Archbishop Alexander K. Sample - "Behold Your Mother" (2019 St. John Bosco Conference)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I don't know where that guy is that you were just talking about it's uh it's an incredible joy for me to be here with all of you tonight really I mean that from the heart I know speakers always say that right we're happy to be here but I am really happy to be here with all of you tonight because as a bishop in the church these days which are not easy days in the church I get inspired by your faith by your witness it encourages me it gives me hope and on a bad day I'll be thinking about all of you I want to thank the organizers of this st. John Bosco conference for inviting me to speak and to be a part of this this is just a great work this conference but the whole work of catechesis and evangelization is such a great and vital and important work of the church in fact with all of these horrible distractions that the church is going to right now and the evil that the church has experienced it's a great distraction from what the church should really be doing evangelizing catechizing and I know the evil one has his hand in this to keep us off balance and off focus but we have got to stay on focus so that's why I'm so happy to be a part of a conference like this the title of my talk is you have seen is behold Your Mother and I've been asked to speak specifically about our lady our lady and her role in our lives and I think for the catechist and for all of those who are involved in any way in the church's mission of evangelization there is no better one to accompany us and inspire us than our holy mother I'd like to begin tonight by being personal and I don't share these personal things just you know because I have a big ego and want you all to know about me but for a purpose and I'll kind of come to that I want to share with you about my own relationship with our Blessed Mother Mary I have had a personal devotion to Mary since my earliest childhood and I can remember watching as a child the stories are in hearing about the stories of Our Lady of fátima Our Lady of Lourdes the great movie about Our Lady of Fatima the song of Bernadette Our Lady of Lourdes and now I've had the privilege of visiting both of those shrines Lourdes just for the first time this last February profound experience for me I am personally consecrated to our Blessed Mother when I began my seminary studies at the retreat center in my previous diocese in Upper Michigan the Diocese of Marquette and that very first I hadn't started yet it was a retreat before we began it was my first year I went out into the grounds of this of the retreat facility and there was a little grotto with the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and there I can still see myself sitting on that bench in front of that statue and I gave my vocation into the hands of Our Lady I gave it to her I didn't know why I was in for I was I was afraid really afraid they were gonna kick me out I just gave a tour and I just asked her to be the mother of my vocation I put it in her hands before I was ordained a priest during my retreat I consecrated my whole priest to to our lady I did that at the shrine at holy hill in Hubertus Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee the shrine here we go we got a holy hill fan Mary Help of Christians I knelt on the floor of the little chair and there working on at the time swords underneath all this scaffolding I could barely see the image on the wall up there they knelt on that floor and I gave my priesthood to Our Lady before I was consecrated a bishop in that same retreat center in Upper Michigan because I was becoming the bishop of Marquette I consecrated my Episcopal see into the hands of Our Lady and knowing how he's being sent to the Great Pacific Northwest before I left I gave that to her as well my whole vocation in priestly in Episcopal life is consecrated to her I'm so pleased to serve in an archdiocese that is under the patronage of our lady under her title of the Immaculate Conception the title of our Cathedral what a blessing for me and on June 28th 2014 I consecrated the entire Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady of Fatima and then the trouble began because the evil one does not like that the Dark Kingdom was not pleased but I'm protected we're all protected now III say that I'm sharing that personal devotion not to make a grande ice myself but in the hope that it might inspire some and I hope that your devotion and consecration to Our Lady would far surpass mine because I think you could do nothing better I was inspired also in my personal consecration to Our Lady by the great great Saint John Paul the second even though I have no name association with John Paul or Col I take him as my patron he inspired my priestly vocation all my years of priestly formation in my three years as a priest were under his pontificate I have a great devotion to him and part of that is learning from him his devotion to our Blessed Mother he had a great devotion her placing himself under her protection we remember right the day he was shot the anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima he was miraculously spared death because the bullet missed would would have been a fatal shot and missed by a very small fraction and he always said right one hand fired the bullet another hand guided it and I took great inspiration from him and I was inspired actually to consecrate the Archdiocese of Portland to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady of Fatima by Pope Francis's own consecration of the whole world to Our Lady of Fatima on October 13th 2013 have we forgotten that Pope Francis consecrated the whole world to our lady under her title the our Lady of fátima I think many of you might know going back