This week, we went "off lectionary" and celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, some-time known as Our Lady of Victory. I pondered really hard as to what I was going to say about those two feasts. I realize that devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and praying the Rosary are a stretch for many Episcopalians and Anglicans--I suspect for Lutherans, too! And I feel you. It has been a stretch and a journey for me, as well. I've not always been a devotee of the Blessed Virgin. Growing up as a Baptist, Mary's name came up essentially only once a year at Christmas, and that was pretty much the extent of it. I had never heard the words of the Magnificat, and there was nothing remotely close to the Rosary in our prayer life. But I started encountering Mary more once I became an Episcopalian, and two things helped me in my devotion to her.

First, Mary received a call from God through the archangel Gabriel to conceive and bear the incarnation of God in the world and she accepted that call, despite the disruption to her young life of having a baby and all kinds of risks to her status, livelihood, and even her health, she said, "Yes," and became the portal through which God entered the human experience so that we could encounter God face-to-face and learn how to become more like the image of God. For me, I am drawn to Our Lady because she was human just like you and I, and in my own journey in trying to follow God's call at various points in my life, I have been encouraged that whatever God asks me to do, I won't be alone, God will be beside me. Though I am a frail, limited human being, I will be able to do extraordinary things through God who strengthens me. I can say, "Yes" to him, no matter how inconvenient it may seem or how daunting a task, because it pales in comparison to what Mary was asked to do.

Second, I now understand that Mary always points us toward Jesus. She did it when she bore him in her womb; she did it when she presented him to Simeon in the Temple; she did it when she asked him to turn water into wine at the Wedding at Cana; and, she did it while weeping at the foot of the Cross. The Rosary is one of the ways that we can focus on the powerful transformation that Christ offers to us by reflecting on his life and how he makes ours more perfect. Why the Rosary? I read this explanation on a Franciscan website:

Praying the rosary gives us a chance to slow down, to quiet down, to take a break from the trappings of day-to-day life. I encourage everyone to try it, if you've never done it. I encourage you and invite you to come on the First Thursday of every month to pray the Rosary with our cell of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Finally, I can't imagine a better time for us to be celebrating the Feasts of Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Victory. I spent half of this past week cloistered in the beautiful space of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square while I attended a priests conference. There was much time for prayer and devotion, as well as some good lectures and fellowship with colleagues. I didn't spend much time reading the news this week, but our nation and our world are pretty messed up right now. There is much angst about who's in power, who's getting appointed to important positions, whose rights are being abused and disregarded, who's being sexually harassed or abused. It seems the wrong people are winning and the city, the nation, and the world are going to implode. It may not even be that remote. There's messed up stuff going on in our homes; there's messed up stuff happening on our jobs; there's messed up stuff happening in our churches. There's messed up stuff everywhere.

But, the words of our Blessed Mother Mary in the Magnificat that comes right after today's Gospel reading remind us that God shows strength with his arm. He scatters the proud in their conceit. He lifts up those whose voices go unheard and brings down the proud and haughty and those who are boastful. He feeds those who are hungry--whether it's for food, or love, or respect--and leaves those who try to take all those things away from us yearning for happiness. He will always remember the mercy he has promised to his people. The things that deeply disturb us in our messed up world will not last. Just as God gave victory to a Spanish fleet and Christian coalition forces on October 7, 1571, God will give victory today. It may or may not happen in the time frame that we think it should be; it will happen in the time that God knows it must be.

Thanks be to God for our ever--Blessed Virgin Mother Mary, for she points to her Son who gives us a vision of God. Thanks be to God for the Rosary and the many other ways that we can bring ourselves into closer understanding and relationship with God. Thanks be to God for the victories that he has given each of us in our lives. And, thanks be go God for the words of the Magnificat, for they remind us that all will be well.