Dear friends,

Welcome to week two of BMW, Be My Witnesses, writes Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing. As we begin our first cycle of becoming better missionary disciples, we first turn to prayer.

After Jesus ascended to his Heavenly Father and before the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles, we are told: “All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14).

I am always struck by the gift by Jesus of his mother to the apostle John as we see in John’s Gospel (19:26-27), “’Woman behold your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ’Behold, your mother.’” I have often taken this to mean that John was supposed to take care of Mary.

Now, however, I really believe this was so that Mary could take care of and teach John, just as she had done for Jesus. Mary was with those apostles just before Pentecost to help them to know how to pray and especially to help them be open to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

If we are to go forth as Jesus has asked us we need to pray. To know how to pray, we can do no better than to ask Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to teach us.

We already know some of what she would say to us. Clearly, when the Angel, Gabriel, approached her with the good news of the coming of the Messiah through her, she was somehow already prepared and open for the powerful intervention of God in her life. Mary would teach us not only passively to be so open, but rather to invite God to take charge of us, to commission us according to his will. Mary would urge us to beg for the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit on our lives so that we might be more faithful servants of his will.

Mary is also portrayed as the one who pondered or mulled over the words of God which came to her. Prayer should allow us to listen and to ponder. This takes a good amount of silence as well as time. We need to give our gift of time to God.

But Mary would also have us listen to her son. At Cana in Galilee, when the wine had run out at a wedding feast, Mary simply told the stewards, “Do whatever he tells you.” She has no idea what that might be, nor do we. But we are open. If we approach prayer saying to God, “Tell me what you would like me to do and then I will think about it,” we will never hear the voice of God. Rather, we must approach prayer, “Whatever it is you wish of me, Lord, that I will do as best I can.”

So, that must have been what Mary was telling the apostles as they gathering in the Upper Room before Pentecost: “Let yourselves be surprised by the Holy Spirit.”

This bring us to those apostles gathered together as they “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer.” This is not a loner activity. We are always to pray as the Body of Christ even if we find ourselves physically alone. Even in that circumstance, we can be of “one accord” with the entire Church and with Mary as we seek the help of the Holy Spirit.

So, our challenge for this week is two-fold. Find someone to pray with and then make the simple prayer of asking Mary to help the entire Church be open to the Holy Spirit. This will provide the only solid foundation for being witnesses to Jesus Christ.

Until next week, may God Bless you.

I am sincerely yours in Christ,

+ Earl Boyea

Bishop of Lansing

P.S. Below is a video version of this week’s Be My Witnesses. Please do share with family and friends. Thank you. God bless you.