So Many New Things.

So much theology has focused on Mary from the time of Luke and the early Christians. The community came to realize and eventually articulated a number of dogmatic teachings about her: she was immaculately conceived, is the ever-virgin mother of God, and was assumed into heaven at the end of her earthly life.

We often think of these Marian and other dogmas as safe, immutable things: truths revealed by God and defined by the Church. Case closed. But there is a spiritual danger in clinging to our articulations of God’s truths only for the sake of security.

Luke’s account of the Visitation reveals a God who is active and surprising; a God who is doing new, unexpected, even impossible things, turning the world on its head. We know and revere Mary as the model disciple because she recognized and accepted the new things God was doing. New things are inherent to the dogmas of Christianity. And the dogmatic teachings about Mary show how newness itself becomes indoctrinated.

The things we cling to, the things that cannot change, the things that ground us and give us direction, these are the very things that turn the world on its head in the most unexpected ways. They are important, not because they make us feel grounded and safe, but because they explode our sense of control and our tendency to think we have all the answers.

If we can just hold on to that paradox, our knowledge of revealed truth will deepen. And more importantly, like Mary and Elizabeth, we can fearlessly participate in all the new things God is doing in our lives, our Church, and our world.

Sebastian Gomes. Taken from Give Us This Day.

Sebastian Gomes is a producer for Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation in Toronto: saltandlighttv.org. He wrote and produced the acclaimed documentaries The Francis Effect and its recently released sequel, The Francis Impact, as well as Magisterium of the People: The Story of the People’s Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia.