Late Advent Weekday — December 22
I Samuel 1:24-28  +  Luke 1:46-56
December 22, 2016

“‘From this day all generations will call me blessed:  the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.’”

From the day of the Visitation, all generations of Christians have called Mary “blessed”.  Unfortunately, the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary is used by some to divide members of the Body of Christ against each other.  But we cannot fruitfully reflect on the mystery of Christmas without reflecting on the person of Mary, her blessedness, her maternity, and the One who is her Lord and ours.

A 2006 movie titled “The Nativity Story” actually edited the “Magnificat” (Mary’s hymn of praise that we hear in today’s Gospel) at the end of the movie, so that Mary’s blessedness would not be mentioned.  The Word of God was muted out of fear of the Blessed Virgin Mary!  If some Christians are fearful of honoring Mary, we all have work to do as Christians.  We all need both to call Mary blessed, and to proclaim at the same time the right reasons for calling her blessed.  We don’t need to fear Mary as a “stumbling block” in the way of following Him who is the Way, Him to whom Mary was chosen by the Father to bear into our fallen world.