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Lovely Dwelling

Versailles

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.


Today’s readings are a combination of the reading for the weekday in ordinary time (first reading and psalm) and the reading for the memorial of Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (gospel). Providentially, they complete each other as if they were hand-picked by the wisest of pastors.

The dwelling place of God in the first reading is so utterly filled with glory that Moses is unable to enter it. The people cast their eyes upon it in great wonder, seeing a cloud by day and fire by night. The psalm reflects their wonder: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!”

In the gospel, Jesus’ dwelling place for the moment is in Bethany, and it is there, at his feet, that St. Mary wishes to dwell. The psalm reflects her joy as well. How beautiful to her, as she contemplates Him, her Lord and God, is the place where He is, His dwelling place.

As St. Martha is portrayed to do in today’s gospel, we often think of our responsibility as Christians as service, as responsibilities, as doing things for God, and of course fulfilling our responsibilities is an important aspect of His will.

But the essence of His will for us is this: That we dwell with Him; that we contemplate His dwelling place; that we share in His glory. And here on earth, like St. Mary, we do that by sitting at His feet in prayer.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to help you establish your dwelling place where He is, that your heart may steadily contemplate Him, and place the source of all its security and hope in Him.

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The Fibers of a Heart

Rope Heart

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.


On this feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, today’s readings present to us three distinct traits of the heart of the Blessed Virgin.

First, the gospel gives us a window into Mary’s contemplative heart. She was truly dismayed when she and Joseph had lost track of Jesus. Imagine losing your child in a crowd, and not finding him for three days. This would leave the heart of any parent distraught. But when she found Jesus, she did not correct Him or grow angry with Him. Rather, she asked Him, her divine Son, why He had done what He had done, and then after receiving the rather cryptic answer, she contemplated in her heart how God had been working through these events. While subject to anxiety like any other human, Mary trusted to her core in God’s loving Providence working in her life, and knew how to contemplate the events in her life continually in the light of that Providence, rather than through a prism of personal insecurity or personal vanity.

“The Lord is kind and merciful,” the psalm tells us. On this day, we celebrate that the heart of Mary imitates this divine trait and is likewise kind and merciful, always ready to hear the requests of sinners, whatever their misdeeds. We can always ask her help and intercession, and dialogue with her, no matter how ashamed we may feel of our sinfulness–and we will always receive a warm, kind, compassionate reception.

Finally, in the first reading, St. Paul expresses himself in a tone that likewise mirrors a characteristic of Mary’s heart: “The love of Christ impels us.” Throughout this reading, Paul exudes a tone of urgency as he implores his hearers to be reconciled to God. Mary’s heart is full of passion for the reconciliation of sinners to the Heart of her Son. Her entire work in the Church over the last two millennia, including the messages she has delivered with her appearances, has been full of ardent supplication for prayer and sacrifice for sinners. Her love for her children is not an idle one.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to fill you with the kind of love that filled his mother’s heart, which transcended in its trust the natural human psychological ebbs and flows, even as she experienced them like anyone else. Ask Him to fill you with spontaneous kindness, and ardent passion for the eternal welfare of others.

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