By Bp. Walter Guillén, SDB
Bishop of Gracias, Honduras

       Gracias, Honduras, 19 May 2021 -- The feet of Mary Help of Christians are the feet of a missionary evangeliser. The Scripture says: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the Good News” (Rm 10,15). Mary is the woman of the Good News; she is the one who gave her life for the Gospel. She is the one who has given life to the one who gives life and will say one day: ‘I am the life’. She is the one who taught how to walk the path of ordinary daily life, the one who will one day say: ‘I am the way’.

       With her wisdom and tenderness, she will also instil in the heart of the Son, love for humankind, the sense of charity, concern for the good of others, and Mary did not improvise this attitude.

       Mary's feet were always swift; she sprang up with a joyful and generous heart to run to help her relative Elizabeth. Elizabeth had conceived, she was old. Mary also carried the Saviour in her womb, she too was pregnant but at this moment she was not concerned of herself. At this moment Mary did not seem to realise the greatness of this supernatural condition with which she now participates in the history of humankind with a totally unique title of ‘Mother of the Messiah’.

       Without thinking of herself, Mary ran in haste to help those who are in real need of help and of a sign of love and assistance. Mary is an evangeliser, a witness of love, whose feet are ready and are free to go in haste to bring truth, love and charity.

       Mary is, therefore, the Helper, the one who spontaneously lends herself to serve and help. With her generous feet she walked with steady steps and she managed to overcome the difficult road between Nazareth and Ain Karin. The love that springs from her, that love which is the fire of charity becomes a sacramental sign of the presence of God. God’s presence is so real because God is in her womb as fruit of her womb. The child that Elizabeth carried in her womb also recognised the greatness of Mary and the divinity of her child. And so both women, Elizabeth who represented the Old Testament, and Mary, the sign of the New Testament, both embraced and greeted each other as expressions of their love and closeness.

       That is why the beautiful feet of Mary Help of Christians, those feet now glorified in heaven, also experienced the stones and thorns on the road, the discomfort of the sun and the heat, are the evangelising feet of the one who bears witness with her life to the value of those words of Jesus: "Go and preach the gospel to every creature".

       Therefore, by contemplating and considering the feet of Mary Help of Christians we can also appreciate the missionary dimension of the church, the church's mission to serve, evangelise and bear witness through charity.

       Indeed, blessed are the feet of the one who brings with her the Good News!

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