Happy Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to all of our Sisters and Associates who, as members of our Dominican Congregation, have served God for the past 148 years under her holy protection. Since it is such a joyful day for us, I thought it appropriate to contemplate the meaning of the Joyful Mysteries as they pertain to our lives today. If we could summarize the message of these events in the lives of Mary and Jesus, the words trust, faith, and surrender seem to be the most obvious.
The Annunciation presented a significant challenge to the faith of this young girl. An angel visited her with the message that God had chosen her to be the mother of his Divine Son, hardly a position she had ever thought to be offered since her betrothal had already been determined. However, regardless of her present situation, she did not stint in her response. Rather, by her fiat, she manifested an unquestionable faith in God's plan for her.
Each of us can ask ourselves today how well we measure up compared to Mary's spontaneity in accepting what was being asked of her. She did not ask for signs or hesitate in her response. Can we say the same for ourselves when faced with circumstances difficult to accept? How often do we question why we are asked to do something we find onerous?
In the story of the Visitation, Mary did not consider her own precarious situation but responded to her cousin Elizabeth's needs by immediately setting forth to assist her. We can also make comparisons in today's Gospel wherein the Good Samaritan does not consider his plans before he reaches out to the suffering man and goes beyond what was immediately needed to alleviate this stranger’s painful situation. How does our spontaneity compare to this man's degree of charity? How many times do we find our days interrupted by the needs of our neighbors? Do our daily agendas limit our responses first, or do we act as quickly as this Good Samaritan did?
It is commonly said that at every birth, a woman's pangs at childbirth are forgotten when her infant is placed in the arms of his or her mother for the first time. Indeed, we can imagine the great joy Mary experienced when holding her earthly son and knowing that he would also be an extraordinary gift to this world. We, too, have the privilege of holding this same child close to our hearts every day when we receive the Eucharist. At that moment, how deep is our faith in the knowledge of the Real Presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?
In the fourth mystery of the Rosary, the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, Mary offers her son to the Father and learns from Simeon that this child would be destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel and a sword of sorrow would pierce her soul revealing the thoughts from many hearts.
Mary realized that the future would not always be easy or comfortable. As we grow older, we, too, face losses and a lack of control over our destiny. What is our degree of surrender to God's will when faced with the tribulations of aging? Do we go gently into that dark night with hope and trust that all will be well, as Julian of Norwich reminded us in her faithful Journey to God?
Try to picture Mary and Joseph's reaction when they cannot find Jesus as they return from the celebration of the Passover in Jerusalem. We have all heard of parents losing a child due to no fault of their own. This type of human pain is profound, even if only for a limited time, as in the case of Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the Temple. One day, Mary would experience the loss of her child again for the last time on Calvary. Here was another fiat on Mary's part. Do we know how to let go of our attachments to this world's joys or do we struggle to hold on too tightly?
The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary give us insights into the many challenges the Holy Family faced more than two thousand years ago. Still, their message is as meaningful today as it was then: God's plans do not always parallel ours. In Isaiah's words, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways sayeth the Lord." (55:8-9)
Let us try to emulate Mary and Joseph's great faith, trust, and heroic surrender when similar challenges confront us.