After reading this chapter, I have a new-found appreciation for bowing at these words when we profess the Creed at Mass!
I have heard before that Jesus is the only man ever born in order to die.
We were not made for death, but for life. But since the Fall we have the consequences of original sin.
But Jesus? He does NOT have the consequence of original sin! He is the one who does not deserve death, by His own merit. "In giving life to Him she was giving Him death" (Reed of God, pg. 72). Houselander's reflection and continuation of this thought brings me to my knees. Mary's fiat ("let it be done") was more than accepting the changes in her life. She is saying "yes" to more than being the Mother of God. She is saying "yes" to giving Jesus suffering and death. She agrees to give Him a body to be thirsty. She says "yes" to giving Him a heart to be betrayed. She accepts her task to give Him hands to be nailed to the cross. "That is what is meant to Mary to give human nature to God" (Reed of God, pg. 73).
"She knew that this little son of hers was God's Son and that God had not given Him to her for herself alone but for the whole world" (Reed of God, pg. 74).
"This is one of the greatest of all the things that we must learn from our contemplation of Our Lady" (Reed of God, pg. 74).
My Grandpa, at the end of every meal, looks at my Grandmother with amazing love and says, "Well, you did it again, Nan." It makes my heart melt!
That is how I felt when I finished this chapter. "Well, you did it again, Ms. Houselander!" You reached out and touched my heart EXACTLY where I am. Thank you for writing this book. And thank you, Leslie (Espera), for bringing it to my attention! What a tremendous blessing!
8 comments:
Oh I've had the book for I don't know 10 days or so....Yup, I'm a looser....I will have to get to it at another time. ;(
Hopefully when my meds kick in you will find me in the kitchen, sewing, cooking, cleaning, reading, baking, singing and dancing! ;) I'm sure I will be the multitasker...But even thinkinga bout reading wears me out. :)
Fantastic! i hate that no one bows or kneels during et homo unless its an ef mass.
it is STILL the norm and should still be done.
And i love your grandpa to pieces.
Beautiful chapter!
I love the part on p. 72, "yet she must have longed to look into His human face and to see in it, in the face of god, a family likeness to herself!"
What a surreal gift! The humanity of it - who did Jesus look like? His mother?
That's the thing - Mary's humanity gave Christ the humanity that lead to suffering, not due to any fault of hers but by God's will. God the father willed that his only Son suffer for the redemption of our sins. Mary's fiat, welcoming her suffering and that of her Son. WOW!
I truly think that very realization "that our children are not OURS" is one of the greatest blessings of adoption. They belonged to God first, from the beginning and in the now until the end. They become yours when you love them as you love yourself. As in, "all that I have is yours", "I give my heart entirely to you" little one. I PROMISE you that you will love this child AS MUCH as a biological one. I PROMISE. I have both. Tears spring to my eyes in gratitude for each one and the special way they came to us. I would die for any one of them - all gifts. The best gifts I could ever, ever ask for!
I think the most sublime thing in this chapter comes at the end (page 77) and reminds me of Col. 1:24 where Paul says in his flesh he "makes up for what is lacking in Christ's afflictions."
Houselander wrote:
"It really needs to be practised to be understood. We need to say to ourselves a thousand times a day: 'Christ wants to do this'; 'Christ wants to suffer this.'
"And we shall thus come to relise that when we resent our circumstances or try to spare ourselves what we should undergo, we are being like Peter when he tried to dissuade Our Lord from the Passion.
"There is one tremendous answer to the question which is reiterated to the point of utter weariness:'Why sould I?'
"It is another question: 'Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so enter into His glory?'"
The top of p. 73 made me think about how Christ got ALL of his humanity from Mary, since she was his only earthly/human parent. Think of how alike the two of them must have been? He probably had her eyes, her smile, her sense of humor, her same facial expressions, etc. So cool!
I was also struck by the end, the part about needing to be practiced to be understood. I definitely need more practice!
I thought the line "If Christ is from of our lives, it means that He will suffer in us. Or, more truly, we will suffer in Him." was just beautiful. What a great way of saying that to be a Christian is to suffer as Christ suffered.
I just re-read pages 73-74. WOW!!!
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