Today we are called to be grateful for the gift of the one through whom the savior is given to the world. She is the mother brings forth a ruler, a shepherd, one who "shall be peace."
We are called to celebrate the one who is not just the mother of Jesus, but our mother, and the mother of all who call on the name of Jesus. She is given to John and the Church to be mother on the cross because Jesus desires to be "firstborn among many brothers."
In Mary, because she said yes, God drew near to humanity in a way that was completely new.
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel
which means “God is with us.”
We may be tempted, like Joseph, to look at Mary and see only natural causes at work. We may think that God wanted to make the best of a mediocre situation. But the angel assures us it is more than that. Mary was a fixed part of the plan, for "it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her." Nothing was left to chance. Nothing was done on mere human initiative. The name of the child itself was given to them by the angel.
How blessed we are that God chose to use Mary to fulfill his plans. We can't imagine anything else he might do which wouldn't seem impoverished by comparison. We are permitted, by the birth of Mary, to celebrate the renewal of humanity and the response of mankind to God being finally rightly ordered to welcome the King into the world. We not only experience it once, but we are given a mother to teach us the lessons she knows again and again until they are finally learned. The knot of Eve's disobedience is untied by Mary's 'yes'.
The birth of the King, in God's plan, came about precisely because the feast we celebrate today opened the way. Today we celebrate the creation of the New Ark of the Covenant. And her glory is that God may dwell in her.
Let me sing of the LORD, "He has been good to me."
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