Category: Mary

Joyous Angels

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, joy, Mary, spirituality1 Comment

Third Sunday of Advent
December 14, 2025

Is there a difference between happiness and joy? Walking through the Med-Surge ward, the chaplain juggled that question. He had just left Betty whose test results had proven benign. Her reaction still echoed in his mind. Like someone awaking from a bad dream, she had said, “I am almost afraid to be happy!” But John, just across the corridor, was beyond happiness. In the slow diminishment of a terminal illness, John had told the chaplain, “It seems strange, but I have never been so joyful. In the busyness of my life before this, I had never realized how much I was loved.”

Coming to joy, even in the midst of challenge, is the perfection of the spiritual life. This week’s readings offer a syllabus for that journey. We find two great biblical figures visited by angels. Mary welcomes her angel somewhere within the humble routine of her day. She seems almost to be expecting the visit, already to have prepared a place for the Surprise of God. Presented with astonishing news, she simply asks God’s methods before bowing in graceful accord. Zechariah, on the other hand, receives his angel in the reserved sanctuary of the Temple. This angel disrupts the practiced rituals stabilizing Zechariah’s faith. Zechariah is startled, skeptical – afraid to be happy.

During this week, as we listen to scripture’s angels, may we hear their call to joyous freedom. May we delight in the prophet Zephaniah’s image of God Who, replete with divine joy, sings over us with gladness. Each day, we are visited by angels. Will they find in us the advent-heart of Mary, open to the wonder of the Holy Spirit? Or will they find us petrified in practices and protocols born of fear? The core of all deep healing lies in this: can we help people find their joy? Can we find our own? The answer begins in the recognition that, despite any contradiction of circumstance, we are infinitely loved.

Music: Handel: The Triumph of Time and Truth, HWV 71:
“Guardian Angels, Oh, Protect me”

Guardian angels, oh, protect me,
And in Virtue’s path direct me,
While resign’d to Heav’n above.
Let no more this world deceive me,
Nor let idle passions grieve me,
Strong in faith, in hope, in love.
Guardian angels. . .

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Click for Scripture

Sun of Justice

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, Courage, Faith, Mary, spirituality1 Comment

Second Sunday of Advent
December 7, 2025

Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise;
from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
Alleluia Verse: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

There are a few places where nature offers a darkness so absolute that it can be terrifying. Assateague Island lies along the barrier coast of Virginia. On a winter night, darkness there feels complete, enveloping. As evening lengthens, night pulls its velvet canopy from the black ocean, covering the beach in silence.

The whisper of rustling sea oats along invisible dunes is the only link to a land left behind. But slowly, like sparks rolling through dry tinder, stars burn one by one through heaven’s blanket. By midnight, their incomparable brilliance convinces the soul that it has never been and can never be alone.

During this second week of Advent, which includes the feasts both of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are continually assured that we are not alone. Mary, First Among the Redeemed, rises like an evening star in the long story of salvation history. She begins a motherhood for Jesus and, in so doing, becomes our Mother too.

Like all maternities, Mary’s was a gradual awakening to the Life she bore within her. In this week’s readings, we see her absorb the angel’s stunning announcement into the immensity of her faith. We see her begin to prepare, in the confines of her humble life, a dwelling for Infinity. We see her labor to introduce God’s extraordinary secret into the ordinary dimensions of her life. We see her carry Incarnate Grace into the disrupted world of her cousins Elizabeth and Zechariah, anointing them with the blessing of her faith-filled Magnificat.

Boticelli: Madonna of the Magnificat

As we pray with Mary this week, let us hold all mothers in our hearts. Certainly, we hold our own mothers, whether in presence or in memory. May our prayer embrace all single mothers, unwilling mothers, refugee mothers, mothers so overburdened by poverty that they cannot enjoy the blessing of their children. We include all mothers, sick with any form of illness in body, mind or spirit. May any darkness these mothers face be lifted by the gracious hand of Mary who intimately knows their hearts and circumstances.

Mary visits each of us with the same unbounded joy she brought Elizabeth in that ancient Advent. She teaches us the profound yet simple secret of her holiness: that she understood her life to be a sacred channel for God. As we prayerfully wait with our blessed Mother for Christ to be born, may we listen in the darkness for her maternal lessons.

