Christmas I 2009

The great churches of the East and the Church of Rome pay great attention to the lives of the Saints. Of course the greatest of the Saints is the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the mother of our Lord; she is the mother of our new humanity, she is the figure of the Church. She is Theotokos: the God Bearer.

So then she is key to the joining of time with eternity in the life of her Son, Jesus Christ. She contributes one essential ingredient to the salvation of all men, our human nature. From the Virgin Mary, human nature is joined, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, to the Word of God. The Word was made flesh; the word joined himself to our humanity by becoming a human being. And the Blessed Virgin Mary was key to this process which began with the conception of Jesus.

The Scriptures tell us that the Angel Gabriel saluted, honored and hailed the soon-to-be Mother of our Lord. “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you,” the angel sings. Mary had found favor with the Lord. She was chosen to be the bearer of God’s word, through human nature, to the world. Some have named her the “God-bearer.” Others have called her the “Mother of God.” Both designations point to the pivotal role that she played in the redemption of the world.

It is rather remarkable that the Angel Gabriel should come down from heaven to praise and hail Mary. Gabriel is an eternal spirit who has not betrayed God but lives in and through his goodness and love. Gabriel seldom leaves the heavenly presence of God, and he certainly never leaves God spiritually. Wherever he is sent, he carries God’s blessings, his mercies and his gifts. To Mary he carries heaven’s thanks. Imagine it, God’s message is sent by an angel to this human being. God’s companions, the angels, sing a song of thanks and praise to the Blessed Virgin. A humble handmaiden, flesh of our flesh, is visited by  an eternal spirit whose home is in heaven. And later a host of heavenly angels visit shepherds abiding in the fields to move them towards the Virgin and her new-born son. Is this not amazing? A mother and her child are the object of heaven’s love and respect. God pays tribute and honor to a maiden and her son.

If the angel Gabriel can hail the Blessed Lady, and if the other angels can move men to bring gifts and fall down, why can’t we? In spirit and in truth, if we neglect the Lord’s mother, we neglect one essential origin of our salvation. And then we become orphans, whose adoption into the family of God will never be realized. Let us with God and his Angels sing praises to the Blessed Virgin. Let us honor her. Let us see, in a fundamental way, that if Jesus has adopted us as brothers and sisters, that she is our Mother too! Praise God!

© W.J. Martin†