Litany of Loreto - Cause of our Joy

It was a Friday morning, I was late for my course, running down the stairs thinking of whether I had remembered to turn off the light in my room or not, and whether I had brought with me my books and locked the door. In the stairways I met one of the brethren. I do not know if he saw my stressed state of mind, but as I continued down the stairs with my cappa flying around his legs, he said ”may the Spirit be with you”. I started to smile as I couldn’t help thinking of Yoda, the little green man in the Star Wars films, always greeting his colleagues by saying ”may the force be with you”. Well. Yoda soon disappeared from my mind, but the words of my brother remained throughout the day. May the Spirit be with you! So much more than a wish to 'have a nice day'! I realized that the reality of being followed and upheld by God’s Holy Spirit reaches far beyond my limited thoughts. Our life is anchored in Him who holds the whole of the cosmos in his hands.

A few minutes after having received this early morning blessing, I sat around a table face to face with Anglicans, Baptists and Evangelicals, and Paul’s word of being living stones building each other up became so alive, so clear. Being united in the body of Christ, we are enjoying God’s own presence within us, as a fruit of Salvation given us in the Son. There is a Holy bond between all who have received the Lord, a bond throughout the world and across history, reaching all the way back to the first fruits of this salvation, Mary, who even before carrying the seed of God’s Messiah to the world, had been blessed and destined to bring forth the reason of our everlasting joy. It seems very simple: Jesus, our Lord, is our joy, Mary is the Mother of our Lord, and so Mary is 'cause of our joy'.