DAILY MEDITATION (SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20)
MEDITATION OF THE DAY
Ave!
Ave!—Hello! This is a simple salutation, but from the moment the Archangel Gabriel used it, this greeting was sanctified inasmuch as it is associated with the sublime mystery of salvation, inasmuch as it awakened adoration, thanksgiving, and tenderness within Mary! Ave! This should be my salutation, addressed to everyone with Mary’s joy. Ave! This is an announcement of grace, reconciliation, renewal, and resurrection. Ave! This is a wish of divine benediction.
I was deeply impressed with the story of a holy priest who, for love of Mary, responded Ave every time someone knocked on his door. At the last moment of his life, at his request, everyone who had gathered around his bed began to sing the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” How many times a day during his life had he said, Ave? How many times, in the seventy years he lived, had his lips formed that word?
From the depths of my love, I want to offer you a crown, Lord, woven of the most beautiful Aves of my life, to make reparation for the Ave of Judas that served as a sign of his betrayal (Ave, Rabbi), and for the Ave of the Roman soldiers spoken in mockery (Ave, King of the Jews).
Venerable Francis Xavier Nguyên Văn Thuân
Cardinal Nguyên Văn Thuân († 2002) was imprisoned by the Vietnamese government for thirteen years. / From Prayers of Hope: Words of Courage, English edition. Copyright © 2012, Daughters of St. Paul/Pauline Books & Media, Boston, MA. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