Music: Magnificat – Johann Pachelbel

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture – Luke 1: 26-38

Click for Scripture

Worthy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, Jesus, Mary, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102524.cfm

I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace;  
one Body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6

Paul encourages the Ephesian community to live a life worthy of their call. The same encouragement comes down through the ages to us. The unique blessing of our Baptism deserves a worthy response from us, one characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, love, unity, peace, and hope.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We examine our lives for the evidence of these virtues. They should not only be present in our desires but, more importantly, in our actions and choices.

Poetry: Annunciation – Denise Levertov
Mary is the perfect and complete model of the worthy life Paul calls us to.

We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,

almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.
The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
God waited.

She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.

____________________________

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.

______________________________

She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child – but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.

Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, ‘How can this be?’
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:

to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love –

but who was God.

This was the moment no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.

A breath unbreathed,
                                Spirit,
                                          suspended,
                                                            waiting.

______________________________

She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’
Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’
She did not submit with gritted teeth,
                                                       raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
                                  consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light,
the lily glowed in it,
                               and the iridescent wings.
Consent,
              courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.

Music: Benedicta et Venerabilis

Benedicta et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria: quae sine tactu pudoris inventa es
Mater salvatoris.
Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis,
in tua se clausit viscera factus homo.

Blessed and venerable art thou, O Virgin Mary, who, without spot, wast found
the Mother of the Saviour.
Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world containeth not,
being made man, shut Himself in thy womb.

Garment

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Mary, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
August 22, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082224.cfm

But when the king came in to meet the guests
he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, “My friend, how is it
that you came in here without a wedding garment?”
Matthew 22:11-12

Today’s readings for the day do not mention Mary, although a second set of readings retells the account of the Annunciation.

I chose instead to pray with the concept of the “garment” which the wedding guest lacked, but that Mary wore in magnificence. The garment is God’s grace given to all of us as it was to Mary, but sometimes abandoned or forgotten as it was with the wedding guest.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray in thanksgiving for the garment of God’s grace and ask to wear it with honor and love.

Poetry: Suspended – Denise Levertov

I had grasped God's garment in the void
but my hand slipped
on the rich silk of it.
The 'everlasting arms' my sister loved to remember
must have upheld my leaden weight
from falling, even so,
for though I claw at empty air and feel
nothing, no embrace,
I have not plummeted.

Music: Clothed with Light / Kyrie Eleison – from a Russian Hymn

Firstfruits

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, Mary, spirituality1 Comment

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
August 15, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081524-Day.cfm

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Corinthians 15:20

We celebrate Mary because of who she is in Christ, the firstfruits of a new and redeemed Creation. Mary is the one who bore these sacred firstfruits. Mothering Christ, she mothers too the gift of our Redemption.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We honor Mary whose simple life was translucent with faith. From that light, God took flesh and so redeemed us.

Poetry: The Assumption – Joachim Smet O.Carm

No painter ever caught the magic other going--
This was a matter of an inward growing,
Simple and imperceptible as thought.
It was no pageant wrought
Of sounding splendor, welter of gold bars
Of molten day, mad stars,
Flurry of quick angels' winging,
Bursts of their laughter ringing
In wild bliss.
The simple fact is this:
Love conquered at long last.
Her eager soul fled fast
With a great gladness like a song
Unto to her Spouse above,
And her pure flesh would not be parted long
For sheer love.

Music: Assumpta Est Maria

Latin Text

Assumpta est Maria in caelum,
gaudent angeli, laudantes benedicunt Dominum.
Gaudete et exsultate omnes recti corde.
Quia hodie Maria virgo cum Christo regnat in aeternum.

Quae est ista, quae progreditur
quasi aurora consurgens,
pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol,
terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata?
Gaudete et exsultate omnes recti corde.
Quia hodie Maria virgo cum Christo regnat in aeternum.

ENGLSIH TEXT
Mary has been received into Heaven:
the angels rejoice with praises and bless the Lord.
Let all rejoice and be glad with righteous heart,
for today the Virgin Mary reigns with Christ for evermore.

Who is she that cometh forth
as the morning rising,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
terrible as an army set in array ?
Let all rejoice and be glad with righteous heart,
for today the Virgin Mary reigns with Christ for evermore.

Yield

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Faith, Gospel, Love, Mary, spirituality3 Comments

Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary
July 26, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072624.cfm

But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Matthew 13:23

How appropriate, on this feast of Anne and Joachim, that the Gospel describes the abundant yield of love and fidelity. Those virtues in Anne and Joachim shaped the heart of Mary as the Vessel of God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We gratefully remember those in our own lives who helped shape us by their faith, guardianship, and generosity – parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, trusted mentors, generous friends.

