My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, a few days ago we heard about how the wife of Manoah had dedicated their son to God, Samson, in the same period which we know to be that time around which the judges ruled in Israel, from twelve hundred to one thousand and twenty before Christ. During this time, we also see the birth of he who would later on be the third prophet of the people of Israel, Samuel.
Interestingly, Samuel is offered up by his mother, Hannah, and Hannah yet again, like Manoah’s wife, like Elizabeth in the New Testament, the cousin of Our Blessed Mother, is also barren. So one of the things that strikes me about these readings is how beautiful and inspirational this is for those of you who are out there who have been having problems and troubles conceiving a child. Look at all these instances where God is showing that nothing is impossible for Him, and all we can do is just keep on praying, keep on trusting, and just give it to the Lord.
Now Hannah is barren, and in today’s reading we see that she goes to Eli in a place called Shiloh, a piece of land in which the sanctuary for worship was located. It was the central place of worship, and it housed the Ark of the Covenant, and this was all before Jerusalem became the religious capital. So for about three hundred years, this is where the people of God would worship, and they would go to the Ark of the Covenant.
What does the word consecration mean? The word consecration comes from the Latin origin, the Latin verb consecrare, which is composed of con, which means together, completely, and sacra, to make sacred, to set apart for God—to make something holy, sacred, to set it apart entirely for divine use. And in the biblical sense, we see that this setting apart is for the service of God and as a dedication to Him, so that one would be totally united to Him and no other.
And we know that Our Blessed Mother had made such a vow to remain totally God’s, consecrated to Him. In fact, this is what Saint Anne and Saint Joachim intended when they said in response to the angel who appeared to them and told them that they would have a child, and that the child would be spoken of throughout the entire world. And they said that if this came about, they would consecrate and dedicate this child to God. And Our Blessed Mother, of her own accord, chooses this life of total consecration to God, even before and notwithstanding the fact that she is betrothed to Joseph later on, whom she sees as a protector of her virtue, of her dignity, of her sanctity, he who himself was a righteous man.
But here Hannah is consecrating Samuel to God. She goes to Shiloh, and she goes to Eli, who represents the priesthood at Shiloh, and she says to him, “I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request” (1 Sm 1:27). And then Hannah declares that Samuel is, and I quote, “given to the Lord for life” (1 Sm 1:28).
My brothers and sisters, to consecrate, to set something apart for divine use. We have cups, but then we set some cups apart to be chalices
for use only on the altar of God, to contain what we partake in so marvellously and uniquely as the privileged people of the New Covenant. We are not here offering a bull or a ram, but we are blessed not only to offer, but to receive within us the precious Blood of the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world.
Jesus, Who at the Last Supper gave us His Body and His Blood to consume. So we set apart chalices. We set apart tables. We have a dinner table, but then we have tables that are for the service of the Lord. We call them an altar. There are buildings—the homes we live in, the cottages we go to in the summer, the gyms we go to work out at—but then there are those buildings dedicated to God: churches, the Catholic Church where we go to pray to God, but not only that. Like the spiritual centre at Shiloh, to be close to the Ark of the Covenant.
Every tabernacle in every Catholic Church is far more precious than that Ark of the Covenant to which the Old Testament people approached so as to get closer to God. Why? Because in our tabernacles Jesus is present, whole and entire—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
In the Gospel today, we see that Our Blessed Mother, who, like I said, herself was consecrated to God. Because there are not only cups and buildings and tables that are dedicated to God, but there are also people—people from among the Catholic faithful. God calls certain individuals to become consecrated individuals, in other words, set apart for His service. Which is why celibacy is so precious.
When you hear an attack on celibacy in the Catholic Church, saying that priests should be married and nuns should get married, that has it all wrong. If we were married, I can tell you I would not be able to do half the work that I do. Because, as Saint Paul says in his writings, the married man has to think of the things of his wife and how to fend for his family, and he is divided between that responsibility and serving God. The unmarried man, on the other hand, can give himself totally to the service of God and His people.
So, my brothers and sisters, this is what Our Blessed Mother did. She gave herself totally, wholly, and entirely to God, and she becomes the fulfilment of and the New Testament Ark of the Covenant. And we’re told at the end of today’s Gospel, after the beautiful Magnificat, that “she stayed with Elizabeth for about three months” (Lk 1:56).
That is a pretty interesting detail that Luke gives us there. And why does he give us that detail? Because in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, while it was being transported to Jerusalem, one of the stopovers was the household of a man named Obed-edom, and they kept the Ark within that household for three months and a
little. And because that Ark of the Covenant was in that house of Obed-edom, God’s blessings came down like showers from heaven and blessed that household of Obed-edom (cf. 2 Sm 6:11).
Whoever nourishes, cultivates, and promotes a devotion to Our Blessed Mother in their house will receive blessings upon blessings. And this is what happened with Elizabeth. She received blessings upon blessings. Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.
She is in your home to love, to guide, and to watch over your family, because she loves you.
And may Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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