Saint Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Title

How does this happen to me?

Outline

Some things take eyes to see

The world around us sees what money is doing, what human power is doing, and what they call “love” is doing, but it cannot see what Love itself is doing, what God who is love is doing. They do not have the eyes to see. They are blind, so they are trapped in their anxieties.

The beloved sees the lover

There he is, coming across the mountains; there he is standing behind our wall. Now he is calling me, speaking of fruitfulness and the end of winter. But no one be she sees him nor hears his promise.

This is how it was with Mary. She saw the angel, she experienced her lover’s fruitfulness within her, but it was likely not what she could explain.

This is what it was like for Elizabeth

Mary brought the lover literally over the mountains, but no one noticed until she called out to Elizabeth. Elizabeth knew that angels brought real messages. Elizabeth in her pregnancy had gotten to know the lover in a new way - I doubt she could explain it. And she therefore recognizes Mary “Most blessed among women” and with “blessed fruit of your womb” over the fruit of her womb. Because she knew the lover and knew her place, she also knows, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken by the Lord would be fulfilled.” The two could talk together, for they knew the same great love.

And that is our job

We have come to love the great Love, each from our own perspective. It is probably difficult to explain why you became a sister or what I became a priest - each with the same love but a different perspective - for others do not know him as their love. They cannot see him.

But we see him if we are on the lookout for him. If our eyes and ears are open. And we prepare to experience him by talking with one another about him, especially with those who know him. It is something one learns to see by prayer and meditation, not by a Catechism (although, Peter Canisius, they are a useful start). So that is what we give our lives to.

I suspect that Elizabeth knew when Jesus was born, whether or not she came to visit, for she heard that voice that she knew before he was born wafting over the Judean hills. She may have gone, but she did not need to go, for she knew that voice.