how would you describe God?

He looks at me.

It's my favorite line from Mary's great hymn - her Magnificat.

He looks at me.

It's what St. John Vianney, the greatest priest says about prayer.

He looks at me.

It's my favorite way to describe God,

which is our pivotal question for this week.

How would you describe God?

He looks at me.

I got this from my mom - Mary.

Do you think it strange that Mary never goes looking for her Risen Son?

In the Gospels, we haven't heard from her since Good Friday - since the cross.

Five weeks of Easter now, and no mention of Mary in the Easter story.  How strange.

She has to be the key disciple of Easter.

She's always the best disciple.

Where in the heck is she?

Doesn't she have FOMO regarding the Resurrection?

Mary was the first eyewitness of so much.  The Anunication, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation, Finding. 

Jesus' first and last signs - Cana and the Calvary.  She saw it all.

But the Resurrection and Ascension - where the heck are you mom?

Did you go into hiding?

Hardly - Mary is the worst at hiding.

If she's not searching, it's because She knows God is searching for her.

He looks for me. He looks at me.  .

She always lets God find her.  She always lets God look at her.

That's who She is.

It's the work that makes her the greatest of all time.

So our mother waits to be found by the Resurrection of Her son.

She is not an eyewitness.

Instead she is one better - she is the one Jesus means when He says Blessed are those who have not see but have believed.

Mary did her seeking early on - getting in her question long before the Resurrection - at the Annunication.

How can this be?

The Holy Spirit will find you.  He will look at you, and through that look you will become the dwelling place of God.

Deal.  You can look at me. I will let you find me.  Let it be done to me.

Mary doesn't need to see to believe - she walks by faith.

He sees me.  That is enough for me.

Mary teaches that to be seen is the key to seeing.

Being known is the key to knowing.

He looks at me.

Mary is the key disciple of Easter, even though she is not an eyewitness.

For she receives the Risen Christ just like you and I do.

By faith more than by sight.

By letting God look at her, then make His dwelling in her,

just like we do in the Eucharist that is our Easter duty.

What is more, Mary receives the Risen Christ better than any eyewitness disciple.

She outwardly missed the resurrection and ascension,

but is the first to receive these mysteries in faith.

For the same Holy Spirit that first conceived Jesus in her,

at Pentecost delivers the Risen Christ to his best disciple.

Strangely, the one who does not see,

is the first to rise bodily with Him through Her glorious assumptoin,

and receives her crown in the place prepared by Him for his mom

in His Father's house.

I can't blame Thomas and Philip for straining their eyes to see.

Prove it Jesus.  Show us Jesus.

But Mary has chosen the better part.

For the key to seeing is to let yourself be seen.

He looks at me.

Nobody will have a better Easter than Jesus' best disciple.

Or a better Mother Day for that matter.

By letting God gaze on her lowliness,

Mary accomplishes the greater work of which Jesus speaks today.

She does something Her son never will.

She becomes a mother.

He looks at me,

and through that look exalts Her to be the Mother of God. 

In Easter, and on Mother's Day, Jesus certainly says.

Look at my mom.

We know how she in turn describes God.

He looks at me.

Mary, my mother, pray for me.

That your way will always be my favorite way to describe God.

He looks at me.