Monday 20 May 2024

Today is Monday 20 May, the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, in the 7th week of Ordinary Time.

On this feast day, Juliano Ravanello sings The Magnificat, Mary’s song:

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.’

Today’s reading is from the book of Genesis.

Genesis 3: 9-15, 20

But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ The Lord God said to the serpent,

‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.’

The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all who live.

Can you place yourself in this scene? Imagine yourself now as Adam or Eve…

We hear God calling to them: “Where are you?” What does God sound like to you?

Do you ever hear God calling to you with this very question in your own life? ”Where are you?”

Why do you think Adam and Eve are suddenly so ashamed of being naked? Can you imagine what they must have been feeling at this moment?

What about Adam’s subtle blaming of God when he says those words, “the woman you gave to be with me…”? As you listen again, notice this moment, and what it stirs in you.

At the end of this meditation, can I turn to God for consolation and hope that God might overcome in me my resistance to living in a daily rhythm of gratitude?

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.