I WAS in awe of the beauty of the liturgies and the devotion of our parishioners during the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe last Thursday. I marveled at the piety of the people who came to church, the zeal of the organizers, and the profound words spoken about the feast. Like an earnest parishioner who would tell me of her experience of God’s palpable presence in the Church, I too felt it strongly on this Marian feast.
I felt God’s presence in the smiles and tears of the people as they prayed and sang before the image of the Virgin. I felt his presence in the innocent gazes of the children dressed as Juan Diego, in the piousness of old women kneeling in prayer, clasping their rosaries with utmost admiration for Mary and belief in her intercession. I even felt it in the participation and zealousness of Hispanic men with their machismo tamed by the tenderness of a mother, La Virgen de Guadalupe.
I felt God’s presence too during our extended celebration in the church patio as we shared cups of champurrado, atole, and pozole, and loaves of pan dulce. People smiled and rejoiced not because of a mere social event but because of a deep encounter wIth the living God.
One must have a keen eye for grace to observe religious events like this feast, and an attentive heart that knows how to listen to the voice of God. A person who does this grows In faith and in greater conviction of the power of God in our lives.
This is the season of Advent. It is a verb more than a noun, an act and an attitude of attentiveness to the graces of God flowing out of our liturgies and celebrations. It is a humble surrender of one’s self to the mysterious power of God in our lives and an invocation of his presence even in the ordinary and mundane experiences.
Advent is putting on the garment of readiness of John the Baptist, telling people that “someone greater than I” is coming, pointing to others the Promised Messiah, the Son of God who came to show “the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God”, to “strengthen the hands that are feeble” and “make firm the knees that are weak”, to “open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.” Advent is seeing that all these marvelous things are also happening in the present time.
Indeed, we need to name the graces sprouting out of lives, to tell people that God is close to our hearts despite any tragedy or crisis. By doing this we bring hope in people and we inspire them to keep living meaningful and joyful lives.
May these Advent and Christmas seasons awaken us to the graces of God in our midst! Amen.
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Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas attended St. John Seminary in Camarillo, California and earned his Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri. For twenty years, he has been in the parish ministry of large multi-cultural communities. Since 2002, he has been the pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Angeles. Please email Fr. Rodel at [email protected].