to st. John Paul the second the story of that was a great part of the route of his own personal devotion his mother died as you know when he was a very small child I forgot it I think maybe was 9 I don't remember and after his mother's death his father took him to a shrine of our lady one of the important shrines in Poland to our Blessed Mother not chance to hahvah but a shrine to Our Lady an image of Our Lady in calvario which is near his hometown of his childhood home about of eetzi it's a Franciscan shrine calvaria Calvary beautiful outdoor Stations of the Cross it's an incredible place if you ever get a chance to visit it you must and there's an image of our lady there and he took little Carl before that image of Our Lady and he told that little boy that she will now be your mother and John Paul we know took that very much to heart he lived that fact he would visit that shrine at Cove Aria many many many times especially when he became Archbishop of Krakow used to go there and pray and ask for her guidance or protection now obviously that's very touching to think of that little boy and of course he took his motto right the great motto of the great saintly Saint John Paul the second was what poros tools Toto's tools i am totally yours he was referring to our lady because he had made the personal consecration to Our Lady and under the true devotion of st. Louis Marie de Montfort there's a line totus Tuus is just a part of the expression I am totally yours the fuller expression that won't bore you with reading at you in Latin but it translates I am totally yours and everything that is mine is yours Oh Virgin glorious and above all blessed place yourself as a seal upon my heart for your love is stronger than death Wow I pray that prayer at least once a day placing myself under her protection and I often pray I pray for myself I pray for my priests especially oh how I pray for my priests my beloved priests and I pray for all of the faithful entrusted to my care and I pray to Our Lady and I pray that our Holy Mother and I just had this image of our holy mother just unfolding all of them under her mantle of love and protection and drawing them close and deep into her Immaculate Heart and there is such a great comfort in consoling consolation to me to know our mothers love and protection so how do we live this consecration to Our Lady or if not formally consecrated to her in some way at least how do we live this relationship with our Holy Mother Mary a relationship by the way which is necessarily necessary we cannot leave Mary out of the picture we can't be a Catholic that says well you know I'm really into my Catholic faith but this Mary thing I'm just not real comfortable with it uh-uh we cannot leave our lady out she is a vital and necessary part of God's plan for our Redemption for our sanctification and ultimately for our glorification in the kingdom of heaven it's a necessary relationship and I would encourage any of you who struggle with that relationship to work at it to pray to Our Lady to ask her to reveal herself to you but I think it's pretty safe in this crowd most of you don't have too much trouble with that relationship so how do we live this well I just want to share and this is sort of the substance of what I want to share with you tonight what I find very helpful in living this relationship with our Blessed Mother is through the meditation on the mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary that directly involved Our Lady as I pray the rosary by the way my rosary here this is a great I love this combination I have a rosary that I got at Lord's blessed it Lord's right at the site of the apparition touched to the walls where the water weeps at the site of the apparition but I keep it in the case that I got at Fatima so I got both bases covered but I pray the rosary I meditate and I say what can I learn from Our Lady what can I learn by reflecting and meditating upon these moments in the life of Our Lady for my life as a Christian but also as a bishop and I just parentheses I encourage all of you to pray the rosary to pray it regularly to pray it daily and I will confess in my 29 years as a priest there have been times when I have struggled with integrating that devotion into my life on a very regular consistent basis but our Lady recently revealed to me just within the last year how important it is I didn't have an interlocution so don't it was very clear to me she was revealing this to me the rosary is a very powerful prayer very powerful a beautiful prayer in and of itself beautiful to pray and to meditate on the mysteries of our Lord's life in Our Lady but it's a very powerful prayer and anybody who is involved in deliverance ministry exorcism ministry will tell you the demons hate the Rosary so you want to keep him away just keep praying it so let's look at some of these mysteries that involve Our Lady specifically look at the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel comes to her what do we learn from this mystery of Our Lady well of course we learn her complete docility her complete obedience to God's will in her life she's completely available to God she doesn't hold anything back her yes her Fiat let it be done is such a powerful example for all of us of the docility I like that word docility to be generous docile open humble obedient to whatever God asks of us even when we don't understand what's going on what its gonna mean where it's gonna take us Holy Mother Mary didn't know she hadn't I'm sure know maybe some theologians Mary ology so could argue with me I don't think she had a clue that her Fiat would one day land her at the foot of the cross she didn't know where God was going to take her on this adventure but she said yes anyway because why because she trusted in God she trusted you know Oh Benedict the