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Join us on this sixth day of the Novena to Our Lady of Good Help, Queen of Families, in praying for the Gift of Piety.
Gift of Piety
Prophets foretold that the Messiah would be born of a virgin and that He would come from the house of King David.
It was the Lord who chose Mary before her birth to be the bearer of His Son. He filled her with His grace from the moment of her conception in preparation for her role in salvation history. Choirs of angels and souls of the just awaited Mary’s Fiat. In the fullness of time, the angel Gabriel came to her with his divine invitation. Mary, in her humility and love of God, replied: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). The Holy Spirit overshadowed her, and the Word was made flesh. The new Adam, carried in the womb of the New Eve, would reverse the fall of our first parents, which implicated human flesh and soul alike.
Likewise, the Lord chose Joseph to be the foster father of His Son and protector of Mary. Scripture tells us he was a righteous man. Four times, Joseph trusted what the angel told him in a dream and promptly obeyed. His love of God overshadowed any fear or doubt he may have had in following God’s plan.
Mary and Joseph cooperated fully with the divine will, understanding that the child entrusted to them was the Messiah. Their son’s identity was confirmed by Elizabeth at the Visitation, by the shepherds and wise men at the Nativity, by Anna and Simeon at the Presentation, by the elders in the Temple, and by John the Baptist at the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan River.
Our Struggles Today
So many of us have forgotten our true identity as sons and daughters of God. Because we’ve strayed, we no longer know who God is. In our pride and desire for self-gratification, we see Him as a taskmaster or tyrant, rather than the loving Father he is. We turn away from God and search for love outside of Him. Without His guidance, we are easily deceived. We choose darkness but call it light (Is. 5:20) and perceive the deviant as ordinary. We find ourselves enslaved by addictions, harmful relationships and other situations that belie our true worth.
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