Full of Grace

Final Profession of Sr John Mary Baptist SI

Sr John Mary, you would have said the Hail Mary thousands of times. You say it many times each day as you recite the rosary.

On the eve of this wonderful feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and on the occasion of your final profession of vows in the Sisters of the Immaculata, I would like to consider the opening words of the Hail Mary – the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to the young woman of Nazareth – “Hail Mary, full of grace.”

This is a beautiful greeting. Warm. Personal. And making an extraordinary declaration that Mary was “full of grace”.

The Hebrew word for grace as found in the Old Testament is chesed. The word speaks of God’s acts of deliverance from adversity. It carries with it the sense of God acting to protect and preserve.

The Greek word for grace found in the New Testament is charis. This word carries the notion of God acting to save.

When we speak of grace we speak of the action of God’s saving love upon a humanity which is totally undeserving of it. Grace is about the saving of sinners. The all holy God reaches out in an act of pure mercy not to judge or condemn but to heal and restore.

St John summed it up so well when he said that God so loved the world that he sent His Son into the world not to condemn but to save it.

He who is all holy comes to the rescue of those trapped in the mire of sin – that is, all of us, each one of us. Left to ourselves we are lost. Only God, who is love itself, can rescue us from a path to damnation.

Grace, by definition, is always unmerited and undeserved. It is at the heart of the revelation of God to humanity, found in the Old and New Testaments.

St Paul teaches that both Jew and pagan alike “are justified through the free gift of his grace by being redeemed by Christ Jesus”. (Rom 3:24) Grace, St Paul says, is a free gift, made operative through the redemption of humanity won by Christ on Calvary.

Again, in a passage that I love because it speaks to me of my own experience, St Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians says, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own but by a gift from God.” (Eph 2:8) It is by grace that you have been saved. We can explain the mystery of God’s action in our life in no other way.

Sr John Mary, today, as you embrace your life as a Sister of the Immaculata through final vows, I offer you this one word: ‘grace’.

Firstly, it is a word that the Virgin Mary knew and clearly understood its significance in her own life. She declared in her great hymn of praise that, “The Almighty has done great things for me.” And all she can say in response is “Holy is his name”.

She deeply understood that all came from the loving mercy of God. She knew that she was nothing before God. She simply sought to be His lowly handmaid. She who desired nothing for herself was given everything – she would bear the Son of God, saviour of the world.

Sr John Mary, desire nothing but to be a handmaid of the Lord. And the Almighty will do great things for you.

Secondly, the word grace sums up your calling. A vocation to consecrated life is a grace. When a woman listening to Jesus teaching, clearly overcome in the presence of the Lord, exclaims, “Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked.” It was a declaration made by a mother. She was saying that no woman could be more proud than to have you as a son.

(Today, I am sure your parents and siblings are very proud of you).

The response that the Lord makes takes nothing away from Mary his mother but declares a truth so significant for us – “Still happier are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” When we hear the word of God and keep it, grace descends upon us. As it did with Mary when she submitted completely to the will of God for her.

Today you are confirming your acceptance of the word of God for you. And grace descends. Receive the grace which consecrates you.

It is also true that consecrated life is a grace for the Church. All of us here would say that you, as a joyful, vibrant, consecrated religious, are a grace for us, for the Church. As you affirm your desire to live the evangelical counsels we say ‘thank you’. We say ‘thank you’ because you inspire us; you encourage us; you call us forth in living the Christian life to the full.

Sr John Mary, may the grace of God be rich in you as you live your vocation as a consecrated religious in the Immaculata Community.

Drawing once again on St Paul I say: You “are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it”. (see Eph 2:10)

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Friday, August 14, 2020

Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Tags: Homilies