sixteenth and I say this to you my brother priests here he wrote in the book though I think was the light of the world it was an interview book with pope benedict xvi talking about his life in the early part of the book he reflects upon how he ended up doing everything he didn't want to do he never wanted to be the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith he wanted to be a professor a scholar a teacher a writer but he was called to service by the church by saint john paul ii and he certainly never wanted to be pope but there he there he was but he said in the book he said but you know that yes that a priest says on the day of his priestly ordination is a yes to everything else that follows I used to wander around my office sometimes and say I didn't sign on for this or all I ever wanted to do was say Mass but when I used to say I never signed on for this i exactly signed on for that when I said yes when any of you says yes to God it's a yes to everything that follows we just have that trust the visitation what do we learn from the mystery of the visitation I'm sure you have your own reflections on these mysteries I don't presume to think my insights are better than yours but what I learned from the visitation is Mary's incredible charity her incredible love how do we know this remember what she just found out she just found out she's going to give birth to the Son of God without the intervention of a human father by the power of the Holy Spirit and guess what she's gonna have to she's gonna have some explaining to do how is she gonna explain this to Joseph of course the angel took care of that her parents it's a small town she's got a lot on her plate as we say but when she learns that her cousin Elizabeth is already in her sixth month what does she do she runs she makes haste to go to her to care for her relative who's old and probably not having an easy time with his pregnancy so her instinct is to not worry about herself and her own predicament if you will to go in love and charity and care and mercy to another I think we can learn from that to accompany you know this is the big word now right accompaniment she goes to accompany Elizabeth during those months Spinal months of the pregnancy just to be there I think that's something we can learn when we when we're working with people young and old and catechizing and trying to evangelize and help them come into the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ sometimes it means just patiently accompanying them on that journey and being the instrument of the Lord also from this mystery I again we learn humility Mary's tremendous humility you know when she runs to Elizabeth right Elizabeth greets her you know and and Who am I that the mother of my lord should come to me for the moment your greeting reached my ears the child left in my womb for joy blessed is she who believed that God's Word would be fulfilled and that's pretty high praise what does Mary do oh yes aren't I wonderful No my soul glorifies the Lord my spirit rejoices in God my Savior she magnifies the Lord she reflects all of that praise just heaped on her to God humility remember when I say this to my seminarians in my priests all the time remember this is not about you and in all of our ministries and apostolates in the church it's not about us it's about getting glory to God so the service the humble service that we give in our work the Nativity of the Nativity how could it be anything but just simple wonder Mary in complete wonder wonder at the mystery of the Incarnation in her arms a moment of contemplation and I think we can learn from the Nativity to meditate upon the mystery as she gazed into the face of God in her infant child she must have meditated upon the presence of God on her lap in her arms at her breast beautiful contemplation that intimacy that intimacy that Mary had with Jesus doesn't get more intimate than that we should never cease to be in awe and wonder at the mystery of the Incarnation at the mystery of God's love for us at the Holy Mass I'm a priest 29 years and I still am in awe that in one moment words are spoken and what moment ago was bred in my hands is now the eternal son of God body blood soul and divinity we should never lose wonder at God's mystery of love poured out for us the presentation here we have the prediction of the passion don't we there's a lot of things I've got all kinds of meditations I do on the presentation but involving Our Lady this is where the passion is predicted this child is destined for the rise in the fall of many in Israel and a sword of sorrow will pierce your heart but the thoughts of many will be laid bare Simeon predicts Our Lady's role and her close association with her son in the great act of our redemption at the foot of the cross that's when her heart was pierced certainly right when the soldier thrust the Lance into the side into the heart of Jesus that passed through her heart and how often our hearts are pierced with sorrow for our loved ones for so many reasons death serious illness children family members grandchildren who drifted away from the church marital difficulties financial struggles drug addictions and other kinds of addictions sorrow pierces our heart many times for our loved ones but we unite and trust with Mary who stood at the foot of the cross trusting that even though this is a moment of great sorrow the light of the resurrection is not far off and we must never lose hope the presentation in the temple I mean the finding in the temple it's another moment of contemplation right Joseph and Mary are now beginning to see just who their son is he's growing up he's getting older he's getting smarter and he's beginning to embrace his own mission and identity as the son of God sent into the world for our salvation but we what do we see in Mary and Joseph