Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week
December 11, 2007
She’s pregnant, you know.
You can tell by the cord around her waist. That was the sign back then that a woman was expecting. She was wearing maternity clothes.
That’s one of the many reasons I am moved by this sacred depiction of her. For some reason, we do not imagine her as pregnant. And we should. Because she carried within her the “word made flesh.” For nine months, from the Annunciation (which we celebrate on March 25th) till Christmas, she was pregnant with the Incarnate Word, the son of God, the Savior of the World.
So I often find myself in awe before the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe , whose feast we celebrate tomorrow, December 12th.
Mary kept Advent in a literal way. She knew her people’s period of waiting would soon be over. She realized that “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” She was aware, as any expectant woman is, that she had to be patient, because there’s no rushing the baby.
No wonder centuries of longing, waiting, struggling, burdened people have looked to her, and the baby in her womb, with hope.
Remember how she consoled Juan Diego, the man to whom she appeared? Listen to her words:
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Listen! Put it into your heart, my dearest son, that the thing that disturbs you, the thing that afflicts you, is really nothing.
Do not let your heart be disturbed.
Am I not here, I who am your Mother?
Are you not under my shadow and my protection?
Am I not the Source of your joy?
Are you not in the hollow of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms?
Do you need anything more?
Let nothing else worry or disturb you. |
When I was a seminarian in Rome, I would often take buses in the city. They were unfailingly jammed. One could hardly move. You could never get a seat.
I would always notice a sign on the bus: “Please leave the seats free for the elderly, those wounded in war, and pregnant women.”
Our lives are jampacked. We hardly have room for another thing.
We must leave a seat free for the pregnant woman, who carries within her the Son of God.
If nothing else, we need at least simply to salute her daily, borrowing the greeting from the Archangel, Gabriel:
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Hail, Mary!
Full of Grace.
The Lord is with thee!
Blessed are thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus! |
A blessed Advent!
Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
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