To have faith is to be blessed. You are blessed when you have the gift of faith from God, for you are not relying on yourself. With faith, you become more than yourself. If you are moved by faith, you trust in God. As faith lives in you, God breathes in you and speaks through you. If you have faith, although God has already tremendously blessed you, God gives still more by using your faith to reshape the world.
Today as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, we are reminded how God rewards those with faith. In today's Gospel reading, we hear of such faith and how those with faith are so blessed. There we hear that
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."
And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever."
Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.*
Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." Our Blessed Mother Mary believed what the angel Gabriel had told her, that through the power of the Holy Spirit she would conceive and bear The Son who would save His people from their sins.** She had faith that the promise made to her would be fulfilled. Our Blessed Mother Mary is so blessed because God gave her a gift of great faith.
And so Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you among women." And so Catholics praying the rosary proclaim to Our Blessed Mother, "Blessed are you among women."
Catholics pray the rosary because Our Blessed Mother is such an effective intercessor. We have such an effective advocate in Our Blessed Mother because she prays for us with great faith. Faith is power. Through faith, we are empowered to do the will of God. With faith, we can confidently pray, believing that our petitions according to the will of God will be granted. Our Blessed Mother desired the will of God, so filled with faith she was. Our Blessed Mother comes so efficiently to our aid, interceding with her Son Jesus because of her abounding faith.
We can be considerably comforted to remember the power of faith. When events in the world appear to go awry, and when circumstances in our personal lives seem amiss, through our faith we can call upon great power in our prayer when we might mistakenly believe we are lost. When Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Francisco, Saint Jacinta and Servant of God Lucia at Fatima in Portugal in 1917, she told them to pray the rosary for world peace. We can achieve peace through prayer. Faith brings peace in hearts by leading to dependence on God. Through the power of faith, prayer can bring peace in the world.
If we recognize that God has given us a gift by giving us faith, it follows that we are to accept this gift and use it well. In gratitude to God, we can offer this faith to Him through our prayer. In response to our prayer, God transforms the world. When we accept the invitation from God to let Him transform the world through us, we are blessed that He uses us as vessels of change. Like Our Blessed Mother Mary, if we welcome the gift of faith that God seeks to give us, we too can be instruments of the change God seeks to work in the world. Let us welcome the gift of faith from God, and so allow the world to be transformed. Amen.
* Luke 1:39-56
** Luke 1:31-35
Today as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, we are reminded how God rewards those with faith. In today's Gospel reading, we hear of such faith and how those with faith are so blessed. There we hear that
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
"Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled."
And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever."
Mary remained with her about three months
and then returned to her home.*
Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." Our Blessed Mother Mary believed what the angel Gabriel had told her, that through the power of the Holy Spirit she would conceive and bear The Son who would save His people from their sins.** She had faith that the promise made to her would be fulfilled. Our Blessed Mother Mary is so blessed because God gave her a gift of great faith.
And so Saint Elizabeth said to Our Blessed Mother Mary, "Blessed are you among women." And so Catholics praying the rosary proclaim to Our Blessed Mother, "Blessed are you among women."
Catholics pray the rosary because Our Blessed Mother is such an effective intercessor. We have such an effective advocate in Our Blessed Mother because she prays for us with great faith. Faith is power. Through faith, we are empowered to do the will of God. With faith, we can confidently pray, believing that our petitions according to the will of God will be granted. Our Blessed Mother desired the will of God, so filled with faith she was. Our Blessed Mother comes so efficiently to our aid, interceding with her Son Jesus because of her abounding faith.
We can be considerably comforted to remember the power of faith. When events in the world appear to go awry, and when circumstances in our personal lives seem amiss, through our faith we can call upon great power in our prayer when we might mistakenly believe we are lost. When Our Blessed Mother Mary appeared to Saint Francisco, Saint Jacinta and Servant of God Lucia at Fatima in Portugal in 1917, she told them to pray the rosary for world peace. We can achieve peace through prayer. Faith brings peace in hearts by leading to dependence on God. Through the power of faith, prayer can bring peace in the world.
If we recognize that God has given us a gift by giving us faith, it follows that we are to accept this gift and use it well. In gratitude to God, we can offer this faith to Him through our prayer. In response to our prayer, God transforms the world. When we accept the invitation from God to let Him transform the world through us, we are blessed that He uses us as vessels of change. Like Our Blessed Mother Mary, if we welcome the gift of faith that God seeks to give us, we too can be instruments of the change God seeks to work in the world. Let us welcome the gift of faith from God, and so allow the world to be transformed. Amen.
* Luke 1:39-56
** Luke 1:31-35
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