Fr. Vincent Munari, SX
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
My devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary makes me use many times the litanic invocation: “Queen of the Apostles, pray for us”.
I am not an Apostle, I am a simple Missionary, but I consider important the fact that these two words are synonymous because linked with the idea of “sending”;a term used many times and in many ways in the New Testament, see for instance the words of the risen Lord to the Apostles: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20, 21).
Mary herself felt that she was sent by the angelic message about the situation of her cousin Elizabeth, and the Gospel of this Sunday of Advent helps me, and all Missionaries, too, to grow in the devotion to Mary trough imitating her apostolic action.
This girl goes “with haste”, Luke tells us. This hurrying is important because any delay means for the Missionary missing opportunities to announce the Gospel, opportunities for our brothers and sisters, and opportunities for the Message itself.
“She greeted Elizabeth”; a powerful salute, if we look at the immediate effects: a child still in the womb of his mother that is dancing happily; the fact that the greeted person is filled with the Holy Spirit; the “loud cry” that has been echoed throughout the centuries and is often repeated by us Missionaries with all Christians in the prayer “Hail Mary”.
In my activity as a Missionary I myself greet many people. Nothing of what happened between Mary and Elizabeth is happening now. Or perhaps something happens if my greeting is full of benevolence and kindness; a dialogue can start that could prepare the way for the acceptance of Christ and, through the Sacraments, lead to a great gift: being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The fruitfulness of Mary in her apostolate was possible because she was not alone, she was together with Jesus, her son. The lesson for us Missionaries is clear: if we go, but we do not have Jesus in us, our going is in vain, our activity only some blowing of the wind around us for our own benefit, the effort we make will be fruitless.
St. Guido Maria Conforti, our founder, impressed on us an important rule: “We will live this life of faith if in all circumstances we keep Christ in mind; if He will always be with us when we pray, at the altar, when we study, in the many activities of our ministry, in our dealing with others” (Cf Test. Letter n.7). The Church stresses and repeats in many forms, over and over again, that “The real Missionary is the Saint” (Red. Mission n. 90).
Queen of the Apostles pray for us and make us real missionaries like you; Make us Christians that carry the great gift of the Lord with them in order to offer Him to our human environment.
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
My devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary makes me use many times the litanic invocation: “Queen of the Apostles, pray for us”.
I am not an Apostle, I am a simple Missionary, but I consider important the fact that these two words are synonymous because linked with the idea of “sending”;a term used many times and in many ways in the New Testament, see for instance the words of the risen Lord to the Apostles: “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20, 21).
Mary herself felt that she was sent by the angelic message about the situation of her cousin Elizabeth, and the Gospel of this Sunday of Advent helps me, and all Missionaries, too, to grow in the devotion to Mary trough imitating her apostolic action.
This girl goes “with haste”, Luke tells us. This hurrying is important because any delay means for the Missionary missing opportunities to announce the Gospel, opportunities for our brothers and sisters, and opportunities for the Message itself.
“She greeted Elizabeth”; a powerful salute, if we look at the immediate effects: a child still in the womb of his mother that is dancing happily; the fact that the greeted person is filled with the Holy Spirit; the “loud cry” that has been echoed throughout the centuries and is often repeated by us Missionaries with all Christians in the prayer “Hail Mary”.
In my activity as a Missionary I myself greet many people. Nothing of what happened between Mary and Elizabeth is happening now. Or perhaps something happens if my greeting is full of benevolence and kindness; a dialogue can start that could prepare the way for the acceptance of Christ and, through the Sacraments, lead to a great gift: being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The fruitfulness of Mary in her apostolate was possible because she was not alone, she was together with Jesus, her son. The lesson for us Missionaries is clear: if we go, but we do not have Jesus in us, our going is in vain, our activity only some blowing of the wind around us for our own benefit, the effort we make will be fruitless.
St. Guido Maria Conforti, our founder, impressed on us an important rule: “We will live this life of faith if in all circumstances we keep Christ in mind; if He will always be with us when we pray, at the altar, when we study, in the many activities of our ministry, in our dealing with others” (Cf Test. Letter n.7). The Church stresses and repeats in many forms, over and over again, that “The real Missionary is the Saint” (Red. Mission n. 90).
Queen of the Apostles pray for us and make us real missionaries like you; Make us Christians that carry the great gift of the Lord with them in order to offer Him to our human environment.