At noon each day at Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish School on Detroit's east side, a bell chimed for my classmates and me to pray the famous Angelus, "the angel of the Lord declared unto Mary."
The conventional 'Hail Mary' prayer followed repeatedly.
There's something about bells booming about in my mind these days.
Perhaps its the upcoming Independence Day next week.
I don't know.
A tall bell tower erected toward the clouds of heaven, so to speak, regularly sounded like the routine meals of breakfast, lunch and supper with my nine-member family, Chipper, and some chums from the neighborhood who stay around to taste my mom's apple pie.
Go figure.
Mary's Jesus in her own tabernacle is what this prayer is about, it seems to me.
The Angel Gabriel invites Mary and us to cooperate in God's loving plan of creation.
Human, even regional cooperation of the metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan, in this town's hour of need, comes to mind also.
The prophets Elijah and Elisha are challenged in their call to help undo the idolatry of a nation that chose it over God.
No easy summoning for Mary, me, and prophets to be sure.
Even the disciples seemed 'luke warm' and tepid with the Good News of Jesus. They were afraid as we are of it at times.
It asks much of us.
Joy and serenity, however, follow and flow freely from within the recesses of our hearts.
Like me.
Perhaps, like you also?
Attachments to idols in our time and culture are common.
And, to drugs and others attachment disorders of substances or process addictions.
Life is like that when one loses or forgets meaning as the aim of life. Lesser gods follow.
They swallow up meaninglessness. They steer us down alleys and foreign places we best leave and let be. We get trapped at time too.
We return to God's way and Word. And, we are full of wonder once more.
Freedom is a grace and blessing.
It is a favor.
"Be it done unto me according to your word," we may say in unison with Mary, a disciple of the Lord. The first disciple, some say.
God's freedom soars surer and sounder than the freedom we know in this land.
We seek it.
The Word and Eucharist nourish us on our way toward freedom.
No comments:
Post a Comment