He Has Exalted the Humble

Summary of a Fr. Gerry Creedon homily from December 10, 2006

"All flesh shall see the salvation of God." - Gospel Acclamation

I met a young couple recently. She is an Italian Catholic. He is an Evangelical Christian. It irritates him that she has a statue of Mary in the yard. He thinks Catholics worship the Blessed Virgin. I suggested he put a statue of Jesus in the yard also. I explained that we do not worship Mary, though we venerate her and the saints. I felt a little sad that he did not share this devotion. Mexican Catholics have a special devotion to Mary and celebrate her on December 12th as, "La Virgin de Guadalupe".

Her image is a woman of color. Our Lady made her presence known to Juan Diego, an indigenous peasant. This stands in continuity with the scriptural picture of Mary; "He has exalted the humble," she proclaims in the Magnificat. The indigenous peoples of the Americas could be considered humble, or of lowly estate. Other words like victimized, exploited and marginalized may be used.

In our time, when many would say our society is afflicted by xenophobia, fear of the stranger and the immigrant, our church follows the footsteps of Mary, who identified herself with the poor. We stand in solidarity with our indigenous, and our Latino brothers and sisters in their faith and in their struggle for a better existence.

Alongside Mary, John the Baptist raises his voice for reconciliation, "The winding paths will be made straight." (Luke 3:5)

Our parish, in the company of Mary and John, prepares the way of the Lord through the work of healing and forgiveness. All are invited to the sacrament of repentance on Dec 21st. "For God is leading his people in joy by the light of His glory, with His mercy and justice for company." (Baruch 5:9)