Judith: a deed of hope - 2nd week advent tuesday

Today we our responsorial psalm comes from the book of Judith.  Judith was a Jewish widow living in Bethulia, in Israel which at that time was under threat from Holofernes, the commanding general of King Nebuchadnezzar’s army.  Holofernes was encamped near Bethulia striking fear in all of Israel.  Judith went to the camp of Holofernes and with her charm and beauty won the trust of the general so much so that she was allowed access to his tent.  Then one night while the general was drunk and asleep Judith went inside his tent and cut his head.  Then she brought the head back to Israel.  When the army of Holofernes realized that their general was dead, they dispersed and Israel rejoiced.  They praised Judith for her courage, for her virtue, for her sacrifice and for her wisdom. - Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth.  

Judith allowed God to use her, to use and her beauty and her charm, to even use her situation as a widow who had nothing to lose but her life in order to save her people from impending disaster.  Thus, people sung to her, You are the highest honor of our race. She may not have defeated an army like Joan of Arc or unlike the soldiers of Israel, but her one deed, her one achievement became the hope of all the people.  Thus, in the responsorial psalm we say “Your deed of hope will never be forgotten.”

Because of all these - her courage, her virtue, her sacrifice, her willingness to allow God to use her for the sake of his people, the deed of hope which made the people rejoice; because of these, Judith was looked upon by the fathers of the church as a prefiguration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Her willingness to offer herself for the work of God, her willingness to sacrifice herself for the people, Mary’s deed of hope made her also the highest honor of our race.

Today in this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe which always falls on advent, on this time in the church which we call a season of hope, let us ask ourselves – have I done something for others, for my family which can also be referred to as a deed of hope?  Big or small, something people can look up to as a deed of hope.

In an office reeking with corruption can your honesty, though singular, become a deed of hope that honesty is and can still come around and valued in this office?  In a family where everything is bad, everything is waay-waay, everything is always wrong, can your affirmations, your pat on the back, can your puropikpik sa likod, become a deed of hope for those struggling to become better?  In your parishes are you a person who brings hope, encouraging people, emboldening those who are discouraged, cheering those who are doing good, supporting those who need support?

Mary in all her apparitions is always a woman of hope.  In Guadalupe she appeared to an indio to instill in the people that they are loved, they are valuable as much as the Europeans.  Be a person of hope, do a deed of hope.