Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Lectionary: 690A

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!
See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD.
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day,
and they shall be his people,
and he will dwell among you,
and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

Recently I read Fentanyl, Inc by Ben Westhoff and, around the same time, began a slow reading of Handmaid of the Lord by Adrienne Von Speyr. I recommend the latter to anyone who loves the Lord and would know better the mysterious ways of God. The former is for anyone who wants to know what is happening in plain sight, provided they have the heart to bear it. I am not sure I do. 

Mr. Westoff finishes his study with the hope that governments might accept and endorse harm reduction programs for those who are committed to dangerous and addictive substances. Millions of psychonauts  throughout the world see no reason why they should not play with mind altering drugs. Most do it for recreation; some want a spiritual experience. They suppose that spiritual should be beautiful, pleasant, enriching, and desirable. And that one can experience the spiritual in solitude without the messiness of dealing with other people. Like people who think sexual organs are provided for their entertainment, psychonauts play with their brains -- the most complex and beautiful organ in God's universe -- for momentary thrills. 

The reading is depressing. I do it with the hope that I will have a better insight into why some people ignore the Gospel, and what scant pleasure they find in a world without grace. Even as I try to appreciate the enormity of my own sin, I should have some appreciation of the enormity of evil in my world. 

With both appreciations I might be prepared to gaze upon God's mercy, whose dimensions make our universe -- perhaps a "multiverse" -- look small. 

And that's where I meet Adrienne and her fascinating book, Handmaid of the Lord. While drug users, dealers, and manufacturers search for pleasure, life and hope in fentanyl and other NPS (new pyschoactive substances), the Blessed Mother leads us directly to the Lord. It is good to sample the purity of grace in the company of Jesus' mother.
Recently I read,

"God gives her his Son in no other way than by fulfilling her faith. Her self-surrender, her conception, her bearing of the Son is essentially faith—a faith that conceives faith. That by which she conceives and that which she conceives are equally faith. She could not be at God’s disposition physically, for the conception of the Son, without first being at his disposition by believing with her whole spirit. She is a unity, body and spirit, and that which creates the unity in her is faith, which is also, at the same time, the Son’s presence within her. Everything in her is subordinated to this faith, even her understanding. The faculty with which she receives and carries the divine mysteries within herself is not the mere natural understanding but, rather, her believing spirit. Therefore neither can we approach her and her mysteries with the mere understanding. All the Marian mysteries have this quality: they surpass the mere understanding but can very well be grasped by the believing spirit."

Ever since I read Pope Saint John Paul's Redemptoris Mater, I have found inspiration and delight in reflecting on the Blessed Mother. As we celebrate this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe we should ask God to deliver North America from the animosity El Norte feels toward Mexico. They did not spawn our addiction to drugs; they did not create the American corporations that exploit Mexico, Central and South American countries. They do not manufacture the guns we sell them. They contribute only a small part to the destruction of our worldwide climate. They offer us migrating Catholic families, fleeing crime and climate change.
But, like the Nazis who blamed the Jews and the Jews who despised the Samaritans and Adam who pointed the finger at Eve, many Americans accuse Mexicans of their own corruption, imagining themselves as victims of colored races. That sin must cost us dearly.
We ask God to bless us with Mary's faith in her son Jesus, that we might take up the cross of our addictions and bear them as punishment for our sins. The woman who appeared as a despised mestizo girl, who offered her only begotten son for our redemption, will join us in prayer.