Experiencing the Impossible
Lk. 1:39-45
«Faced with the angel’s announcement, Mary welcomed the improbable, the unforeseen, the impossible, because, after all, life is nothing but waiting without an object» (Simone Weil).
In order for there to be an event, in order for the other–the surprising–to reveal itself for what it is, one must experience the impossible. Without its impact, there would be no vision of new things but only the same old thing, repetition.
So Mary, having just experienced the impossible, «got up and went in haste» to visit a woman in need of help.
The motivating factor for «getting up» will always be a driving force, an energy, that we all bear within ourselves but that risks remaining dormant if we do not remain open to the action of Another, recognized in His total «otherness.» It is important to experience the divine within us, to be receptive to His action, to silently allow ourselves to be imbued with Him. Only then will our very flesh be a manifestation of God–this is the mystery of the Incarnation–and only then will we be able to rise up from our paralysis and go forth in order to finally begin to take care of someone else.
Mary, moved by an experience lived in the flesh, seeks out Elizabeth, who had always been sterile, but who had also experienced the impossible.
We are made to bloom. A sterile life, unable to bear fruit and give it color and fragrance, is a dead life.
of the water that makes us fruitful,
of the fire that kin-dles our dormant energies,
of the air that revitalizes our breathing,
and of the soil that enables new life to sprout.
Warmest best wishes to everyone!
Taken from the Homilies of Fr. Paolo Scquizzato
