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When Gabriel departed from the Virgin Mary, she didn’t start “thinking over what has happened and considering the problems and pitfalls, which were certainly not lacking: because, poor girl, she did not know what to do with this news, with the culture of that age …”
What did she do instead? Pope Francis notes that she “first thinks of someone in need; instead of being absorbed in her own problems, she thinks about someone in need.”
The Holy Father offered this as his advice for making the most of the Christmas season, before he led the faithful in a crowded St. Peter’s Square in the midday Angelus on December 19.
A long road, kilometer after kilometer, and there was no bus to go there: she went on foot. She went out to help. How? By sharing her joy.
“She arose and went. In the last stretch of the journey of Advent, let us be guided by these two verbs,” the Pope advised. “To arise and to go in haste: these are the two movements that Mary made and that she invites us also to make as Christmas approaches.”
Arise
First of all, arise. After the angel’s announcement, a difficult period loomed ahead for the Virgin: … Nevertheless, she did not become discouraged, she was not disheartened: she arose. She did not look down at her problems, but up to God. And she did not think about whom to ask for help, but to whom to bring help. She always thinks about others: that is Mary, always thinking of the needs of others. She will do the same later, at the wedding in Cana, when she realizes that there is no more wine. It is a problem for other people, but she thinks about this and looks for a solution. Mary always thinks about others. She also thinks of us.
Let us learn from Our Lady this way of reacting: to get up, especially when difficulties threaten to crush us. To arise, so as not to get bogged down in problems, sinking into self-pity or falling into a sadness that paralyses us.
Let us cast away our negative thoughts, Pope Francis urged, and cast out the fears that “block every impulse and that prevent us from moving forward.”
And let’s do as Mary did.
Let’s look around and look for someone to whom we can be of help! Is there an elderly person I know to whom I can give a little help, [some] company? Everyone, think about it. Or to offer a service to someone, a kindness, a phone call? But who can I help? I get up and I help. By helping others, we help ourselves to rise up from difficulties.
In haste
“In haste” doesn’t mean with agitation and stress. “Instead, it means conducting our days with a joyful step, looking ahead with confidence, without dragging our feet, as slaves to complaints – these complaints ruin so many lives, because one starts complaining and complaining, and life drains away. Complaining leads you always to look for someone to blame.”
On her way to Elizabeth’s house, Mary proceeds with the quick step of one whose heart and life are full of God, full of his joy. So, let us ask ourselves, for our benefit: how is my “step”? Am I proactive or do I linger in melancholy, in sadness? Do I move forward with hope or do I stop and feel sorry for myself? ….
Let us not forget that the first act of charity we can do for our neighbour is to offer him a serene and smiling face. It is to bring them the joy of Jesus, as Mary did with Elizabeth.
May the Mother of God take us by the hand, and may she help us to arise and to go in haste towards Christmas!
And today we celebrate...