still a firmness you know you may be the Son of God but you're our son too and you're coming home you know I I learned in that and Mary again I mean she's certainly in awe I'm sure she knows who this child of hers is but she also knows her role she knows what God has asked her to do and her role her job is not yet finished she's gonna form this child and so with firmness she and strength and fortitude she takes on that role say come home and we learned that Jesus went home and was obedient now god's plan has had that plan for Mary and raising her son and as he experienced all of the human condition growing up she formed him you know in his humanity and his humanity we have to imagine that Jesus took on many of the qualities and the traits of his parents did his laughs sound like Mary's laugh did his gestures and his way of walking for resemble how his father walked it was a lot that Jesus was formed in by his parents and they understood their role taking him home because God was not finished with their role in that yet the wedding feast at Cana oh there's a big one big one Jesus first sign now many of us would jump to the obvious right do whatever he tells you so there's our meditation okay Mary tells us to do whatever her son tells us to do fine we'll get to that but here's what I love like to think about Mary's compassion Mary's compassion she's the one who's noticed that they've run out of wine I mean doesn't see me anybody else is talking about it but she notices here she is at this big wedding feast everybody's having a grand time we're well into the feast now so you know there's been a little drinking everybody's just having a great time everybody's celebrating this couple everybody's getting caught up with each other I'm sure the the conversation and the activity was frenetic but in the midst of all of that Mary notices a need somebody's in need they've run out of wine this is going to be a terrible embarrassment these poor people and so she intercedes they have no more wine woman what is that to me my time is yet not yet come she intercedes think about that she knows your needs she sees them she sees them maybe more clearly than you do Mary as a mother is always looking at you and she notices just like she noticed it Kanan she notices our needs she notices this one is suffering from a grave illness she notices that this couple is struggling with their marriage she notices that this man has a horrible addiction she notices that this family has a severely handicapped child she notices all these things just like she did it Canaan and she intercedes for us with her son oh it's a cut such a comfort to me to know that she knows me she knows what I need she knows sometimes what I need is a real good kick in the rear she anticipates our needs and intercedes for us when Jesus says woman what is this to do with me my time has not yet come what does she do she doesn't try to convince him talk him into what she just says do whatever he tells you because he's going to do what I want him to do because I'm his mother and Jesus of course helps them powerful words do whatever he tells you we certainly can learn from that we must Mary Mary doesn't take the glory and honor to herself as we saw at the visitation it's always about doing what her son wants us to do with our life at the foot of the cross and the crucifixion behold your mother behold your mother what beautiful words to hear from the lips of our divine Savior giving to us his own mother as our mother Wow that has always meant so much to me we're there in Saint John the Beloved Disciple we're there and I think we're again for us priests there's a special bond here at this moment this moment is meant for all of us don't get me wrong but there's a special moment here for the priests because Saint John is one of the first priests he's an apostle he's a priest and our Lady is given to him by our Lord as his mother woman behold your son son behold Your Mother for a priest this is very intimate this is very very real she formed her priest son Jesus Christ as a man growing up but she's now gonna form John her other priests son she's gonna be his mother now she's gonna take care of him and he's gonna take her into his home as every priest should take her into his heart but this is for all of us though she is our mother Jesus gives her to us not just to John we're all there in John you think about it what allows the exchange Jesus is asking his mother to exchange him her beloved son the eternal son of God made flesh for us and yet the exchange is made and she is our mother think about this too I think this adds great importance to this scene I don't think it's just a tender little scene Jesus does this at the most important moment in his earthly life and ministry as he is about to hand over his life for our salvation for the salvation of the world at that most important moment that's the moment he chooses to give her to us as our mother I think we ought to pay attention to that and the importance of this moment then again the sword of sorrow pierces her heart Pentecost Pentecost the descent of the Holy Spirit there's some scriptural argumentation about whether Mary was there or not tradition says she was and there's a way to interpret the story in the Acts of the Apostles that she was there there she is the mother of the church in the midst of the church as the church is anointed by the outpouring and the fire of the Holy Spirit my favorite image of Pentecost in art is El Greco's representation if you're familiar with it el greco has a very unique style con the elongated body style his depiction of Pentecost is Mary is there front and center and the other apostles and others gathered are all gathered in one way or another around her as the tongues of fire come and anoint the infant church and set her on fire there is