God works in our smallness

(Excerpt from the Homily of Most Reverend Romulo G. Valles, D.D., on the Blessing of the Replica Image of Maria Bambinella during the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Sta. Ana Shrine Parish, Sta. Ana Ave., Davao City.)

I don’t remember myself at all in my 46 years as a priest, on this feast day that I mentioned St. Anne I bet many of you have not said it, always Mama Mary but I think I would say, we are fortunate in Davao not in Mati, not in Tagum, not in Digos, I’m sure not in Zamboanga, wala silay parokya nga St. Anne, Sta. Ana, Davao lang and therefore when I received the invitation to come and celebrate mass here today, I said, it is not just a function I would say it is a kind of Liturgical Logic that when we think of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary I would say, the best place to celebrate that feast is not in the Cathedral though I said mass there at noon. It is here, because when you think about the birth of Mary, certainly, certainly, we think also of the one who gave birth to the mother of our savior, St. Anne, what a wonderful place…

…we will continue to keep the good news that our blessed mother brings us to Jesus, Ad Jesum Per Mariam, to Jesus through Mary.

This evening I’d like to share three things. We don’t know when Mary was born, but that is not the issue, that is not the beauty of this feast. The beauty is behind this, the wonder, the joy, the profound peace as the opening prayer would tell us of knowing that God is there to guide us, to set us up, to help in our journey towards eternal happiness.

Number 1, God is all powerful, we know that, but again and again specially in the direct stories of the history of salvation God never escaped, never debated, He is there using, allowing the birth of a child to be part of the history of salvation, to be part of His action, giving birth like today we remember the birth of the Blessed Mother and remember… that December 8, this baby that was born today, she was conceived without sin, December 8, that conception without sin happened in the womb of St. Anne. All this very human, natural condition of giving birth, perilous, peligro but yet the wonder of giving forth life, as we remember today the birth of Mary…

…Mothers giving birth is the wonder of Gods action in our midst, that’s the wonder of life. The birth of a child, the role of a mother is beyond us it is in fact as I said, an occasion, an event that God, allows us to see His grace amongst us, that is why it is good for us for this first point, on this birthday of Mary remembering St. Anne to really, sincerely give our appreciation and prayers for all parents and especially mothers and mothers to be and especially the young ones who would later on get married, the ladies here. That’s the wonder and grace of the gift of being able to give birth to life in this world. That is beyond us, certainly that is God’s action amongst us.

And the second reflection I would call for today is to appreciate again or remember the human lowliness, the human smallness of us, which many of us, take that lightly but the first reading would tell us that it is in the recognition of our lowliness, of our smallness, of our frailty, it is there that God works his wonders. On this birthday of Mama Mary, the first reading brings us from the prophet Micah to Bethlehem, we can connect now because Mary as a mother went to Bethlehem and she gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem but the reading tells us “you Bethlehem Ephrata, too small to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be the ruler of Israel.” From your smallness, from your frailty, from your lowliness, who would start from there, that is not the logic of today, nobody would want to be small or nobody would accept to be small that is a reason for much self-pity. Remember when we accept truly in humility our lowliness, [even when we are rich and powerful, we don’t own ourselves, we don’t charter our ways] then God will act. This child born today of Anne, the child Mary she was a nobody in Nazareth we know that, she was not known, the lowly Mary of Nazareth, but to her, God almighty sent the angel Gabriel and told her of an immense news that in her womb will be conceived the savior of mankind. From the unknown, frail, nobody Mary, God started the final stage of our salvation in the birth of Jesus so therefore today the good news is, even the smallest among us, the lowliest among us, like the child that is born today whose feast we are celebrating, God can work through us, as lowly as we are.

A bigger good news comes from the gospel… the kaliwat, heritage of Jesus. From my own reading the listahan of the kaliwatan ni Jesus is really a picture of us all. I don’t think anyone of us can claim a pure, clean, sikat wonderful lineage, I can speak for myself, in my kaliwat is intertwined, the good the bad and the ugly. All of us dili pure, dili limpyo, in the gospel reading today, we are shown that dili kita ikaulaw sa Ginoo and even in the impurity of our kaliwat, of humankind, of our community, of the church, saints and sinners the grace of God will triumph and will work. In this list at the end, mga unknown pud there’s the unknown Joseph and the unknown Mary not even the kings and famous names above, but in the end there’s the lowly Mary and Joseph and through them the savior was born, the good news today for us on this birthday of the Blessed Mother today it makes us confident if we allow the grace of God to work, something good, something of God will come out.

…Mary, her mother Saint Anne, St. Joseph all the saints, they allow us, they move us, they inspire us to be confident in the midst of our sinfulness that in the end the goodness and the graciousness, the mercy and compassion of God will triumph.