The Glory of the Virgin was all within--- and J.O.B.

For a long time, I have wondered and been at a loss to understand why the Evangelists should have spoken at such length about John the Baptist and the Apostles, and yet told us so little about the Virgin Mary, who in life and distinction excels them all. Being at a loss, I say, to understand this that I think it pleased the Holy Spirit that it should be so. It was by providence of the Holy Spirit that the Evangelists kept silent, because the glory of the Virgin , as we read in the Psalms, was all within, and could be more truly thought of than described. The most important fact of her life, that Jesus was born to her, is enough to tell her whole story. What more do you want to know? What further inquiry would you make concerning the Virgin? It is enough for you that she is the Mother of God. What beauty, I ask you, what virtue, what perfection, what grace, what glory does not befit the Mother of God?

--Thomas of Villanova, O.S.A.

I've been meditating on that quote for some time now, whilst trying to determine how "involved" I should get in a Marian thread in Ravelry. The thing that makes me pause is that though I HAVE the answers, biblically, apologetically, as to why the Blessed Mother is a good friend to have... (I had to find them for myself, when I was returning to the Church, because as I have said before one can be a perfect, five star Catholic and NOT have a relationship with the Blessed Mother-- but since so many of the Saints had such a strong one, I had to examine if there was something there for me.) So I have the answers. I can spit out bible verses left and right that demonstrate why Catholics honor Mary above all the Saints. But what happens in these threads, so many times, is that people comepletely shut down, and that instead of talking TO each other, we end up talking AT each other, something like this:

A: Mary was NOT the mother of God, she was the mother of Christ

B: But Christ was FULLY GOD and fully man, right? That's why the church fathers wanted to make sure that everyone knew she WAS theotokos-- Godbearer, and not Christotokos-- Christ Bearer.

C. But I already have a Savior.

D. And that Savior is JEsus, who was also Mary's Savior.

and on and on it goes.... because we have a set number of prepared responses to the Mary doctrine, no matter where we are coming from, and we aren't interested in hearing it. I know I wasn't-- I had to practically peel myself away from an R&P discussion the "Queen of Heaven," for weeks on end, only to find that, two years later, I had to go in there and publically repent because I MET the Blessed Mother, and everything after that faded away. It's very similar to your experience of meeting Jesus--- you fight it, and then one day you go: "OH MY GOSH! You are REAL!!!"

All this to say that I think Villanova's quote, above, is one of the greatest. The incredible humility of our God, that He would come to us as a baby and be vulnerable-- is absolutely amazing. He does the same thing for us in the Eucharist-- makes Himself silent and doesn't scare us or overwhelm us with the amazing glory of His presence. He is here with us: a baby, a piece of bread and a cup of wine, but he is totally HERE, and more than that, He graces us with what we need to deal with that. Mary had learned how to recieve from God. Oh that we would learn to do the same!

I didn't want to blog about this until we were 100 percent certain because if I let myself get excited again, I would completely lose it if it turned out not to be true! Wayne has a job--- a JOB! (I could literally bounce off the walls now!)

On the feast day of St Monica, whose life, as I've often blogged, reminds us to persevere in prayer, I was convinced that we would hear from PWC about Wayne's job. And we did. When the phone rang, I was already inwardly jumping up and down out of sheer excitement that he had gotten the job only-- surprise! He didn't, as you know. But, I was determined to take a lesson from the prayerful saint and just wait, and persevere.

THe next day was the feast day of her son, St Augustine, who as you should know is the fruit of perseverance in prayer. How perfect, I thought as I woke up that morning, that Wayne would get a job today! (haha)

I waited all day for the phone to ring and some magic person to call and say.... Just kidding! We've hired you at any number of these wonderful places you would like to work and we'd like you to choose from all these benefits and payscales! Alright?

But no, nothing. All day. In the evening, feeling defeated, I called Fr Tony for a chat. And he could only offer his prayers, but at that point, that's all I wanted.

Suddenly, the phone rang with a job lead. Wayne called. AND---- OmG----- it was a yes! And now, last night, we recieved confirmation that he begins on Tuesday morning at 8 am!!!! THANK YOU JESUS!

So in the end, he did get a job on the Feast of St Augustine, as I had hoped, reminding me of the fruit of faithful prayer and turning to God for everything, even when ALL HOPE SEEMS GONE.

The job is for a company that does electrical work, and mostly out of state. He will be gone most weeks from Monday through Friday, and home on the weekends (how's that for difficult, my deployment-fearing friends?? :P)

It pays well (more than we had dreamed!) and so we will be able to start building up our savings, off food stamps soon (if we can!) and just generally start contributing back to society which we are really excited about. And it's a job- a blessed job--- that will, hopefully, make him feel alive again. Thank you for your prayers.