Dear Brothers and Sisters,
A reed grows by a stream. It is the simplest of things, but must be cut by a sharp knife, hollowed out, and stops must be cut in it; it must be shaped and pierced before it can utter a shepherd’s song. It is the narrowest emptiness in the world, but the little reed utters infinite music. Mary is a reed of God. She is totally empty of any personal plans or agenda. She has emptied herself in order to be filled with God. This emptiness has made beautiful music down through the centuries for millions of people of all faiths.
Looking at ourselves and the material of which we are made, ask the Holy Spirit to show us how Christ wants to make himself present in our life. Whatever we are at this moment, young or old, strong or weak, mild or passionate, clever or stupid, let us accept it. Whatever we are that forms our emptiness let us be convinced that it can only be filled by God, and he longs to do so.
At most, Mary was fourteen when she conceived Christ in her womb at the invitation of the Archangel Gabriel. Her only question was how was this to be done since she was betrothed but was not living with Joseph at that time. It would be through the power of the Holy Spirit that the Messiah would be born in her.
She was not asked to do anything herself, but to let something be done to her. She was not asked to renounce anything, but to receive an incredible gift. She was not asked to lead a special kind of life as a nun or to claim suitable virtues and amazing privileges. She was to remain in the world and go forward with her marriage to Joseph and to live as his wife. It seemed that God’s becoming man and being born of a woman were ordinary. The whole thing was to happened secretly. There was no announcement. No one sang, What Child is This?
God took a human body and was born of a virgin in a cave with animals today and no one noticed and no one even celebrated this aspect of his life for centuries. It was not a make believe body, nor one that he brought down from heaven, but it was formed in the womb of his mother.
Mary was an ordinary woman and we know little about her. But the one thing she did, and does is the one thing we all need to do: to bear Christ into the world. Christ must be born in every soul and formed in every life. If we knew Our Lady’s personality we might be dazzled into thinking that only one sort of person could form Christ in herself and we would miss the meaning of our own life.
Nothing but the essential things for us are revealed about the Mother of God. She was wed to the Holy Spirit and bore Christ into the world.
Let us contemplate this scene and, as many saints have recommended, be one more person near the manger and use our imagination to imagine ourselves there. When it quiets down at night, let the kids do the same.
On the night before Christ died he took some very simple items from ordinary meals and said: This is my Body. It was an hour that he longed for his whole life. He gives us his Body that Mary had given him. He changes the most natural thing in the world into himself. His hands held this host that once fumbled for his mother’s breast.
He gave himself to us in tears, in sweat, in tiredness, with words and glances of love, visits to homes of friends and enemies in the gift of his blood. This kind of love for us brings us joy and peace. Our capacity for joy is doubled, the awareness of beauty sharpened, the power to do and enjoy creative work increases immeasurably. His love gave life to all loves for he was Love itself.
For all this we can thank Our Lady, the Virgin Mary. We thought a bit about the simplest things that Christ used in his life and how he remains with us. But the simplest thing of all and the most essential, was the humanity of Mary, in whose flesh the Word was made flesh.