PHOTO: Mary van Balen
Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. Lk 1, 43-45
The alarm sounded at 2:30am. For a moment, I couldn’t remember why. The eclipse! I bounded out of bed, stuffed my fluffy-socked feet into warm black boots, threw on my coat over the white robe wrapped tightly around me, and opened the door into the night. Crunching over snow, I walked to the backyard and looked upward.
Clouds. During the night hours, a solid lid of clouds had clamped down around my part of the world, obscuring the once in a lifetime view of an eclipsed moon hours from the winter solstice. I wandered to the front yard, unable to accept the obvious: This is one cosmic event I will not see.
Back in bed, I watched a live feed on NASA’s site for a while, then shut down the computer and snuggled under my comforter. Somewhere above me, something magnificent was occurring. A silver orb was glowing copper-red and the planet I rested on was passing between sun and moon. Not seeing the event did not negate its reality.
I remembered a conversation I had after Mass with my then 5-year-old daughter.
“It isn’t fair,” she said. “If Jesus is real, I don’t know why he doesn’t let me see him. Even for just a minute.”
I am not sure what I said to my little theologian who was always asking difficult questions. Twenty-some years later, different variations on the same theme occur to me. This morning’s eclipse provided an apt metaphor. Not being able to see something does not mean it is not there. Some realities are perceived by a sense that transcends the usual five. Some require faith beyond understanding.
In today’s gospel, both Mary and Elizabeth believed in a reality neither could comprehend. Elizabeth called her cousin “Blessed” for her faith in God’s improbable promise.
Resigned to missing the eclipse, I drifted to sleep knowing that it did not need my witness to dazzle others across the planet. 
I was reminded, too, that I had good company in not perceiving God’s hand in my present life events, or knowing what lay ahead. I am asked to believe in God’s promise, I will be with you, and I, too, am blessed.
© 2010 Mary van Balen
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