A reflection on the Feast of Our Lady of Providence, Queen of the Home

(Note: Sister Rosemary Nudd offered this reflection on Saturday, Nov. 17, the Feast of Our Lady of Providence, Queen of the Home)

I suspect that I am not the only one this morning – the Feast of Our Lady of Providence, Queen of the Home – who is thrilled and grateful that the grants we have prepared for, applied for (four times) and prayed for have at last been awarded in our favor, and that “St. Mary’s Senior Housing” will be a reality and a blessing for our neighbors here in the Wabash Valley – and simultaneously for us.

And as Providence would have it, the gospel reading that we just heard can perhaps help us understand this marvelous reality, this generous blessing, a bit more.

We are told that “there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there,” and “Jesus and his disciples were also invited. …” When a domestic crisis surfaces, Mary mentions it to Jesus, and says to the servers: “Do whatever he tells you.”

What was the source of that calm command? How did she know what would happen?

We needn’t look far for answers: Mary’s bedrock of faith, her font of hope, her heart of love – in other words, her trust in God’s providential care – assure her, as she has assured us through the centuries, that Providence never fails. (“Do whatever he tells you,” after all, is simply an echo of “Be it done unto me according to your word.”)

At the story’s conclusion, the water has become wine and the domestic crisis is resolved. Mary had relief on God, through the hands of her beloved son Jesus, to provide what was needed, and so it was.

And what of us? As we, our Associates, and all our friends and supporters give joyful thanks for the resolution of our own domestic crisis (the fate of Owens Hall), how can we live out our trust in Providence as Mary did? These responses came to me, and perhaps they may have meaning for you as well.

We can believe that we shall be given what we need, when we need it, asking for the grace to avoid impatience with friends, peers, or those who may be strangers, in the grocery line or on the highway.

We can live in the hope that grace will carry us during any difficulty, and that God will guide us through the changes and choices of the future.

We can love our neighbors as ourselves, cherishing, protecting, and defending our fellow citizens in this “most distressful country,” the inhabitants of our hurting world, and all life on this beautiful and fragile planet Earth, our only home.

And we can pray, asking Mary our mother, our model, our companion along the way, to join our prayer and our trust in Providence with her own. And so we pray:

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Providence, Queen of the Home, pray for us – now, and at all the hours of our lives. Amen.”