20 December 2013 - key point

20 December 2013 - key point


The king is coming.  He draws near.  Let us open our hearts to him.

Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

Although he is king, although the earth and its fullness are his, his coming to us is marked with the most profound humility.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.

Emmanuel is God with us and yet he is first with us as an embryo in the womb of the blessed Virgin.  We first behold him as a newborn.  He has no strength to be seen.  He cannot speak his ageless wisdom through these lips.  To express the needs of this new body of his he can only cry out.  In this way he does not deem equality with God something to be grasped (cf. Phi. 2).  His hands can indeed grasp but they can not yet pick things up securely.  All this although he is the word which holds the universe in being.

Yet for so humble a beginning there is none greater than he as all will eventually behold.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

The first one to open her heart to the coming king is the Blessed Virgin.  In order to welcome an act of humility as great as the incarnation she must humble herself in turn.  Mary does not merely humble herself before power, which is not so unusual, but before the greatest humility.  When we are humble in the face of power we may still imagine ourselves to be something relatively important.  But in the face of this humility all must be surrendered.

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

God prepares her heart for this by filling her with grace from her birth and accompanying her until this pivotal moment. Only a heart free in this way is able to accept and welcome God's will so completely. The LORD is with her already so that the word she speaks is able empowered to bring forth the Word of God into the world.  It is for this, to welcome this king, that she finds favor with God.

Clearly then, Mary has much to teach.  She shows us how to welcome Jesus into our hearts and into the world.  She reveals that God's grace precedes and makes possible any efforts we make. She shows us that when we respond to God with humility nothing is impossible for him.  He is the key of David that can open the gate of salvation which is heretofore sealed to us.  We do not need to be afraid any longer.  He wants to fill us with his Holy Spirit just as he fills Mary.  He wants  to be born in our hearts just as he is born in her womb.  He won't enter hearts by force.  But he won't let any barrier keep him from those who eagerly long for his coming.  God allows us to join our own assent, which is always partial, to Mary's which is free and without reserve: 

May it be done to me according to your word.”