TERRY A. MODICA of Good News Ministries

gnm.org

Lessons from the Blessed Mother Collection of Good News Reflections

© 2007 by Terry A. Modica ▪ Catholic Digital Resources: catholicdr.com ▪ Good News: gnm.org Pg #2

Introduction How I met the Blessed Mother

Luke 1:39-56

Imagine what it might have been like for Eliza-beth when Mary visited her, as told in Luke 1:39-56. Have you been personally visited by Our Blessed Mother? I'm not talking about having vi-sions or getting messages from her. Do you know what it's like to have a personal relationship with her, in which you experience her motherly con-cern for you? Because God loves you and wants the best for you, through his power this IS possi-ble! I became Catholic in 1977, and because of my Protestant background, I couldn't feel any per-sonal connection to Mary. I listened to what oth-ers with more experience said about her, but it just didn't seem real. I learned to pray the Rosary, but it seemed more boring and less meaningful than my other methods of praying. Eventually, I quit trying. I told Jesus that if he wants me to have a relationship with his mom, he'll have to introduce her to me. A few more years went by. While working as a staff reporter for my diocese's newspaper in 1989, I covered the visit of a popu-lar Marian speaker, Wayne Weibel. He was a Lu-theran who converted after making a pilgrimage to the site of Marian apparitions in Medjugorje. I had already read his book, Medjugorje the Mes-sage, and although it had wowed me, Mary still seemed foreign to me and distant. The local man who organized Mr. Weibel's speak-ing tour told me that Our Lady had personally se-lected me to cover this story. Huh? She picked me? This was not just a decision made by my ed-itor? The Virgin Mary knew I existed and chose me? What a thought! As I traveled with Mr. Weibel from speaking en-gagement to speaking engagement, I interviewed

him not only for the paper, but for me. After a presentation in a large church, I watched people come into the back to thank him for his words. Some of them gave him gifts, such as a crucifix and a picture of Mary. Each time, he turned and gave them to me and said, "Your mother wants you to have this." Re-ally? Mary was giving me gifts through these people? Still, I did not feel any closer to her. That night, before I went to sleep, I again told Jesus that if he wants me to have a relationship with his mother, he'll have to make it happen. I was try-ing my best and failing. The next morning — don't ask me how it happened, for I surely don't know — I awakened with a genuine under-standing of Mary as a mother to me who loves me, knows me, cares about me, prays for me, prays with me, and works to accomplish good things for me. The Rosary immediately came alive as a connection between her heart and mine. Mary cares about you, too, and every person you know. From heaven, she mourns for those who reject her Son, and she laughs for joy with those who delight in the Lord. She is real. Her love for you is real. She very much wants to have an "Elizabeth experi-ence" with each of us and to praise the Lord with us. She wants us to sing our own Magnificat with her. This is the basis of our relationship with her: "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord...." Imagine the two of you making this a duet for the Father! "God who is mighty has done great things for us, and holy is his name!"

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Lessons from the Blessed Mother Collection of Good News Reflections

© 2007 by Terry A. Modica ▪ Catholic Digital Resources: catholicdr.com ▪ Good News: gnm.org Pg #5

Living by the Grace of God

Read: Gen 3:9-15 & 20 Luke 1:26-38

On December 8, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate the awesome miracle that God the Father granted to one of his daughters so that she could become the mother of God the Son. We celebrate the all-knowing nature of God, who planned ahead for Mary's participation in salvation his-tory, knowing — before her conception — that she would choose to say yes. We celebrate the Holy Spirit, Giver of Life, who prepared a holy womb for the conception of Je-sus' human nature by first creating Mary without the affects of Original Sin. As a new Eve, her con-ception was "immaculate" (untainted by Original Sin), because Jesus, who is fully divine and per-fectly holy, could not live in the womb of a sinner. Only later, when he had complete control over his decision as an adult, could he join himself to the sins of the human race. We celebrate Mary's motherhood. In Gen 3:9-15 and 20, Eve becomes the mother of all the living, but she sins and she passes this sinfulness onto all generations. In Luke 1:26-38, Mary says yes to becoming the mother of the Savior who would re-deem us from sin, and so she becomes the mother of all the living who are no longer dying from the effects of sin. We also celebrate the Church's official pro-nouncement of Mary's immaculate conception, which Pope Pius IX made official in 1854. Be-cause this occurred in recent history, it seems like an "invention" of Catholicism, but Christians

have understood this dogma and taught it since the early days. Pius IX

only drew special at-tention to it because the world's influences were eroding belief in it, and something had to be done to stop the spread of heresies. The idea that Mary could be conceived without bondage to Original Sin, and the related idea that Mary could spend her entire life free of sin, is not a glorification of her. It's a glorifica-tion of God, who filled her with grace

in order to protect her in a special way to resist temptation throughout her life. "Let it be done to me according to your word" was not a sudden or tem-porary leap of faith for her; it was her life-long attitude. The power that ena-bled her to fulfill this desire came by grace from the Holy Spirit. We all have been given grace from the Holy Spirit to resist sin. When we sin and sorrowfully repent, God's mercy restores us to his grace. When we rely on this grace, we avoid sin. Grace is a gift, pure gift. Grace is God's power received as a gift when we need it, regardless of what we do or don't do. Availing ourselves of God's grace, however, does depend on us. We can-not sin and remain in the state of grace. But we cannot avoid sin unless we have God's grace! Mary is the example that proves that this is so.

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Lessons from the Blessed Mother Collection of Good News Reflections

© 2007 by Terry A. Modica ▪ Catholic Digital Resources: catholicdr.com ▪ Good News: gnm.org Pg #6

Saying Yes to God

Read: Luke 1:26-38

In Luke 1:26-38, we're shown how the light of Christ affected the Virgin Mary even before the birth of Christ. Jesus is the Light of the world, an uncre-ated, always existing divine light of God, the Savior of all humankind since the first mo-ment that humans needed sav-ing, millennia before Mary be-came the mother of God. Even though Jesus had not yet come into the world in the flesh of the Son, his holy light totally bathed Mary in its pure glow. And even though she could not understand how the long-awaited Messiah could be conceived within her virgin body, in his light she could see that God was the one who was asking. That's all she needed to know: God asked for it, and God always knows what he's doing, and what he's doing is always good, so of course the answer is yes. Of course she wanted to cooperate with his plan. Of course she uttered her famous fiat: "I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." That is all WE need to know: What God asks for, he enables, and it's always going to end up being good. If we understand this much, then of course we want to say, "May it be done to me according to your word." Pope John Paul II wrote in his Encyclical Letter "Redemptoris Mater" (Mother of the Redeemer), paragraph 13: "Mary uttered this fiat in faith. In

faith she entrusted herself to God without reserve and 'devoted herself totally as the handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son'"

(quoting from Vatican Council II's Lumen Gen-tium, para. 56). In faith, we don't need to see what the light is going to reveal; we only need to be in the light. Our problem, however, is that whenever God asks us to do something, we usu-ally try to look ahead to figure out where God's go-ing to take us. We want to know how difficult it will be, will it be worth the time and effort, and how quickly will we meet with success. And in doing so, we only see darkness. The light is not shining on the future — it's only shining on what

God is revealing to us right now, right here, in this moment. That's all we need to know. Whatever God asks of us, we only need to see that it's him who's doing the asking, not our own imagination or someone else's idea of how we should spend our time. First we discern who's voice is calling (with the Holy Spirit's help), then we trust that God knows what he's doing, where to go, and how to make it good.

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