🔴 HOMILY delivered by Manila ♝Cardinal Jose F. Advincula, DD, during the Noon Mass at the ●Manila Cathedral celebrating ⛨“Blessed Takayama Ukon Day” (Dec. 21, 2023) in Manila.

His Eminence Thomas Aquinas Manyo Cardinal Maeda, Archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu; Msgr. Rolando dela Cruz, our cathedral rector; brother priests and assisting deacons; men and women religious; dear pilgrims from Japan; brothers and sisters in Christ:

In the past few days, we have been reflecting on the events that transpired before the first Christmas. We realize that the Christmas story is an aggregate of smaller advent stories, the characters of which impart to us some lessons for our own preparations for the coming of Jesus.

Today, we hear about the second joyful mystery, the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth. We are told that Mary travelled in haste, from Nazareth to Ein Karem (about a hundred mile journey), in order to aid her elderly cousin in her delicate pregnancy. This she did while being pregnant herself, imaginably bearing as well the other concerns raised her mysterious pregnancy. She stayed in the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth for three months, ministering to her cousin in the last trimester of her pregnancy and helping out in the house of the still speechless Zechariah. What do we learn from our mother Mary so that we may also experience the joy that Christ brings?

Firstly, we see in display Mary’s perfect discipleship of her Son. If we appreciated her total availability to God in the annunciation, we now witness her total availability to neighbor in the visitation. In this scene, and in many others, she bears both the vertical and horizontal beams of the cross, the two greatest commandments. Our mother teaches us that a fiat to God necessarily implies a fiat to neighbor. When God is in you, you are by default oriented toward others.

Mary’s holiness was therefore integral. She wholly gave herself to God and neighbor. No wonder she was raised body and soul, integrally, into heaven. As God gave the divine name I AM in the Old Testament, that can be interpreted as I AM WHO AM HERE FOR YOU; and as Jesus was referred to as Emmanuel, God-with-us; Mary has been and will always be there for and with us. We do not only come to Mary to ask for her help and intercession. She comes to us first, in haste, to watch over us with motherly concern. As children of Mary, let us also not delay in responding to the call of God and our needy brothers and sisters.

Secondly, in this pericope, we find Mary acting as the first ever evangelizer. She carries in her womb the good news that is Jesus himself and shares it with others. As a result, Elizabeth exclaims words of blessing, John the Baptist leaps for joy in his mother’s womb, and Zechariah would later be able to proclaim the Benedictus. Our mother teaches us that it is important to bear the Word of God and share it with others. It is essential to account for God’s marvelous works in our lives and confidently testify about them in the public sphere.

In so doing, we give joy, hope, and consolation to our brothers and sisters. Moreover, we also encourage them to discern and unravel the presence and blessings of God in their lives as well. As children of Mary, may we find faith communities that nurture and deepen the life of Christ in us through the sharing of the euangélion or good news. Bearing Jesus in one’s life causes womb leaping joy and a Magnificat song for God.

Finally, through the words of Elizabeth, Mary is praised not only for being the biological mother of Jesus, but also for her faith: “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”. In two other instances in the gospel of Luke, the same is affirmed. In Luke 8:19-21, about the true family of Jesus, Jesus does not disown Mary as his mother. Rather, he effectively qualifies her to be part of his true family because she hears the word of God and acts on it. In Luke 11:27-28, on the way to calvary, Jesus does not reject the woman’s blessing for the womb that bore him and the breasts that nursed him. He accepts that, but again qualifies that: “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it”, a blessedness that applies to Mary once again.

Our mother teaches us that it is not enough to be part of Jesus’ family as baptized Christians. We need to live out our Christian faith in the concrete. Lip service is not enough; mere listening to God’s word does not suffice; we need to act on it, even to the point of the cross. While we do not share in the unique privilege of being biologically related to Jesus, we can share in the blessing of being part of his true family by imitating our mother Mary who remained faith-full even through her seven sorrows and more.

In sum, in order to experience the joy of Christ in our lives, our mother Mary encourages us to carry the cross of love of God and neighbor, to share his good news to others, and to listen to the word of God and fulfill it.

Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon was a daimyo and samurai who lived in Japan in the 1500s. While baptized as a Christian at the age of 11, he took his faith seriously in his early 20s. He then became a fervent evangelizer, leading to thousands of conversions to the faith. Fr. Johannes Laures, SJ describes: “He preached the Gospel better than any of the missionaries. His amiable and attractive personality and, more striking, his blameless life, attracted numerous souls to the fold of the Good Shepherd”[1]. During the persecution of Catholic Christians in Japan, he gave up his fiefdom, riches, and possessions instead of renouncing his faith. In 1614, with about 300 others, he was expelled from Japan on account of his faith and journeyed to Manila.

Like Mary, Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon visited our country. Though his sojourn here was just less than two months, before he died in 1615, his witness of faith and his holy body have blessed our land.

Like Mary, he shared the good news to us and he fulfilled the word of God even to the point of poverty, exile, and martyrdom.

Like Elizabeth, we rejoice greatly at the gift of faith in Christ that he carried with him.

Like Blessed Justo, may we be bearers of Christ to everyone we meet and every place we visit. Amen.

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