“Doing the One Thing Necessary So as to Be Adorned with the True Jewels of Life”
Homily for Mass for Religious for the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
On the Occasion of the Closing of the Jubilee Year for the 200th Anniversary of the
Death of Mother Foundress Blessed Maria Maddalena of the Incarnation
November 29, 2024
Introduction
It is certainly a joy for us to come together to celebrate the closing of this Jubilee year to mark the 200th anniversary of death of Blessed Maria Maddalena of the Incarnation, the mother foundress of our beloved Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. We are actually literally just within a few hours of the exact moment of her holy death 200 years ago this day.
Lessons from the Life of Blessed Maria Maddalena of the Incarnation
It is good that we consider the life of Blessed Maria Magdalena of the Incarnation today, as she presents to us many examples to teach us the lesson that our Lord is trying to convey to us in our Mass today – the two pivotal moments in her life being visions she was privileged to receive from our Lord.
As I believe is well known, at the age of seventeen her father arranged for her to marry a maritime merchant and, although originally opposed to it, she later gave in to her father’s wishes. Her fiancé gifted her with a mound of jewels, and when she put them on and went to the mirror to admire herself so gloriously bedecked she did not see herself but rather the crucified Christ, who asked her: “Do you want to leave me for another?” Thus, the first vision that set her life on a different course.
As a response, she visited a convent of the Third Order of Saint Francis and, much to her father’s dismay, entered the convent almost as soon as she arrived. Her father, though, eventually relented and ended up posing no objection, seeing how convinced she was that this was God’s calling in her life. And then, four months after her entrance, she received her second vision. As the story goes, she fell into a state of ecstasy and, as she described it, saw “Jesus seated on a throne of grace in the Blessed Sacrament, surrounded by virgins adoring him.” She also heard Christ tell her: “I have chosen you to establish the work of perpetual adorers who, day and night, will offer me their humble adoration.” The work of founding what we now know as the Congregation of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration was her response to this gift our Lord gave her.
The Unum Necessarium
Blessed Maria Magdalena learned early in life the meaninglessness of worldly treasurers when they are pursued for their own sake. Yes, she did have to deal with worldly affairs in trying to establish her community and foster its growth, especially the canonical necessities of writing the rule for her community and getting it approved, as well as the political travails of trying to keep the community alive during its suppression at the time the Napoleonic occupation and then reviving it after Napoleon’s defeat.
But always uppermost in her mind and heart was the lesson we learn from Martha’s sister Mary in the Gospel reading we just heard proclaimed: “There is need of only one thing.” It is the one thing necessary, the unum necessarium, that was the driving force in Blessed Maria Maddalena’s life. Recall the scene: Mary sits at the Lord’s feet “listening to him speak.” This posture is indicative of an acknowledgment of authority: the disciple sits at the feet of the master to soak in his wisdom and teaching. This is the one truly necessary and important endeavor in life.
True Jewels
However, I want to speak a word in defense of Martha. I think she is too often blamed for being resentful or oblivious to our Lord’s presence in her house. I see it differently: she was expressing another way of love, although one which has its own risks of overlooking what is most important.
Certainly, attending to details of hospitality is a Christian virtue, indeed, virtue in any traditional culture. It is a true labor of love, and when done in love is a source of joy. The risk is being too focused on the details of hospitality and getting everything just right to the point of not being mentally present to one’s guest. And so, St. Luke tells us that Martha was “burdened with much serving.” The word for “burdened” here carries the sense of being distracted. And when our Lord lovingly responds to her, trying to assure her and comfort her, telling her that she is “anxious and worried about many things,” the sense here of being “anxious” is being caught up in entanglements of life in this world. The point is, laboring out of love is a great virtue, but should not remove our focus from what is most necessary.
I can think of my own experience, and probably many of you have experienced the same thing: you are a guest in someone’s home, and they are always up and moving about making sure your every little need is taken care of, and then you feel frustrated because all you want to do is just sit there and visit with them, but they are too consumed with every little detail to make sure you are well taken care of. The love is there, but even in this situation worldly concern distracts one from what is truly necessary.
Presence
It is a reminder that the greatest gift of all is the gift of presence, true, total presence. For Blessed Maria Maddalena her presence to her bridegroom is what brought her the true jewels in life: holiness. Her holiness was the jewels which bedecked her for her bridegroom, fulfilling the vision of the prophet Isaiah: “Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels.” The jewels of holiness.
This is wisdom beyond human standards, beyond even human capacities. It is a higher wisdom, divine wisdom, which is not given to those who are learned in a worldly way but rather, as St. Paul tells us, those who in the eyes of the world are lowly, despised and count for nothing. Humility is indeed the first step to this wisdom, the virtue cultivated by attention, presence, to the one thing necessary beyond anything else.
This is a pure gift from God, a gift which we are open to receiving when we so dispose ourselves. Our Lord gave Blessed Maria Maddalena the gift of revealing himself, to direct her to what he wanted her to do for his glory and the salvation of souls. Her response was her gift back to him: the establishment of communities of holy adorers of him in the Blessed Sacrament. It is a gift she gave back, though, to the whole Christ, that is, head and body: a gift of incalculable value to the whole Church and, in particular especially for us, to our Archdiocese.
Conclusion
In God’s timing, the occasion of the Mass of closing of the Jubilee year for the 200th anniversary of the death of Blessed Maria Maddalena of the Incarnation could not be more auspicious for us here in the United States: Thanksgiving weekend. This is, indeed, a day of great thanksgiving, and we thank you, dear sisters, for continuing the legacy of your holy mother foundress, especially in this time of Eucharistic revival, a time more than ever before in the history of the Church when we need to revive true Eucharistic faith among our Catholic people. The Eucharist is indeed at the heart of our Catholic faith and life; and so you, dear sisters, are at the heart of our life as the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Thank you for showing us where to find the true jewels in life, and for enkindling within us the desire to be bedecked with these jewels, that is, to live in a way that we can be receptive to God’s gift of holiness, and return the gift to Him by spreading His light and happiness to the world around us. May God bless you, and grant you increase in numbers and in grace, for His glory and the sanctification of His people. Amen.