As we approach the end of our Advent preparation today, I’ve got one of my favorite saints in mind, technically a saint-to-be: Blessed Carlo Acutis. He will be formally canonized this coming Divine Mercy Sunday, and I can’t wait. He’s probably on my mind because of the Carlo Acutis socks that I got in a recent Secret Santa exchange. I didn’t wear them today because I didn’t want you all distracted during Mass looking at a pair of awesome socks, but I did bring them along to show off after Mass.
For those of you who may have forgotten, Blessed Carlo Acutis is the first of the millennial generation who will be canonized as a saint. He was an Italian teenager who died of Leukemia in 2006. His passion for Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist led him to design a website dedicated to Eucharistic miracles down through the ages from all over the world. The contents of this website became the basis for countless physical exhibitions which have traveled far and wide, including right here at St. Peter, if you remember. Blessed Carlo gives us a wonderful example to ponder this Sunday because he, like so many holy people throughout the Church’s long history, had a significant love not only for Jesus in the Eucharist, but for Mary, His Blessed Mother. He once said, “The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.”
This Sunday provides us the opportunity to once again sit at the feet of the Blessed Mother and ponder her wonderful example and presence in our lives. The First reading, from the prophet Micah, shows us how even 700 years before the coming of Jesus, the prophets were speaking of the role that the messiah’s mother would play, and even that she would give birth in Bethlehem:
Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne
What a wondrous thing we are preparing to celebrate in just a few days: that birth which the prophets longed for, which would bring the Light of the world to shine in our darkness. But even before the dawn of that light on Christmas, already we see the brightness of Jesus shining through His mother while she carried Him within her virginal womb. Today’s Gospel invites us to ponder the mystery of the Visitation, that joyful and momentous meeting between two women who would miraculously give birth, one who was thought to be beyond childbearing years and one who had conceived by the Holy Spirit.
I have no doubt that Blessed Carlo Acutis often pondered this very passage from Luke’s Gospel because he loved the Rosary and prayed it daily. Blessed Carlo referred to the Rosary as the “shortest ladder to climb to heaven” and, second to the Eucharist, the most powerful weapon to fight the devil.” So, with Blessed Carlo’s encouragement, let’s set our hearts on the Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary this Sunday, the Visitation, and see what it has to say to us.
There are so many rich layers to the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth, but I just want to focus on one. (I have a handout in the back of the church after Mass that describes many of the other layers of meaning.) Let’s look at how Elizabeth reacts to Mary in the same way that the people of Israel reacted to the Ark of the Covenant. St. Luke shows us this by the words he uses. The verb for the loud shout that Elizabeth gave when she heard Mary’s greeting is anaphonesan. The only other place that this verb occurs is in the Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, when the people of Israel shouted before the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. Luke is cluing us in to the fact that Mary is a new type of Ark of the Covenant. Like the first Ark, which carried the tablets of the Commandments, representing the Covenant between God and Israel, Mary is now carrying the God-Man who will bring all of humanity the new and eternal covenant.
Mary’s presence was powerful then and is still powerful for us today. We can and should say, with Elizabeth, “how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” We are blessed because Mary is the Mother of God, the one who cooperated with Jesus even when He was just a baby in her womb. Her cooperation continued throughout His earthly ministry and continues now in Heaven as she exercises her motherly care for the whole Church. Then and now, Mary never separates herself from Jesus. Whenever she draws near to us, it is always to draw us to Jesus. This is why Blessed Carlo knew the Rosary was a powerful weapon against our enemy, the Devil, and prayed it often. He knew that to go to the Son, the quickest way is through His Blessed Mother, the same way Jesus chose to come to us. Just as Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit in the presence of the Blessed Mother and her Divine Son, so we can be as well.
When we look to the shining example of Blessed Carlo’s life and that of all those saints who drew close to Mary, we can see the effect of her motherly intercession: she draws us in. Carlo lived an unusual life for a teenager. He spent years developing a website about the Eucharist at a time when many of his peers were focused on video games and soccer. Of course, Blessed Carlo enjoyed those things as well, but realized that there was something greater to live for than just the things of this world. He prayed the Rosary and went to Mass daily because his heart was captured by Jesus and Mary. The Blessed Mother accompanied Carlo to help him bring forth the presence of Jesus to others. There is a parallel between what happened in Mary’s life and what can happen in each of us as Christians. Mary brought forth Jesus in the flesh, but all of us are called to be Christ bearers in our own unique way. St. Ambrose once said, “A soul that believes both conceives and brings forth the Word of God and acknowledges his works.”
This is why the example of Blessed Carlo and others who live in faith should inspire us. They show us how to follow in the footsteps of Our Lady. When we believe in Jesus and put our trust in His grace, our souls become more and more the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and a conduit for Jesus’ work. In our own way, we can be people who inspire others to praise the Lord, just as Elizabeth did in the presence of Mary.
We often disregard the reality that the angels and saints truly are with us, but days like today give us the chance to lean into this reality. At each and every Mass and whenever we pray the Rosary, Mary joins us to pray for us and help us follow her shining example. Blessed Carlo and all the saints join us as well, interceding for us that we would also run the race of faith. There is absolutely nothing to fear in such great company. The road to holiness can sometimes seem daunting, but when we know who it is who joins us, we can take courage. How does this happen to me, and you, that the Mother of God should come to us along with all the heavenly hosts? Brothers and sisters, we are blessed!
+ Father, thank you for the awesome blessing it is to walk in the presence of the Blessed Mother and all the saints. Jesus, thank you for giving us such a great gift by entrusting us to Mary as our Mother. Holy Spirit, open our hearts to Mary’s motherly intercession in these final days of Advent to prepare our hearts to fully enjoy the coming Christmas season. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. +