Reflection Given by Sister Ramona Bezner at the Renewal of Vows
The following is a reflection given by Sister Ramona Bezner, CDP at the Renewal of Vows on June 22, 2021.
The readings for today are important and meaningful to us as a Congregation. They have been important in our lives, especially during the last 50 years.
The passage from Ephesians, known to us as our Blessing Song – is a Blessing we have given to each other every summer at the Missioning Mass. To me it has been touching and meaningful.
Psalm 63, our responsorial Psalm is prayed each Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, as part of The Liturgy of the Hours. “O God, you are my God…”
And the accounts of the Visitation and the Magnificat have been the heart of our prayer life forever as we desire to be like Mary – “May it be done to me…”
These readings, chosen by Megan, Christina and Melissa, who are renewing their vows this evening, provide a way, a plan for any of us to deepen our relationship with God, to become one with Christ and to open our life to the workings of the Spirit.
We do this, as Paul suggests, when we pray for the power to be strengthened and to grow strong…to grow strong in our convictions, to know our beliefs, our commitments; to grow strong in the work of our ministries, realizing that it is not always what we are doing but how and why; to grow strong in our love and living of the Charism of Providence because it is the Charism of Providence that it our responsibility to give to the world. We are the face of God’s Providence for all of Creation.
Then Paul goes on to talk about being rooted and grounded in love. The challenge seems to be to dig deeper into the tremendous love Christ has for us so that the breadth, the length, height and depth of that love fills us with the utter fullness of God. To be filled with the fullness of God, this is the gift God has for us, God has for you who are renewing Vows. You need only to desire it, to long for it, to seek for it.
The reading from Luke detailing the Visitation and the Canticle of Mary continue telling us about God’s love.
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth may have been motivated by wanting to help her cousin who was pregnant and also quite old. Elizabeth surely needed help with housework, sewing clothes, cooking. And Mary, I am sure, was happy to oblige. For herself, Mary had so much to ask her cousin: what does it means to be a young mother? How is my life going to change? What does it all mean: the angel appearing to me, the message the angel brought: “the child will be great and called the Son of God.”
Mary asked questions and Elizabeth, a wise and experienced woman offered some answers. Or they came to some answers together. They reminded each other what it means to trust in God and how that trust will lead to complete reliance on God’s ways in their lives. Together they talked and shared. And Elizabeth asked her own questions. She hadn’t been a mother before either. What will it be like? Is God calling her child for something special? What does God have in mind? During the months they were together they continued to pray and to share. They prayed together in thanksgiving for God’s love and grace and so nurtured their minds and their spirits.
We can learn from Mary and Elizabeth how to listen, to God, surely but also to one another. Haven’t we often discovered that when we have really listened, unexpected blessings have come our way? The Angel said to Mary,” Listen” and she did.
Mary sought out Elizabeth when she needed help. Where are the Elizabeths in our lives? Have we looked for them? Strong, committed, joyful women are great gifts for us. We can’t be hesitant to seek out wise women with whom to share our lives. Let us pray for the grace to meet people who can help us seek “the fullness of God” and thus sustain and encourage us.
And lastly just a few words about Psalm 63. This is the beginning of that Psalm: “Oh God, you are my God, for you I long; my soul thirsts for you; my body seeks for you; as in a dry and weary land without water.”
Megan, Christina, Melissa, Isn’t this what it is all about? Longing for God? Seeking God? Being filled with the fullness of God? Those of us who have been here for a long time hold the same questions before us. So then, we move together, united, into this year, knowing and believing that we are the fullness of God for each other, proclaiming ”My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
Sister Ramona Bezner