This special feast day for RSHM and associates was greatly enriched in our Eastern American Area by a Zoom presentation on biblical women of hope by Luisa Almendra, RSHM, Chair of Jewish and Christian Biblical Studies at the Catholic University of Portugal.
Prophetic hope arises from the intertwining of a deep awareness of human fragility and infidelity with the hope and certainty that God is in history not as a judge but as salvation, the possibility of a new life.
This hope is expressed with lyrical beauty in Mary’s Magnificat.
Of the four biblical women of hope Luisa presented, the following excerpts focus on Mary of Nazareth:
In this song, we see God through Mary’s eyes. We know how Mary remembers the experience of God in her own life and how she reviews God’s actions in the life and history of God with his people.
It is a song that does not spring from sudden enthusiasm. It emerges from the serene intimacy of Mary, who, at the annunciation, could ask questions but also knew how to remain silent in the face of what she did not understand. Therefore, when Mary raises her voice to sing, she says it is from her soul and spirit. It is with all her faculties that she addresses God. We will never hear Mary talk so much and talk like that again.
Mary’s song takes place in two movements. In the first, Mary exalts God as Savior and Almighty and defines herself as a humble servant, a servant in whom all those who have experienced God’s mercy see themselves today. This first movement ends with the affirmation of the sanctity of the name of the only one who is holy.
In the second movement, Mary states that this God, who looked at the humility of his servant is the God who disperses the proud, overthrows the powerful, exalts the humble, and fills the hungry with good things. Mary decenters her praise from what God did in her to focus on God’s actions for the little ones of Israel. The God who did wonders in himself is the God who is present in the lives of all who wait and believe in him.
Luisa expanded her reflection on Mary to include all those close to Mary’s heart:
Because we must read and pray the Word of God to learn to read and pray our lives…let us remember these biblical women (Miriam, Deborah, Anna, and Mary of Nazareth) and also remember and recognize so many sisters who lived and live with us. Today, as we look to the HEART OF MARY, let us celebrate our life and our testimony of RSHM as women who were and want to continue to be an efficacious sign of prophetic hope in the world.
The culmination of this very special day was Eucharistic Liturgy with Father John Vigilante presiding and a festive luncheon in the convent dining room beautifully prepared for the occasion.