Day 3 – Save us from the prideful presumption of self-sufficiency
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:
[T]he Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:30-32)
From Pope Benedict XVI Urbi et Orbi Christmas Message 2011:
This is how Christ is invoked in an ancient liturgical antiphon: “O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, hope and salvation of the peoples: come to save us, O Lord our God”. Veni ad salvandum nos! Come to save us! This is the cry raised by men and women in every age, who sense that by themselves they cannot prevail over difficulties and dangers. They need to put their hands in a greater and stronger hand, a hand which reaches out to them from on high. Dear brothers and sisters, this hand is Christ, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary. He is the hand that God extends to humanity, to draw us out of the mire of sin and to set us firmly on rock, the secure rock of his Truth and his Love (cf. Ps 40:2).
This is the meaning of the Child’s name, the name which, by God’s will, Mary and Joseph gave him: he is named Jesus, which means “Saviour” (cf. Mt 1:21; Lk 1:31). He was sent by God the Father to save us above all from the evil deeply rooted in man and in history: the evil of separation from God, the prideful presumption of being self-sufficient, of trying to compete with God and to take his place, to decide what is good and evil, to be the master of life and death (cf. Gen 3:1-7). This is the great evil, the great sin, from which we human beings cannot save ourselves unless we rely on God’s help, unless we cry out to him: “Veni ad salvandum nos! – Come to save us!”
Reflection:
God does not answer prayers that cause us to need Him less. He is trying to save us from being alone and from needing no one. Generally when we go to an earthly physician, we hope that it will work well enough that we never need to see him again. This is not the approach of the Divine Physician—He seeks to treat us so that we never try to go without Him again, because He Himself is the cure. Let us reflect on the ways we try to use God in order to need God less.
A baby in the womb is so radically dependent on his/her mother, but never better off by being outside of the womb. Even if a baby must be born prematurely, the doctors care for it best by creating a womb-like environment as much as possible. But a baby with a perfect, loving mother cannot find a better place to grow in love and life than in the womb. This is true for us with Mary as well, until we are ready to be born into Eternal Life (which is a new kind of womb where God is in us and we are in God).
Veni Sancte Spiritus
Ave Maris Stella or Sub Tuum Praesidium
Litany of Penance or Radiating Christ
Prayer of Entrustment to the Womb of Mary
How like Peter I am in that the Lord captured my heart and moves me so to want to give my life to save him from suffering upon the cross! And how I want to save others from their crosses! But, like Peter, I must be reminded – sometimes even quite starkly rebuked – that it is Christ who saves. I am no savior. In fact, it is I who must submit, surrender to the love which he has poured out to me – not just to others – but to me, too – to transfigure and redeem my heart. I cannot save anyone, let alone myself. But by submitting wholly to His love and all that this entails, I can indeed become a portal through which his saving grace might pour out to others.
Oh Lord Help me to entrust myself once again to Mary’s care, to be nestled close to her heart, so that I might allow her to make me a little Christ, according to your loving will and not, Lord, according to mine.