Renewal Through 'the Most Expressive Icon Of Christian Hope'
For as long as I can remember, hope has consumed my thoughts at the start of a new year. We go to Mass that day to observe the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Just a few short months ago, Pope Francis offered a beautiful insight that helped me understand why my hope soars on the first day of the year – a day devoted to Mary.
On Nov. 22, 2013, the Holy Father visited the Benedictine Camaldolese Monastery of Sant’Antonio Abate on the Roman Aventine Hill, on the occasion of the World Day of Contemplative Life and the Year of Faith, which was about to close. He led Vespers, following the Camaldolese rite; and following a brief Eucharistic adoration, he spoke on Mary. Following are comments from his homily, courtesy of the Vatican Information Service:
“Mary is the mother of hope, the most expressive icon of Christian hope. Her entire life was a succession of attitudes of hope, beginning with her 'yes' at the moment of the Annunciation. … Then, (continuing) in Bethlehem, where He Who was announced to her as the Savior of Israel and as the Messiah was born into poverty. Subsequently, when she presented Him at the temple in Jerusalem, alongside the joy of Simeon and Anna there was also the promise of the sword that would pierce her heart, and the prophecy of a sign of contradiction.
“Mary is aware that the mission and the very identity of her Son overshadow the fact of her being His mother. … Yet, before all the difficulties and surprises of God's plan, the Virgin's hope never falters! She is a woman of hope. This shows us that hope is nurtured by listening, contemplation, and patience, for the Lord's time to come. … With the beginning of His public life, Jesus becomes the Master and the Messiah: the Virgin looks upon her Son's mission with elation but also with apprehension, as Jesus increasingly becomes that sign of contradiction that the elderly Simeon had prophesied. At the foot of the Cross, she experiences suffering but at the same time watchfully awaits a mysterious event, greater than pain, that is about to take place. Everything truly appears to have finished; every hope could be said to have been extinguished. She, too, in that moment, recollecting the promises of the Annunciation, could have said: ‘they did not come true, I was deceived.’ But she did not say this. Blessed because she believed, from this faith of hers she sees a new future unfold, and awaits God's new day.
“At times I think: do we know how to await God's new day? Or do we want it all today? God's tomorrow is for her the dawn of Easter morning. … The only light burning at Jesus' tomb is the hope of His mother, which in that moment is the hope of all humanity. I ask myself, and you: in the monasteries, is that light still burning? In monasteries, do you await God's tomorrow?
“In Mary, present in every moment of the history of salvation, we see a solid testimony of hope. She, the mother of hope, supports us in our moments of darkness, of difficulty, of discomfort, of apparent defeat or true human defeats.”
As I read the Holy Father’s thoughts on Mary, the next-to-last paragraph led me to ask myself: What about you? Is that light still burning in you? Do you await God’s tomorrow?
As a way of answering in prayer, I began a Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Christmas Eve. Talk about a day full of hope - the day before the Word became flesh and lived among us. I concluded the Novena on New Year’s Day, and that seemed most appropriate, too.
The novena I prayed – from a wonderful book of Novenas I found at Evansville’s Cornerstone Catholic Bookstore – included the words of a slightly shorter Novena prayer I found online at OurCatholicPrayers.com. You can download a PDF of this novena from The Message Online at any time; it’s already posted.
Praying this Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help would be a perfect way to show your support – and hope – as 2014 unfolds.
Here is a link to the novena:
