Maria, woman of Hope and Expectation

Dear friends of ADMA,

We have just completed the liturgical year and we are already immersed in this time of Advent which prepares us to welcome the mystery of God who becoming man, coming to earth not just to save us from what we are, but to be part of our life and our humanity, our joys as well as our sorrows.

It is a time of waiting for the coming of Jesus, the light of the world. We do not want to live distracted or caught up in the things of the world, nor sad or discouraged, but attentive to the things up there, with our eyes turned up to heaven looking for our Star. So, who is better than Mary to help us live this time well? Pope Francis during the Angelus prayer just a year ago invited us to live the Advent season just like Mary after the Angel's announcement.

Mary is the woman of expectation par excellence; her expectation is unconditional, beyond all human logic; it is a timeless expectation because it is, expecting God and his plan of love. But her waiting is also participatory, it is a waiting full of prayer, listening and discernment. Everything that happens to her, even if extraordinary, never happens without her consent. It is always her ‘yes’ that opens up her total trust in God on which the miracle of love of the Saviour’s birth is then based.

Mary is also a woman of hope because she opens herself up to God’s promise without any human certainty and waiting for the Spirit to work in her and show her the way step by step. Mary is a woman of hope because she allows herself to be transformed amidst difficulties, risks, and fears. As Pope Francis reminds us, “the Virgin does not stay at home paralysed by worries, mired in problems, she does not sink into self-pity or fear of misunderstandings or severe punishments, such as stoning, to which her unexpected pregnancy exposed her, but sets out to share with her cousin Elizabeth the joy she carried in her heart.”

Fare forward with hope, without agitation or anxiety, waiting for God who always takes the first step. This is Mary’s attitude, which we, ADMA associates, also want to imitate this Advent so that the waiting does not become sterile and passive, but fruitful and full of acts of love, knowing that “the first act of charity towards one’s neighbour is to offer him a serene and smiling face”, just like the face that Bartolomeo Garelli saw in Don Bosco on the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the oratory of the church of St. Francis of Assisi in Turin: a look full of affection and familiarity, which in the recital of a simple “Hail Mary” bridged every distance and allowed Jesus to be born once again in the heart of man.

Renato Valera, Presidente ADMA Primaria.

Alejandro Guevara, Animatore Spirituale ADMA Primaria