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Є D G Ж Ж Ж [ [ И И $ м D И И м 39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Marys greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of Love comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my w o m b l e a p e d f o r j o y . 4 5 A n d b l e s s e d i s s h e w h o b e l i e v e d t h a t t h e r e w o u l d b e Ѓ№ a f u l f i l l m e n t o f w h a t w a s s p o k e n t o h e r b y L o v e .
M a r y s S o n g o f P r a i s e
4 6 A n d M a r y Ѓ№ s a i d ,
M y s o u l m a g n i f i e s t h e G o d o f L o v e ,
4 7 a n d m y s p i r i t r e j o i c e s i n G o d m y S a v i o r ,
4 8 f o r l ove has looked with favor on the lowliness of this servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is Loves name.
50 Loves mercy is for those who feel awe in loves presence
from generation to generation.
51 Love has shown strength with loves arm;
love has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 Love has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 Love has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
56And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
Every time I go to Mexico City, I hear Guadalupes story again. Every time I hear it, I am touched by its wonder and mystery. You heard the story earlier......and this may not have been your first time hearing it. Let me share with you some of the wonder and mystery that cracks open my heart each time I apprehend it.
The story of Guadalupe begins way before the Spanish arrived on the shores of Mexico. The Aztec culture is one of many that descended from the Olmeca culture --- which is known as the mother of all cultures in America. For many years the Aztecs were nomadic as they looked for a place that would be designated by God for them. Their culture was dedicated to One God, the giver of life, whom they revered in all the elements. This God was conceived as not male, not female, but a Unity of all elements. This culture had very strong community values; women and children were highly respected. Symbolism was very strong and their culture was centered around cycles of life. They called themselves the people of the Sun. In the early 1300s, they settled on two small islands in the area that is now Mexico City. The Aztec culture grew so large that it extended all the way into what is now Nicaragua. The God of this culture was called Quetzalcoatl --- according to their legend, he disappeared into the ocean, and would come back soon, arising from the ocean. So when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived on ships, looking a great deal like they expected Quetzalcoatl to look, they welcomed them as honored guests and gave them many gifts.
The Spanish however did not understand the culture at all, and saw the Aztecs as frightening savages. And so the Conquistadors set about destroying the Aztec culture and people. In 1520, they arrived at those two islands, the center of the Aztec world. Even though they only had stones and arrows, the Aztecs resisted the Spanish, who were armed with guns, for about a year! By now, of course, it was clear that this was not a manifestation of Quetzalcoatl.....and the Spanish were trying very hard to convince these so-called savages to adopt THEIR God.....which they SAID was the God of Love. How confusing that was.....how could the God of Love instruct the men to kill and rape them? But the Spanish insisted that the Aztecs be baptized and accept this new religion. As time went on, some of the priests began to see the deep faith of the Aztecs in their own spiritual practices --- and they began to ask Rome to stop demanding that they give up these practices.
It is in the midst of this climate that our story of Juan Diego happens...in 1531. Juan Diego is an Aztec man who has been baptized and he is still practicing his traditional ways. He is on the hill called Tepeyac, visiting a shrine to Tonantzin, a goddess image. It is there that he is visited by what must have looked like a beautiful angel, surrounded by singing angelic voices. This woman who speaks to him has skin that is not dark dark brown, like his people, and not white like the Spanish. She is a medium brown, in between the two. She speaks to him in his own language, Nauatl, and her gown is covered with symbols found on the Aztec pyramid frescoes. She speaks with the voice of Love, calling him her beloved son and telling him she is here to listen to his sorrows, and bring healing to him and his people. She instructs him to go to the Bishop and ask that a chapel be built here, so that she might listen to the people and offer them healing. It is right here, in the center of this story, that we begin to glimpse the wonder and mystery. She is offering a way for the two warring cultures to come together in a place of peace and love. At first the Bishop does not believe Juan Diego --- in his mind, this apparition is most certainly Mary, the mother of Jesus....but why would she appear to such a lowly one as this? Did the Bishop forget that Mary herself was one of the lowly too?? When Juan Diego offers the proof Guadalupe gave him, roses that were blooming among the cactus in the dead of winter, as well as her image on his cloak, the Bishops heart is softened. We might say he had a conversion experience --- his heart was cracked open and transformed by this powerful expression of Love.
The message of Guadalupe was that she offered love, compassion, help and defense to all of the human family. She was there to hear the laments and worries of all the people, without exception. She certainly revived the true message of Jesus --- the message of inclusive love for all. She brought together two clashing cultures --- that is mysterious and wondrous to me. All levels of society in Mexico today revere Guadalupe. She is called the Mother of Mexico she is the face of Love and Compassion that is available to all. She waits with opens arms for those in need.
What was it that Mary said in her Song of Joy?
for love has looked with favor on the lowliness of this servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is Loves name.
52 Love has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly
Loves power is greater than any other. And it is always present, wherever we are. As I continue to meditate on the Journey of Waiting, and what that means to me.....I discovered an understanding that it is not only we who are waiting. Love is waiting for us. To rephrase one of my favorite quotes from Meister Eckhart Love is at home....it is we who have gone out for a walk.
When I rewrote the Luke passage for today, I put the word Love in wherever the Scripture said Lord or God. I have discovered that I can relate well to the image of the Sacred as LOVE. For me, Love has all the qualities attributed to that being we also call God--- love is in everything, is ever present, and is a gift for each and every member of the human family. Love has the power to heal, to uplift, to empower, and to humble. Love has the power to reconcile those in conflict. Love cracks hearts open and fills them with more Love.
Love is an energy source --- like gasoline --- that can run our Spiritual vehicles. It is said that Love is at the center of almost every religion. Your Spiritual vehicle may be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist --- or a hybrid. Love energy will work in any of these vehicles. Love by itself does have power --- but in order for it to work miracles, we need to be the engine it runs. If you take a car engine apart, you can clean out some of the gunk on it with straight gasoline --- but the carburetor by itself cannot run the car. The whole engine must be engaged. Now, there are other energy sources we can use to run our vehicle. Hate, bitterness, guilt, regret, greed....all of those will run a vehicle, but all of them will also leave terrible deposits on the engine, and their energy runs out quickly. None of them will sustain a vehicle in the long run. Love, however, is a sustainable energy source that actually cleans the engine it is running in!!
The thing about Love as an energy source is --- you dont get to have complete control of where you go. If you entrust yourself to Loves leading, surprises can happen. If you are in power, you might decide to give up your throne. If you are one of the lowly ones, you might be lifted into leadership. Letting Love run your engine means you are open to spiritual transformation. In Donald Spotos biography of Francis of Assisi, called Reluctant Saint, he offers an understanding of the meaning of spiritual transformation, sometimes called conversion: Conversion means not only a turning away from ones past, but entrusting oneself to the unexpected, uncharted way into the incalculable future in which God comes to us....conversion then becomes a radical and uniquely personal adoption of a new life. Love gives us the energy to move into that new life --doing the work we are called to do --- Sharing that love with others. Love is waiting for us everywhere we go --- in the living room of our friends, in the park next to that lonely person sitting on a bench, in the nursing home where many residents have no visitors at all. Love waits for us when we need to reconcile or make amends with someone ---- or when we wish we could do more for people in need. Love waits for us when we suffer, when we are confused, when we have become depleted. W Y
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