Today’s readings can be found here.
Reflection
Today is the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I think that keeping this feast in mind can help us read today’s Gospel in a most beautiful way. Only Mary can truly illuminate the mystery of Jesus’ truth and meekness, which the passage of Isaiah quoted in the Gospel so well describes:
“He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
Every Christian is called to assume Christ’s own lifestyle. Mary, as we know, is the perfect disciple. In her, we find the same virtues we find in her Son: humility, meekness, simplicity, nonviolence, the ability to tell the truth without humiliating anyone, boundless charity. When the Gospel speaks about Mary, it highlights the same virtues we find in Jesus.
At the Annunciation, Mary listens to the words of Gabriel, allowing herself to be questioned, never imposing her own certainties. At Elizabeth’s house, she lets herself be loved by her cousin, and then she pronounces her Magnificat. At Cana, she lets Jesus know the impending tragedy of a potentially ruined feast, thus making his first miracle possible.
She keeps everything in her heart – the good and the bad. She does not run away from the Cross, and she perseveres with the disciples, devastated after the Passion, in expectation of the Holy Spirit. Mary has style, Jesus’s style! She is a guide for all of us.
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Father Luigi Maria Epicoco is a priest of the Aquila Diocese and teaches Philosophy at the Pontifical Lateran University and at the ISSR ‘Fides et ratio,’ Aquila. He dedicates himself to preaching, especially for the formation of laity and religious, giving conferences, retreats and days of recollection. He has authored numerous books and articles. Since 2021, he has served as the Ecclesiastical Assistant in the Vatican Dicastery for Communication and columnist for the Vatican’s daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.