Mary at the heart of the church is the mother of the church Second Vatican Council we know presented her in strong terms as both as was said both model and mother she is the model for the Church of that perfect discipleship but she is the mother of the church Mater oklet's II know st. John Paul says ii had that beautiful icon grab a mosaic of our lady mother of the church placed there part of the Apostolic Palace overlooking st. Peter's Square Pope Francis has given us a new feast to honor Mary as Mother of the church she is the mother of each of us individually but she is the mother of the whole church the body the church and just just as she formed the body of Christ in her womb just as she formed and raised her son Jesus so she forms the body of Christ in the world today which is the church the mystical person of Christ in the world she forms us she mothers us but a great mother to have her assumption what do we learn from the Assumption well first it's a great honor for her I mean that earthly tabernacle that held the eternal son of God made man her womb being the first tabernacle that body which gave him his flesh that body which nursed him as an infant gave him nourishment and life God could not let that body undergo corruption and so he raised her body and soul to heaven so it is a great honor for her and we can celebrate that but it's also a sign of hope for us it's a sign of hope for us because what God granted to the mother of his son will one day be ours she gets to share already in what waits all of us who persevere and run the race to the end we too will be raised up body and soul and the great final resurrection and the general judgement when Christ comes again in glory and so Mary already body and soul in heaven already glorified in a glorified body in heaven with her son whose Humanity is there as well she stands as a sign and a reminder to us of what awaits us and what the real purpose and goal and meaning of our life is it's to be there with her with God forever and the angels and the Saints for all eternity so her her bodily assumption causes us all to raise our eyes and to have that heavenly perspective that supernatural perspective feet planted firmly in this world to do the work that God has given us to do but with our eyes fixed on heaven to orient our whole life and she helps us orient our life by waiting for us I'm convinced maybe for all but certainly for those who love her she's gonna be the one that welcomes us forget Saint Peter at the gates for those who love her I know she's just gonna gather us and she just I can see her smile and she's just gonna lead us to Jesus as a mother I'd like you to meet my son whom you have loved and served so well I hope to hear those words but this keeps our our life in perspective and unfocus finally her coronation queen and mother Queen of the Universe the woman clothed with the Sun with the moon under her feet in a crown of stars the woman of Revelation where she intercedes for us she is queen and mother she's forever intercedes for us and for all of our needs she's exalted she is higher than the Angels higher than the Angels and there as a mother as our queen crowned she intercedes for us remembering what I said earlier about our needs she presents them always to God my dear people I hope that these simple I mean I'm not a theologian so save that for speakers later I hope these reflections will help you especially as you pray and meditate upon the Holy Rosary to see the role of our holy mother Mary in your life as well she loves you so much she is our mother she is our model she is our intercessor the most powerful one and she is our inspiration I lost my mother about a year and a half ago I'm gonna try to get through this without you know what I lost my mother about a year and a half ago at the age of 89 and I learned I learned to know Mary and to love Mary through the teaching of my dear mother she taught me about Mary but she also taught me through her own motherhood about the love of a mother and Mary our mother for all of us in fact when she was dying I had the privilege of being at her bedside I was all alone with her in the middle of the night and I prayed the Rosary with her she was unconscious but we all know about that right hearings the last thing to go so I prayed the rosary with her and I just I just I laid the rosary across the back of her hand and as I prayed the rosary just let the beads of the rosary move across the back of her hand believing that she could feel that and I had such an overwhelming sense of the presence of our Holy Mother Mary in that moment and that all of what I've shared with you personally about my own devotion to her sort of came to almost to a climax in that moment God had prepared me Mary had prepared me for that moment a difficult moment as you can imagine but Mary had prepared me for that and was there to comfort me in that moment she's there for us my dear friends may we always trust her I'd like to conclude by praying a prayer that was very very dear to my own mother to whom I dedicate this talk and I think you know it so let's pray it together the memoir II remember almost gracious Virgin Mary that never wasn't known that anyone who fled to thy protection implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided inspired by this confidence I fly unto the Virgin of virgins my mother to the I come before the I stand sinful and sorrowful o mother of the word incarnate despise not my petitions but in thy mercy hear and answer me amen thank you and God bless you

Channel: Steubenville Conferences

Views: 2,900

Rating: 4.9175258 out of 5

Keywords: Steubenville Conferences, Catholic, Franciscan University, Catholic Ministry, New Evangelization, Youth

Id: PFvQ2SZfBuU

Length: 50min 20sec (3020 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 17 2019