1st January 2024
When the shepherds arrived at Bethlehem, they first found Mary, and, with her, “Joseph and the babe lying in a manger”. And when they had told all that they had heard from the angels, Mary “kept all these things, pondering them in her heart”. Mary seems to be leading to Jesus in two ways: she is the one who welcomes those who wish to see Jesus and introduces them to her Son; and she is the one whose memory keeps all that concerns Jesus and hands it on to believers. She does what mothers do: they introduce their children to the people and the world around, and they keep the memory of their children’s childhood of which they are the very first witnesses.
Mary is the great witness to the Incarnation. She keeps the memory of Jesus from His conception in her womb to His birth, and from His birth to the time of His public life. Her unique place and mission give her a unique access to the mystery of Jesus which she, in turn, shares with the Church and all believers. More especially, she gives witness to the full humanity of Jesus: He is a real man of our race, who has begun as we all do first as an embryo and then as a babe. But the same one who is so fully human shines forth from the start as divine. What the shepherds say, what the Magi will soon express with their symbolic gifts and their homage of worship, what Simeon and Anna will prophesize about her child, the dramatic events which lead to Holy Family in Egypt, all these “things” reveal the more-than-human identity of Mary’s child. Jesus is God in the weakness of a humble, poor, and persecuted child. Jesus is God in the weakness of the flesh. He is a weak man at the heart of God’s mystery of love and salvation. Because Mary, too, is poor, weak, and humble, she witnesses to the mode of the Incarnation. It is not the triumphant mode of a spectacular manifestation. Rather, the power of God manifests itself in the weakness of a frail human being and is witnessed to by a humble woman.
I always feel sad for those who hold the Protestant view that Mary is an obstacle, a hindrance, a useless screen, and a distraction on the way of the believer to Jesus. Is she not, on the contrary, a door thrown open, a hand guiding us to Jesus, a welcoming kindness good at soothing our fears and encouraging us to draw near to Jesus? Moreover, is she not the surest guide to the real Jesus: not the one we might create with our imagination or our intellect, but Jesus in the truth of the flesh, in the humility and the glory of the flesh assumed by the Divinity?
On the Octave Day of Christmas and the first day of the civil year, a door is thrown open. We are invited to enter and to draw near to Jesus. We go to Jesus through Mary. With Mary, we touch the Word of God made flesh. We touch Him in faith, a faith which in turn we nourish by meditating on the mysteries of Jesus’ life with the contemplative and loving heart and memory of Mary. In the celebrations of the Liturgy as well as in the Rosary, we find Jesus in the heart of Mary. And when we have found Him, He comes and dwells in our own heart, with Mary and through Mary.
Again, shall we complain that it is “a bit crowded” and that what we are really longing for is being alone with Jesus alone? Or shall we rather enter the mystery of a perfect solitude which does not impede the most universal communion; the mystery of the broadest communion possible which does not prevent the unique and solitary relationship of each of us with Jesus?
With Mary, we can safely grow in solitude with Jesus and in communion with all in Jesus. And we can be certain that this growth is what God will be working at every day and through all circumstances of the year which is beginning today. We know the programme of our journey in faith: going to Jesus and walking on His steps. Let us remember that the Mother of God is given us precisely to help and guide us on this journey. Let us remain close to her, in joy, in hope and in peace. If, by the grace of God, we do that in our ordinary life we shall do a lot for the peace of the world. God will be glorified in us and we in Him, as He is in Mary and Mary in God. Amen.