St. Francis de Sales in his homily of August 5, 1617 tells the story of a noble and wealthy, but childless couple who were told in a dream to have a church built on Rome’s Esquiline Hill in honor of the Blessed Mother, erecting it on the spot they would find, in the middle of August, covered with snow. Sharing the dream with Pope Sixtus III (who had had the same dream), the three found the unseasonable snow… and the church, Saint Mary Major was subsequently built there.
The homily was based on St. Francis’ reflections on the reading for the feast’s gospel from Luke 11:27 in which “a woman rose up from the crowd and said, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!’ Jesus replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!'” Saint Francis emphasizes that this holy couple like Mary, heard the word and, most importantly, acted upon it. Our saint concludes that effective, active love, is the proof of a true disciple: of his Blessed Mother, of this generous couple of every disciple.
In this season of falling snow, we, too, can be like both Mary and this couple who knew how to listen to the word of god and put it into practice. Like both of them, we can listen to God and respond Look out the window some evening when the snow is falling softly, silently. In the silence of a winter evening, spend a few moments looking and listening to the word of God speaking to you. Watch that silent snow falling from heaven and ask God the question you have been thinking about, or worrying about – your deepest concern… and listen. Then, as St. Francis says (though he was referring to the word in homilies, the same can apply to both), “we ought afterwards to remain for some time withdrawn into the depths of our soul, I mean recollected, in order to ponder what we have heard.” Amid all the noise and haste, amid all the hustle and bustle, become a revolutionary. Stop and listen.
And this is the beginning of prayer. “Oh, what a good thing is prayer!” St. Francis continues, “But the happiness of this holy man (the noble Roman) did not consist in knowing the will of God, but immediately following it, as he did. Oh, how happy are they who, being inspired like this blessed John and his wife to dedicate and consecrate themselves to God with all that they possess, have recourse to prayer to learn in what place they should do it for His greater glory and the honor of our Lady…” Looking at the falling, silent snow. Listening to the word of God in the Bible. Going to church. Do just this during this new year, and become a radical. Radical means “root”and the root of every human being, the core and center of each soul created in the image of God and destined to live forever, is a heart that desires God. Who knows what could happen? Perhaps not another St. Mary Major Basilica, but the church that is within us. The temple of God that we are. Maybe God will ask us to build that temple this new year. Or rebuild it. Still we have to learn to listen…
This brings us back to the snow and to Mary and to St. Francis’ homily. Can we listen for a minute more? St. Francis says that it was not “without significance that snow was the sign of the truth of the revelation made to this good man John and his wife.” Then he points out three qualities of snow: its whiteness, its obedience, and its fecundity. All of these are especially characteristics that draw the special inspirations of God into our hearts. These are also the characteristics of the first and best disciple of Jesus, his mother Mary. And all are characteristics of how we can receive God’s word for our own mission in life and act upon it.
Francis continues, “We may compare the whiteness of snow to the whiteness of a pure soul because it surpasses any other whiteness.” Snow. Mary-full-of-grace. And, yes, even ourselves. “Listen to the royal psalmist David. Lamenting before God that, through sin, his soul has become blacker than black, he entreats Him to be pleased to wash him with His ‘hyssop’ so that by this means it will be made ‘whiter than snow.'” (Psalm 51:9) For anyone, this can mean saying ‘I’m sorry’ to God. For Catholics, it means asking forgiveness of Jesus through his priest in the sacrament of confession. White as snow. Purity. And being more pure, we will be more able to hear the inspirations of God. Not a bad bargain for a few minutes of honesty, humility, and being sorry…
Next, obedience. Snow is obedient! “Ah!” Francis says, “Watch it fall. It falls so gently. See how it remains in the ground until it pleases God to send a ray of sunshine which comes to melt it and make it disappear. Oh, how obedient is the snow!” Mary, the handmaid of the Lord was obedient as she listened to the angel Gabriel’s request and said, “Let it be done unto me…” For us, obedient listening to God includes openness to the word of God in his commandments, but more than that, asks us to follow the words of Jesus of Nazareth in every aspect of our life, such as: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful…” Living his message. Listening to his word. Doing it. Obedience. Fulfilling our duties. Doing what we’d rather skip. As St. Francis says, “God makes it very clear that He does not consider that we hear His word if we do not put it into effect with the affection of submission and obedience. Thus does he often complain that His people do not hear Him when He speaks to them.” Submission and obedience. Very radical. Yet this is the complaint we find in God’s Sacred Word: “I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me.” (Is. 65:1) Are we willing to respond to this word and to become listeners to it?
Finally, fecundity. Fruitfulness. We all search for meaning in life. We all want to make a difference. St. Francis tells us, “In the third place, snow is fruitful. Farmers and those who till the soil assure us that when there is a moderate amount of snow in the winter, the crops of the following year will be all the better for it, since the snow protects the ground from the hard frosts. And although is may seem that snow, given its coldness, cannot warm the ground, it still renders it fruitful for the reason just given – for the grain underneath is well-protected.” Mary, the most fecund woman in the history of the universe, mother of our Lord and of us us all, and the Roman couple, again are exemplars of fruitfulness. Why? Because they listened to God’s plan for their lives. Like them and like silent, freshly-fallen snow, we, too, may listen and then respond with our “yes” in Purity, obedience and fruitfulness.
This winter, be like snow. Like Mary. Like the couple… Listening to God’s voice in the silence…and acting upon it.