Micah 5:1-4; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-44
In the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of our
Lady, the second mystery is the Flight into Egypt. In this mystery Joseph
reveals to Mary the words of the angel who spoke to him in a dream: they are to
wake up quickly and flee to Egypt because Herod wants to kill
Jesus. We are told: the Blessed Virgin hardly had time to decide what
to take or leave behind; she took her Child and left everything else, rushing
outside before Joseph so that they could hurry as God wished.
…as God wished. What did God wish? They were to wake up quickly and flee.
We see this strange urgency everywhere is Scripture. It seems that to obey God, to do his will, to do good – is to hurry.
In Matthew 28:7, for example, the angel tells the women: then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has risen from the dead." And the women? - filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.
What's the hurry?
In John 11:28-31 when Mary is told: The Master is here and wants to see you. She got up quickly and went to him and when the Jews: saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed…
When Jesus calls we answer, and we should do so quickly.
When the angels announced the birth of the Christ Child to the shepherds (John 2) we are told: they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby…
When the master had prepared the wedding feast and the invited guests would not come he commanded his servants: Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.
So let me repeat - it seems that to obey God, to do his will, to do good – is to hurry.
When the people worshipped the golden calf God said to Moses: Leave this place, go down quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have broken faith.
But how about this? When the Temple had been destroyed King Joash decided to rebuild it, so: calling the priests and the Levites together, he said, 'Go out to the towns of Judah, and collect enough money from all the Israelites to make possible annual repairs to the Temple of Yahweh. Do this quickly.' But the Levites were in no hurry.. (2 Chronicles 24:5).
Well, it's no surprise what happened to those half-hearted men. A year later the Aramaean army made war on Joash. They … executed all the officials among the people…
So let's look at today's Gospel again. Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
And I guess here is the key to the question 'Why hurry?' It seems that 'hurrying' is a sign of 'faith'. Those who hurry, believe, and those who don't believe, don't hurry.
Let us apply this to our own lives. Do we hurry to Mass to be there on time? Do we hurry to Confession after grave sin? Do we hurry to make room in our lives for prayer? Do we hurry to attend to the needs of our neighbour?
Let me finish with something about which I have been reading lately. It comes from the book on the approved apparitions of our Lady of Kibeho in Rwanda. Our Lady showed the children a vision of rivers of blood, bodies in huge piles, hacked to death, churches burned full of screaming people. This was twelve years before all these things happened. Our Lady warned the people through these children that they must purge their hearts of all hatred. That they must learn to love their neighbour; confess their sins and pray the Rosary for peace. That they should learn to pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of our Lady.
Many people were unmoved, despite obvious signs of the presence of our Lady which prompted the visionary to say: “Mother, you should speak to the people yourself, for we are not wise enough to deliver your messages. When we tell folks what you ask us to say to them, they call us crazy— they say we’ve gone mad,” Alphonsine went on.
Then she said: “Yes, I will continue to tell them. You want me to ask them three times: What are they waiting for? What are they waiting for? What are they waiting for?
