileged relationship to the Holy Spirit, in her Immaculate Conception. This mystery with its many benefits, was intended for all of God's children, as sung by the Fathers of the Church from the earliest centuries:
Today humanity, in all the radiance of [Our Lady's] immaculate nobility, receives its ancient beauty. The shame of sin had darkened the splendor and attraction of human nature; but when the Mother of the Fair One...is born, this nature regains in her person its ancient privileges and is fashioned according to a perfect model truly worthy of God...The reform of our nature begins today, and the aged world, subjected to a wholly divine transformation, receives the first fruits of the second creation.
The Church tells us that Our Lady's Immaculate Conception was in view of her becoming the mother of the Son of God, the God-bearer, gilded with the Holy Spirit, as the ancient Ark of the Covenant was gilded with precious gold...As Ark of the New Covenant, Our Lady not only has given us the One she carried in her womb; her presence remains forever a graced place of encounter between us and her Son. In the Old Testament, the Ark provided a sacred space where men could draw close to God, where grace flowed most freely, and where human foibles seemed somehow supplied for. It was a meeting place where man could contemplate the glory of God, where the cloud of glory bent down to touch the earth. Our Lady brings with her a sacred atmosphere filled with God's presence, offering a refuge that purifies and prepares us for the encounter with God. this was why Mother Teresa constantly asked Our Lady to keep her in her heart, to keep her within that sacred space, still pregnant with divinity.
I have twice had the privilege of entering the small room where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is kept. One side of the room is made of glass, through which the image is exposed for viewing. Once a month, at night, in order to clean the protective bullet-proof crystal, the image of Our Lady is swung on its hinges away from the glass. Certain people (such as writers, scholars, and scientists from NASA) have been given permission to examine the sacred image up close at such times, without the filter of thick leaded glass.
On that particular night, we were each given three minutes. As soon as I entered, I felt the overwhelming presence of Our Lady, a presence I can only name by what the Israelites called kabod, the weight of God's glory. My head dropped to the ground. After absorbing this living sense of God's glory that Our Lady was conveying through her invisible presence there, I told myself: "You only have three minutes; you had better look at her." I understood for the first time the connection between God's glory and the temple, his dwelling place. I understood also that Our Lady is the meeting tent. She is the true temple.
For this reason, according to tradition, Our Lady as a child entered the temple, in order to be formed by the temple to become the temple, to resume in herself the mystery of God's presence in the history of his people, Israel, his chosen dwelling place among the nations. As the Fathers of the Church have affirmed, Mary is the mystery of the Church. In her, the Church is prefigured, contained, and brought to fulfillment. She is God's true Israel. All that God wanted to accomplish is realized, fulfilled, and perfected in Our Lady.
How is it possible for Our Lady to "lend us her heart"? The answer lies in Mary's privileged relationship to the Holy Spirit, in her Immaculate Conception. This mystery with its many benefits, was intended for all of God's children, as sung by the Fathers of the Church from the earliest centuries:
Today humanity, in all the radiance of [Our Lady's] immaculate nobility, receives its ancient beauty. The shame of sin had darkened the splendor and attraction of human nature; but when the Mother of the Fair One...is born, this nature regains in her person its ancient privileges and is fashioned according to a perfect model truly worthy of God...The reform of our nature begins today, and the aged world, subjected to a wholly divine transformation, receives the first fruits of the second creation.
The Church tells us that Our Lady's Immaculate Conception was in view of her becoming the mother of the Son of God, the God-bearer, gilded with the Holy Spirit, as the ancient Ark of the Covenant was gilded with precious gold...As Ark of the New Covenant, Our Lady not only has given us the One she carried in her womb; her presence remains forever a graced place of encounter between us and her Son. In the Old Testament, the Ark provided a sacred space where men could draw close to God, where grace flowed most freely, and where human foibles seemed somehow supplied for. It was a meeting place where man could contemplate the glory of God, where the cloud of glory bent down to touch the earth. Our Lady brings with her a sacred atmosphere filled with God's presence, offering a refuge that purifies and prepares us for the encounter with God. this was why Mother Teresa constantly asked Our Lady to keep her in her heart, to keep her within that sacred space, still pregnant with divinity.
I have twice had the privilege of entering the small room where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is kept. One side of the room is made of glass, through which the image is exposed for viewing. Once a month, at night, in order to clean the protective bullet-proof crystal, the image of Our Lady is swung on its hinges away from the glass. Certain people (such as writers, scholars, and scientists from NASA) have been given permission to examine the sacred image up close at such times, without the filter of thick leaded glass.
For this reason, according to tradition, Our Lady as a child entered the temple, in order to be formed by the temple to become the temple, to resume in herself the mystery of God's presence in the history of his people, Israel, his chosen dwelling place among the nations. As the Fathers of the Church have affirmed, Mary is the mystery of the Church. In her, the Church is prefigured, contained, and brought to fulfillment. She is God's true Israel. All that God wanted to accomplish is realized, fulfilled, and perfected in Our Lady.
