Our Mission
We are a center for experiential education, rooted in the Gospels, encouraging the transformation of human consciousness through contemplation, and equipping people to be instruments of peaceful change in the world.
December 9, 2011
Young Madonna, Juarez, Mexico. CAC archives.
Mary, The Prepared One
The glory of the anawim (Hebrew for “the poor of Yahweh”) is their salvation by God alone. The anawim, the little ones, know they cannot do it or do it alone. They rely on others. Their greatest blessing is not what they have accomplished but what God has done for them (read Zephaniah 3:11-20).
When Mary appeared to the poor native, Juan Diego, on this day in 1531, she chose not to speak to the clergy, to the educated, to the Spanish oppressors, but to one of the uneducated and oppressed ones, just like herself. She knew the pattern well.
For Luke, Mary is the exemplary “poor one of Yahweh,” for what has been accomplished in her is far beyond her own worthiness or power. And so, after the angel has said it, after Elizabeth has said it, Mary too proclaims how blessed she herself is. She believes them! And then Juan Diego believes her! Thus, the divine mirroring passes through history.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit exults in God my Savior;
because God has looked upon the lowliness of this servant.
Yes, from this day onward all generations will call me blessed
for the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is God’s name.
Adapted from Near Occasions of Grace, p. 106
Starter Prayer:
The Almighty has done great things for me.
If you are inspired by Fr. Richard's Daily Meditations,
please consider receiving both
Radical Grace, the publication of the CAC
and visiting the CAC Mustard Seed Resource Center!
