Our Blessed Mother

When Elizabeth greeted Mary, she proclaimed, ” Most blessed are you among women.” (Luke 1:42) Also, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:45) Certainly, Mary acknowledged in the Magnificat that she feels fortunate to receive God’s blessings.

behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.

quotation found here

If not for the surrounding context of the prayer, this one line could sound prideful. However, since it follows her self-identified lowliness, it has to be interpreted as an appreciation of God’s blessings. In fact, the rest of her prayer enumerates the ways that God has blessed her and blessed her people.

Again, Mary is setting an example for us to model in our lives. Imagine how the world would be if we could all learn to appreciate our blessings before focusing on trials. It is so easy to obsess about our worries, but it’s healthier if we strive to be like Mary.

I suppose we are all feeling a little more anxious than usual over the last several months. In March, we lost the ability to participate in so many normal daily activities , and we became cut off from most of our personal human contact. We couldn’t even go to church, for crying out loud! Who would have ever believed that the Catholic Church would not allow people to attend mass on Easter?! We lost so many treasured life experiences.

Even now, when some activities are starting to become available again, lingering safety measures make them seem strange and uncomfortable. Certainly, there is a lot of anxiety in our world right now, and it seems to aggravate the already divisive socio-political situation in this country.

Just watching the news or browsing through social media can easily drag us into a very negative mindset, but let’s pray that we can learn to follow Mary’s example. We get similar advice from Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney in a beautiful old song (click here to enjoy it).

So here goes: for the last five months, I’ve led a much simpler life, in general. Because of canceled events, the pace of my life slowed down, allowing me to appreciate the simple things. Thanks to modern technology, I maintained some contact with the outside world, but I controlled how it impacted me. In many ways, I became healthier physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

I hope you were able to experience that simpler life a bit, too, but I know that things got a lot more complicated for some people during this pandemic. For some, the pandemic caused unemployment and financial stress, not to mention health crises and grief for lost loved ones.

For those of us who escaped some of those trials, let’s remember to pray daily for our suffering brothers and sisters and look for ways to provide support in their times of need. Similarly, we can’t really ignore to social and cultural turmoil in the world right now. But we can begin with a focus on our blessings, as Mary demonstrated, and then take that positive attitude into the public square.

We will never turn the tide of cultural division with anger and criticism. We will improve the tone by infusing God’s love and joy into public discourse. About 2,000 years ago, the first Christians literally changed the world even though they faced violent persecution. They did it, largely, by just living life with love for one another. This was so intriguing, that it attracted others to the faith in astounding numbers.

So let’s take time each day to thank God for His many blessings, and then take that spirit into the world.