“Here I am” by Mary
of Mother Anna Maria Canópi osb
We read in Sacred Scripture that when God created the heavens and the earth and called the myriads of stars into existence, they responded "Here we are" and shone with joy for the One who had created them (cf. Bar 3,35). We could, however, say that the most ready and joyful "Here I am" was the one uttered by Mary, when the angel announced her divine motherhood.
«Coming into her, he said: “Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you… You have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive a son and give birth to him and will call him Jesus” (Lk 1,28.30-31) .
Not being affected by original guilt, there was never any resistance to the Lord's will in Mary. Instead there was her sacred fear, her humble self-awareness, which pushed her to ask: How is this possible? “How can this be, since I know no man?” (Luke 1,34:1,35). The angel offered her the inconceivable answer, that is, that by keeping her virginity intact, she would have the gift of divine motherhood through the power of the Holy Spirit: «The Holy Spirit will descend upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with his shadow" (Lk 1,37), concluding his announcement with the declaration: "Nothing is impossible with God" (Lk XNUMX). Mary believed and, founded solely on faith, she pronounced her yes to a wonderful adventure of grace.
His "here I am" constituted a new creation, it opened the doors of heaven to God's entry into history.
From that initial here I am, many other "here I am" followed of his total availability to accept and carry out every other will of God that would have involved his existence to the point of totally expropriating it of himself and placing it entirely at the service of the Church. A here I am of humble love was his journey to Ain Karim to the elderly relative Elizabeth immediately after the angel's announcement: an exit from himself, from her house, to make himself present where there was a need for a feminine presence , discreet and helpful.
A sign of maternal attention was her presence at the wedding at Cana, when she made sure to obtain the miracle from her Son, so that the wine of joy would not be lacking at the table of the guests. And it was only "the first sign". In the same way, in who knows how many other circumstances, which the Gospel does not report, she intervened on behalf of poor and needy people, she who was an attentive and compassionate Mother.
Here I am of daily listening to the Word was her entire life, a listening that truly made her a Mother in spirit, as Jesus let us understand, when a woman among the crowd exclaimed: «Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that bore you. breastfed!” (Luke 11,27:28). «Blessed rather – she replied – are those who hear the word of God and observe it!» (v. XNUMX). Who is this beatitude more suited to than Mary?
But Mary's most engaging "Here I am" was certainly the one uttered in silence on Calvary. There, under the cross, Mary "stands", steadfast in faith, hope and charity, renewing her yes to the incomprehensible will of God. For that yes Mary becomes the Mother of the Church and of all humanity. In fact, the dying Jesus turns to her, entrusting John to her as her son and, in him, all men, of every time and place, believers and non-believers, to lead them all to full adherence to God's salvific plan, to gather them all under the mantle of divine mercy.
It is therefore very significant that the Mother of Jesus is present in the nascent Church, in the first community of the faithful gathered around the apostles. In fact, the Mother who interceded for everyone and to whom the Son could not... say no could not be missing from the Cenacle!
As Blessed Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster graciously stated: «To this Lady – Domina! – Jesus cannot disobey!». Therefore it is always best for us to pass through his powerful intercession.
Mary's "here I am" continually comes true for us today too, giving us the certainty that, precisely because of her maternal intervention, we will lack nothing of what is necessary to achieve our salvation.
And we must not even limit ourselves to desiring grace in a sufficient measure to be saved, but we must, with a dilated heart, open ourselves to welcoming it in an abundant and superabundant measure, to achieve a high degree of holiness as the fruit of our cooperation with the will of God, to his greatest glory and for the benefit of all humanity.
The "here I am" is therefore the disposition that must begin and complete each of our days. In fact, if we consider every day of our existence as a day of work, the here I am in the morning must be repeated in the evening as the "here I am" of delivery of the work completed during the day with the help of the same divine grace.
The generous and happy disposition of mind cultivated with "here I am" thus becomes a passionate song to life and its inexhaustible Giver. Who more than Mary, the Woman of "here I am" and of the Magnificat, can glorify the Name of the Lord?
We must tune our voices to his song, to continually move from here I am to the Magnificat, to thanksgiving.
Tell me, Virgin Mary,
what was your amazement
when the heavenly Messenger came to greet you
with that surprising announcement
of your divine motherhood!
Tell me, Virgin Mary,
what a leap of joy came over you
when you felt the sky present
in your virginal womb.
All the angels descended to earth
to adore the Word made flesh
present in you as in a living tabernacle,
as in an immaculate cradle.
Hear my plea for us all
that we are under the dark shadow of sin
and enlighten our souls
with the Light with which you were flooded
when you gave birth to your divine Son, Jesus,
and when, after the darkness of the Cross,
you saw him Risen and alive
at the radiant dawn of the third day.
Turn, Mary, your maternal gaze
on every creature that is born,
on every creature that dies,
for God has placed you at the source of life
in time and eternity.
O Mary, incomparable beauty,
pray to the Lord for us all,
so that he may preserve us from any contagion with darkness
and transfer us fully
in the Kingdom of unfailing light,
in the Kingdom of eternal Love.
Amen.