Mary, A Mother’s Role in Evangelization

Having their first child, my niece and her husband have found a joy that has pervaded their lives. They have shared their new bundle of joy by traveling abroad to be with family.  My brother, as grandfather found that joy enlivened his life.  As a father, he never was one to push a stroller, but with his new grandson, he takes he can’t wait to push the stroller.

There is something infectious about having an encounter with joy, which leads to sharing its abundance with others.  Pope Frances’ Apostolic Letter, “The Joy of the Gospel” cites Christian joy as the result of encountering Jesus in the everyday.  Joy pervades the heart when we dispose ourselves to encounter Christ in an ongoing way.

One intentional way of encountering Christ so that we are not swallowed up with being too busy with consumerism during Advent is to pray a novena.  If nine days are too much, then try a 3-day tridium!  Here is an example of a tridium based on Mary, Mother of Evangelization that Fr. Dominic Tran, rector of our Salesian formation house coined.

• Day one:  At the wedding feast at Cana, Mary nudges Jesus to assert him in the temporal need at hand in which Jesus worked his first of signs.  How can we nudge each other to be signs of God’s mercy?
• Day two:  Mary experienced an element of surprise when she encounters the angel in the Annunciation.  She was astonished, that being a woman of Nazareth, she would be chosen to be the Christ bearer.  Mary trusted openly the hand of God to guide her to live and witness the joy of the Gospel with Christ.
• Day three:  Jesus sent out his disciples to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Mary models for the way to be sent, to ponder our heart’s desire in Christ and to bring those sentiments to others through prayer, work, and conversation.