It has been a bit over a year that I have been living in a Jesuit health care community in a suburb of Milwaukee. Each of us here is dealing with some kind of disability and some progressive diminishment. Our common mission is to “pray for the Church and the Society of Jesus.” My kidneys have failed, and my life is being saved by dialysis three days a week. I preside at our community’s daily Mass about three or four times a week. I’ve shared with my brothers that in this place in my life journey, I’m hearing the readings differently.
The extremely beautiful gospel for this Feast of the Visitation is a good example. It’s always good to re-read a familiar story to notice if we see anything new with this reading, at this place in our lives.
Upon hearing that her elderly relative Elizabeth is also pregnant – because nothing is impossible with God – Mary’s first and immediate instinct is to go and help Elizabeth. Full of grace, and carrying the human expression of God’s dying-to-self love, Mary shows us that when we receive God’s love, the grace will be there to share it with others. To highlight this central part of our faith, our new Pope, Leo XIV, outlined this movement in his inauguration homily:
Brothers and sisters, I would like that our first great desire be for a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.
In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest. For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to him! Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: in the one Christ, we are one. This is the path to follow together, among ourselves but also with our sister Christian churches, with those who follow other religious paths, with those who are searching for God, with all women and men of good will, in order to build a new world where peace reigns!
This is the missionary spirit that must animate us; not closing ourselves off in our small groups, nor feeling superior to the world. We are called to offer God’s love to everyone, in order to achieve that unity which does not cancel out differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of every people.
Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the Gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters. With my predecessor Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: If this criterion “were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and peace return?” (Rerum Novarum, 20).
With the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word, allows itself to be made “restless” by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity.
Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another. [Inauguration homily]
Today is a wonderful day to thank Mary for the witness of this missionary Church life. She stirs our desire to receive and to proclaim his love for us.
Thank you, dear Mary, for saying yes to your vocation. Thank you for recognizing that our God “has lifted up the lowly.” [Luke 1:52] Thank you for trusting the promises of our God and for your immediate desire to accompany Elizabeth. You show me the way to take up my place in a missionary Church.
Rev. Andy Alexander, SJ
I was born and raised in Omaha, 8 blocks from where I now work. My parents were very involved in the Jesuit parish here and were outstanding examples of a commitment to service for my sister and me as we were growing up. I entered the Jesuits in 1966, and was ordained in 1979.
I love giving the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius, in any adaptation. One of my greatest privileges was to serve as pastor at Gesu Parish in Milwaukee for 8 years before coming here. The community there taught me about church, and the relationship between the worship which says who we are and the ministry to which it sends us.
One of the privileges of being back in Omaha was helping my mother care for my father, the last four and a half years of his life. Both of my parents have died and are enjoying the embrace of the Lord which they taught me about all of their lives.
When I write these reflections, I try to imagine the people who will be reading them. I try to imagine what ways I might be in solidarity with people struggling in any way. Then I read the readings. Then I ask, “what is the good news that we need to hear?” Something usually just comes, to me.
It is tremendously consoling to receive mail from people around the world, simply expressing gratitude for a reflection. Most of the time, it is enough to know, from the numbers, that people are finding this site to be a helpful spiritual support.