Poetry: The Splendor Falls – Alfred Lord Tennyson

The splendor falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
O, hark, O, hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O, sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing!
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying,
Blow, bugles; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on hill or field or river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

I found a reference to this poem in a lovely reflection by Franciscan Sister Kathleen Murphy which you may read here:

Reflection on Saints Anne & Joachim

Music: Ancestors – by Sarah Pirtle

Chorus:
We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us.
They are giving us their courage, and they say we are glad you’re in this world.

  1. May the strength of the ancestors encircle you.
    May the strength of the ancestors encircle you.
    And may this strength stay with you your whole life through.
    May the strength of the ancestors encircle you.

We are standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before us.
They are giving us their courage, and they say we are glad you’re in this world.

Refrain:
May you have all your choices. May you have all your voices.
May your wisdom now be heard.
They say we are glad you’re in this world.

  1. May the trust of the ancestors be healing you. (2x)
    And may this trust stay with you your whole life through.
    May the trust of the ancestors be healing you.

We are lifting up our vision to the ones who will come after.
We are sending them our courage, as they wait to come into this world.

Refrain:
May you have all your choices. May you have all your voices.
May your wisdom now be heard.
They say we are glad you’re in this world.

Sword

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Cross, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, holiness, Mary, spirituality3 Comments

Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
June 8, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060824.cfm

When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”
And he said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
Luke 2: 48-51

Mary’s heart is formed in the image of the God who was her child. She, our Mother and Sister, conveys to us in human tenderness, the Divine Compassion that may sometimes seem inaccessible to our imperfect faith.

She was just a young girl when God espoused her for the purpose of our redemption. Still her utter “Fiat” opened her soul to the transformation that only sacrificial love can accomplish.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We reflect on Mary’s immutable alignment to the heart of Jesus, begun in the womb, confirmed on Calvary. We ask her guidance in patterning our hearts to Jesus as we meet him in the Gospel.

Prose: Caryll Houselander – The Reed of God

In this great fiat of the little girl Mary,
the strength and foundation of our life
of contemplation is grounded,
for it means absolute trust in God,
trust which will not set us free from suffering
but will set us free from anxiety, hesitation,
and above all from the fear of suffering.
Trust which makes us willing to be
what God wants us to be,
however great or however little that may prove.
Trust which accepts God as illimitable Love.

Music: Salve Regina

Devoted

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Faith, healing, Mary, Mercy, spirituality6 Comments

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
May 20, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052024.cfm

After Jesus had been taken up to heaven,
the Apostles returned to Jerusalem
from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem,
a sabbath day’s journey away…
… All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,
together with some women,
and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

Acts 1: 12;14

Even though there are only scriptural snippets to support it, we can clearly discern Mary’s faithful devotion to the Gospel mission and the nascent Church. We can imagine Mary, whose whole life was filled with and inspired by the Holy Spirit, mentoring the younger disciples with her faith and wisdom.

We call on Mary today to be with us as we too labor to be faithful to our call to spread the Gospel with energy and fidelity.

My local readers may recognize the above photo as that of the Marian statue which stood for a century over our beloved Misericordia Hospital. With the recent transfer of the hospital to the University of Pennsylvania, the beautiful statue needed a new home where her vigilant oversight could be honored and extended to the future.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Seeing the statue can remind us of Mary’s role as Mother of the Church – a Church that greatly needs her guidance and inspiration as we work to carry the Gospel through the 21st century.

On May 29, 2024, this statue will be rededicated in its new home on the Sisters of Mercy motherhouse grounds. All are welcome for this event, especially all of you who have been a treasured part of the mission of Misercordia Hospital. It will be a joy to gather with you all.

Dedication of the statue of
Our Mother of Mercy
from Misericordia Hospital
at
Sisters of Mercy
515 Montgomery Avenue
Merion Station, PA 19066
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
at 1:00 PM
(Refreshments to follow)

RSVP by Friday May 24, 2024
cmaher@sistersofmercy.org

Video:

May

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Faith, Mary, spirituality5 Comments

God’s blessings to all of you, my readers, in this beautiful month of May! These days bring the full blossoming of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the grape harvest in Australia, and the close of the rainy season in Peru. May all these gifts, and the special love of Mary, brighten these days.

Please enjoy this beautiful and elegant music, reminiscent of May: