https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpuQ8lAi8Pg
Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied.
Woman! above all women glorified,
Our tainted nature’s solitary boast;
Purer than foam on central ocean tost;
Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn
With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon
Before her wane begins on heaven’s blue coast;
Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend,
As to a visible Power, in which did blend
All that was mixed and reconciled in thee
Of mother’s love with maiden purity,
Of high with low, celestial with terrene!
William Wordsworth
Finishing up with our look at Christmas saints this Advent, go here for the post on Saint Matthew, here for the post on Saint Luke and here for the post on Saint Joseph, we inevitably turn to the Mother of God.
When God became Man, he could have simply willed Himself to appear as Jesus at the beginning of His public ministry. Instead He entered this world the way the rest of us debut in this Vale of Tears, through the flesh of our mothers. This scandalized many of the Jews of His time. The idea that God could have a mother would have seemed like pagan nonsense. Blasphemy at worst, a subject of ribald jests at best.
Mary was probably around 14-15 when she received the news that she was going to the mother of the Son of God. One can imagine the avalanche of emotions she experienced at this most unlikely of fates. Her response: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.
In Mary God received perfect obedience and perfect love. The creature became the creator of the Son of God in His human aspect, veiling in flesh the Son of God who had existed from everlasting to everlasting. Eternity through Mary entered into time.
With Mary and Christ we are met with vast mysteries at every turn. Saint Athanasius put it best:
O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all. O [Ark of the New] Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides. Should I compare you to the fertile earth and its fruits? You surpass them, for it is written: “The earth is my foostool” (Isa. 66:1). But you carry within you the feet, the head, and the entire body of the perfect God.
If I say that heaven is exalted, yet it does not equal you, for it is wrriten: “Heaven is My throne” (Isa. 66:1), while you are God’s place of repose. If I say that the angels and archangels are great — but you are greater than them all, for the angels and the archangels serve with trembling the One Who dwells in your womb, and they dare not speak in His presence, while you speak to Him freely.
If we say that the cherubim are great, you are greater than they, for the cherubim carry the throne (cf. Ps. 80:1; 99:1), while you hold God in your hands. If we say that the serphim are great, you are greater than them all, for the seraphim cover their faces with their wings (cf. Isa. 6:2), unable to look upon the perfect glory, while you not only gaze upon His face but caress it and offer your breasts to His holy mouth…
As for Eve, she is the mother of the dead, “for in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). Eve took [fruit] from the tree and made her husband eat of it along with her. And so they ate of that tree of which God had told them: “The day you eat of it, you shall die” (Gen. 2:17). Eve took [fruit] from it, ate some of it, and gave some to her husband [that he might eat] with her, He ate of it, and he died.
In you, instead, O wise Virgin, dwells the Son God: He, that is, Who is the tree of life. Truly He has given us His body, and we have eaten of it. That is how life came to all, and all have come to life by the mercy of God, your beloved Son. That is why your spirit is full of joy in God your Savior!
And so at Christmas we celebrate God, the creator of all, coming into this world as a helpless child, completely dependent upon His Mother. Man at last perfectly reflects back to God the love He has for us.
