Daily Lectio: Wednesday, June 3

It’s Wednesdays with Mary here this morning in Sewanee, as I sit at my table and look out at the woods… Birds are singing, and the sun is slipping through the branches…beautiful…

This morning, I am hooked by the phrase, “All generations shall call me blessed….”

A friend wrote yesterday and shared that this phrase seemed out of place for Blessed Mary here…in a canticle that is focused on raising the lowly and lowering the proud and might… I had not thought of that, but it sent me into a reflection on just what is meant by “blessed.”

What does it mean to be blessed?  What does it mean for Mary to be Blessed?  To be venerated throughout the ages as the one who said yes to God’s invitation for unimaginable participation in the Great Mystery?

I think being “blessed,” is not being set aside for removed veneration; rather, being “blessed” is to be called, to have clarity with one’s vocation, to be a vessel…and in our participation, we are brought closer to the Divine Mystery, to the life of God… Being “blessed” is to be a reflection of this grace, an embodiment of something much larger than ourselves…

“And holy is his Name…”

“And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.”

It’s interesting here that both of these timeframes, both of these eons, can be laid side by side…

Mary’s “All generations shall call me blessed” and “And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.”

It reminds me of Psalm 63 (and so many of them, but this one’s language is particularly beautiful today)

“Because your steadfast love is

better than life,

my lips will praise you.

So I will bless you as long as I

live;

I will lift up my hands and call

on your name.

My soul is satisfied as with a rich

feast,

and my mouth praises you with

joyful lips….”

Being blessed is to be invited…not to be praised in and of ourselves, but to be invited into a greater participation–awareness of–God’s grace and imagination.

And, remembering Arch. Tutu, we are all called to be–called to realize our identity as–God bearers….theotokos…and that is a challenging vocation, no?!

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