By Sister Francis Jerome Cruz
Our salvation history is one long journeying of the human heart, yearning for the fulfilment of Yahweh’s promised land, of a new covenant, of God’s promise of salvation to humankind. Yes, all creation is on a pilgrimage!
Two women, two pregnant women, visited. Elizabeth, the elder woman, past childbearing and seven months into her pregnancy, and Mary, the youthful teenager, just a few days earlier the angel of the Lord gave her the most earth-shattering news, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.”
With arms extended, Mary joyfully ran and embraced Elizabeth. Elizabeth exclaimed in an exultant voice, “My son, my baby in my womb leapt with joy on hearing your voice.” Mary, in an unparalleled hymn of praise, exclaimed, “The Almighty has done great things for me” and then in a powerful prophetic voice, she proclaimed the greatness and goodness of God in bringing to fulfillment the Old Testament promises.”
This Biblical scene, Mary’s visit with Elizabeth, sets the tone of urgency of our Christian mission. Mary went “in haste.” No delays; now is the moment.
The same urgency is expressed when Jesus commissioned his disciples to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to all humanity.”
And just as Mary, wasting no time, carrying in her womb the Hope of Christianity, hastened the fulfillment of God’s promise, so must the modern pilgrims be bearers of God’s love, goodness, mercy and justice.
Mary’s journey to proclaim God’s salvific promise to humanity was not easy nor safe. Rather her path was rugged and painful to traverse, full of danger and suffering. Certainly, the road “up the hill country” suggested a wilderness path and the trip to Bethlehem was in the middle of winter, bitter cold, crowded. With no room in the inn, she gave birth to the King of Kings in a cave, with the poor and the creatures of the fields, seeking the same shelter.
The flight into Egypt was packed with apprehension and fear, fear for the safety of her son and all the children whom Herod threatened to massacre. She journeyed into Golgotha, watched her son beaten, made to carry a heavy cross, fallen several times, nailed to cross and finally died. How much suffering can a human heart endure!
But Mary understood and believed that suffering is not an end. She believed there is a resurrection. Her son told all, “I am the life and resurrection. Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
We are living in a fractured world, a world where love, goodness, and respect are lacking for both humanity and the cosmos, and where abuse and exploitation seem to prevail—the powerful and the rich are bent on controlling human lives and amassing their wealth, while the powerless—the poor and victims of injustice—continue to live in fear as they struggle to live and survive in the gutter and behind fences Like our ancestors of old and like Mary and Elizabeth.
Modern Christianity has its own raging waters and barren deserts to cross before reaching the promised land, before achieving the promised redemption, the promise of life after death.
St. Paul reminds us that “suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character and character produces hope that does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts.”
Pope Francis understood and believed this when he announced the Jubilee Year, the year of hope, to take action and be a sign of hope for others, encouraging all believers to trust in God’s love, to be renewed in faith and ultimately live forever in God’s embrace.
Then, with Catherine, with all the Elizabeths and Mary and all humankind we will sing: “I am yours for time and eternity, Yes, I am yours.”