It is our joy to celebrate this ordinary
Saturday in honor of Our Lady. Saint Bernard says that above all what has drawn
God to Mary is her humility. God finds it utterly irresistible. We arrive at humility
by a route very different than Our Lady’s, but it can give us the same
irresistible quality. We do it through, what we call in the monastery, bitter
self-knowledge – the realization that we are sinners beloved by God, humbly
acknowledging that we have nothing to boast of before God but our weakness. This
humility allows God to be God for us, for when things fall apart we seek the
only One who can restore us to wholeness, peace and joy. We rejoice because through
the Virgin Mary God has chosen to be part of our fragmentation and restoration.
An etching by Margaret Walters, (1924 - 1971).
