In a homily last week, Pope Francis talked about “fear of the Lord” as a humble way of living. As reported in Zenit:
“The humility of the childlike is that of somebody who walks in the presence of the Lord, does not speak badly about others, looks only at serving and feels that he or she is the smallest …. That is where their strength lies.”
The Holy Father praised Mary’s humility, as a girl who receives the gift of God’s son and then goes immediately to serve her cousin, saying nothing about what has happened.
Humility is like this, he said, journeying in the presence of the Lord, happy, joyful…
As we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary today, let us consider Mary’s example of humility and joyfully journey through Advent.
Humility is healing and empowering.
What occurs to my heart is that while Mary went to see her cherished Elizabeth as directed by Gabriel, it must have been such a joy and reassurance to have Elizabeth immediately recognize her:”Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb…..the mother of my Lord would come to visit me….blessed is she who has believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord”. I can’t help but think what an encouragement that this must have been to Mary- to be able to have fellowship with her relative, Elizabeth who herself had experienced “nothing is impossible with God. Our dear Lord sees to every detail.
Beautiful definition of a rather daunting phrase, “Fear of the Lord”. Ignatian Spirituality. com is THE BEST!
God Bless You and Merry CHRIST-mas!