A week ago we celebrated the birth of the Son - Son of God, and Son of Mary! Today we celebrate the graciousness of the Mother, a humble virgin, who retained her virginity during the entire process of her pregnancy and the birth of Jesus; a simple handmaiden of Nazareth who became the Mother of the God-Man - thus making her truly the Mother of God!
On this day of reflection upon Mary, Mother of God, we look at three of her chief virtues. Her life was empowered by “humility,” a humility that was born of “poverty,” true poverty of spirit. In her humble poorness there was all the room in the world for God to use her as He would - to use her to be the first dwelling place of his only-begotten Son. Mary, unlike us who are tainted with original sin at our birth, and with remnants of it for the rest of our lives, was always completely and totally free to give everything voluntarily, willingly and lovingly to God for his use - and God filled her emptiness and lowliness with the very might and presence of himself! Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit all the days of her life!
And so, humility is the first virtue that we see Mary accepting as a gift from God, and using for the advantage of all! The next virtue is “obedience.” Not many like to hear the word “obedience,” which really proves that it is at the heart of the problem of original sin! It was “dis”obedience that caused the sin. The remnant effects are still deep down inside of us - oftentimes we want to be rebellious persons in small or great ways! Obedience is the only way out of being captured by sin! Obedience to God! Mary always obeyed God! Always! Obedience follows humility and poverty. In our nothingness we need direction and guidance; and it is God who can provide it: if we listen in the silence of our hearts to the voice of his Spirit speaking to us - and actually carry out what we hear. Mary listened. Mary understood. Mary obeyed. Mary put into practice what she heard!
And finally, “joy” is the last virtue of Mary for our consideration today! Her poverty of humility, and desire for obedience produced in her an amazing amount of joy! Joy is the by-product of loving God and doing his will - especially by loving and helping all others he places in our life - but most especially the poor! Mary sang her “song of joy” because her heart was filled to overflowing with gratitude, praise and glory for God. We can have a life full of joy too - during the days of this coming New Year - if we live each day in obedience to God who knows how everything works and can help us work it all out, after having made an empty space in our hearts out of love - so that God can come to dwell there as we live lives of true poverty and humility no matter what our external circumstances are!
Because we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us we can call God “Abba - Father” - and this Spirit will bless us and keep us, shine upon our face, and be gracious to us, looking upon us kindly and giving us peace - all the days of our life!
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