Lectionary 690A:

Rev 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab

Jdt 13:18bcde, 19

Luke 1:26-38

Possible preaching themes:

• God speaks to us through created signs (from the Book of Revelation)
• The free will of Mary that allowed her to say yes (from the Gospel)

Possible scientific resources:

• The Language of the Universe and the Stars
  • The importance of creation and creation myths across cultures
    • https://soar.suny.edu/handle/20.500.12648/3465
    • https://www.britannica.com/topic/creation-myth/Creation-by-world-parents
  • Astronomy reveals the vastness of God’s creation
    • https://www.space.com/17-amazing-hubble-discoveries.html
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i93Z7zljQ7I
  • All the forces of the Universe can be understood as Music
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6JFKgbAF4

• Formation of conscience and free will
  • Development of the moral self
    • https://www.simplypsychology.org/kohlberg.html
  • Development of free will
    • https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/theories-of-self-development/
    • https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/free-will-is-real/

Homily outline on option one: God talks to us through created signs

• God talks to people through different means
  • God often uses the created world to reveal his power and glory.
  • Many passages, especially from the Old Testament, confirm this
    • This is very true in the psalms, e.g., Ps 19:1 notes now the heavens declare the glory of God
    • In Exodus God separated the sea so that Moses and the children of Israel could escape from Pharaoh (Exod 14:21-22)
  • In the New Testament
    • God used a star to bring the Magi to the newborn Christ (Luke 2:1)
    • Jesus calms the waters in a storm, revealing his power over creation (Luke 8:22-25)
    • The Book of Revelation is particularly rich in cosmic images of God and Christ and the church.

• The sciences are unlocking many of the mysteries of the cosmos
  • Astronomy shows us the immensity of the universe that continues to expand
    • The Hubble telescope has opened our eyes to many new worlds https://www.space.com/17-amazing-hubble-discoveries.html
    • it has also revealed the existence of many previously unknown stars
  • String theory contends that the cosmos can be understood as a symphony of vibrating strings as subatomic particles that continuously vibrate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW6JFKgbAF4
    • physics can be understood as laws of harmony that you can write on vibrating strings
    • some even contend that the mind of God is cosmic music resonating through hyperspace
    • The Idea that the universe can be understood as music began over 2000 years ago with the Greek philosopher Pythagoras https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_russo_what_does_the_universe_sound_like_a_musical_tour?language=en

• Through the Guadalupe’s apparition, God talks to indigenous peoples of America. https://fsspx.news/es/news-events/news/nican-mopohua-relato-original-de-las-apariciones-de-nuestra-se%C3%B1ora-de-guadalupe –
  • The description of Juan Diego’s outer garment (or Tilma), reveals to the natives knew that he had received a special message from God.
  • That message was revealed through Stars, roses, and music.
  • The stars recall the passage from the Book of Revelation we read today: “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve starts” (Rev. 12, 1.)
    • The 46 starts in Juan Diego’s Tilma, coincide with the constellations appeared in 1531. https://denvercatholic.org/lady-guadalupe-numbers/
    • Thus, creation itself seems to confirm this divine revelation
  • Flowers in a hilltop of Tepeyac
    • The Blessed Virgin instructed Juan Diego to go to the top of the hill where she appeared and cut all the roses blooming there
    • He doubted that was possible because it was a rocky place that had practically no vegetation and it was December
  • Music: Juan Diego hear a beautiful music never heard before
    • Described as “different beautiful birds” singing.

• Our Lady of Guadalupe
  • is often understood through cultural lenses
    • g., her brown skin identified her with Indigenous people
    • the way her hands are place are culturally interpreted as a gesture of offering
    • the sash is a cultural image that she is with child
  • But what happens if we interpret her through cosmic lenses
    • She is not only a revelation for people of the Americas, but for the cosmos
    • She reveals God’s cosmic power and expansion through a seemingly fragile and marginalized young girl
    • She reveals that God’s cosmic power can break through in something as seemingly insignificant as a flower in the snow
    • And she reveals that the music of God’s voice is the very cosmic vibration that give all of us life
    • Mary is God’s own version of the Hubble Telescope, revealing the expansiveness of God’s universe of care for all, especially the marginalized

• Attending to God
  • God spoke through Mary at Tepeyac through specific cultural signs
  • But God also spoke to all humanity through cosmic signs
    • Stars
    • Flowers
    • Music
  • The revelation at Tepeyac is not confined those of Mexican heritage but is a gift to all humanity
    • We are still in aw of God’s cosmos and the cosmic revelations of God
  • if only we are attentive to God’s signs
    • Announcing that the presence of God is our midst
    • In the vastness of the cosmos
    • And in the fragility of a marginalized young woman or culture
    • That presence invites us also to change the face of the earth.