Saturday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 430 

Herding ducks
at the Ky State Fair

Nevertheless we urge you, brothers and sisters, to progress even more,
and to aspire to live a tranquil life,
to mind your own affairs,
and to work with your own hands,
as we instructed you.

On Saturday the Catholic likes to reflect on Mary. She appears to us in the earliest pages of the Old Testament -- she is the New Eve born from the side of Jesus -- and never disappears. She is the Bride coming down from heaven in Revelation 22.

We might wonder what happened to her after she witnessed the death of Jesus, his resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Most likely, she progressed even more and aspired to live a tranquil life.

Bishop Saint Amadeus of Lausanne has a wonderful reflection about Mary:

So it was that she began to taste the fruits of her future reign while still in the flesh. At one moment she withdrew to God in ecstasy; at the next she would bend down to her neighbors with indescribable love. In heaven angels served her, while here on earth she was venerated by the service of men. Gabriel and the angels waited upon her in heaven. The virgin John, rejoicing that the Virgin Mother was entrusted to him at the cross, cared for her with the other apostles here below. The angels rejoiced to see their queen; the apostles rejoiced to see their lady, and both obeyed her with loving devotion.

In this vision, Mary has become a citizen of earth and heaven, welcome and honored in both. She seems to live in that "thin place" where the two worlds meet and exchange; she moves easily between them.

Eventually the day will come when she is assumed into heaven, but she is always free to return to bless and guide her people. Her sightings are innumerable, from Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fatima to Medjugorje  Just as she appeared to her kinswoman Elizabeth in Luke 1, and to John of Patmos in Revelations 12, she appears to the Church throughout its history.

On Saturday, the original Sabbath, it is good to rest in Mary's presence. I like to think of how peaceful her home in Nazareth was, and how astonished John's disciples were when he invited them to "Come and see." They found a house of prayer unlike anything they had ever dreamt of.

After Jesus' ascension and Pentecost, Mary and John welcomed guests to come and stay with them, to ponder with them the mysteries revealed. In that holy house we also "taste the fruits of her future reign while still in the flesh."

Join us today at Mount Saint Francis for our Annual Picnic!