8 September 2015 - yes woman

The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The entire bible before Jesus, all of salvation history, is preparation for his coming. All of the lives of the great heroes of the Old Testament become dots in the line of the genealogy of Jesus. As Saint John Paul the Great reminds us, "THE REDEEMER OF MAN, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe and of history" (Redemptor Hominis, 1). After all, "all things were created through him and for him" (cf. Col. 1:16). Again, we read that "For from him and through him and to him are all things" (cf. Rom. 11:36).

Today we celebrate she who is both the finishing touch of the preparations as well as the dawn of the fulfillment. Mary stands at the boundary between sign and promise and substance and fulfillment. God had this plan fixed in his heart since before time began.

Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
And the rest of his brethren shall return
to the children of Israel.

This passage from Micah is actually a restating of a much earlier promise.

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
hhe shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel (cf. Gen. 3:15)

The one who will strike at the head of the serpent is born today! We celebrate the Nativity of Mary. We celebrate the culmination of all of the promises in Mary. We celebrate the dawn of the fulfillment of those promises.

We see in the genealogy of Jesus many who are all too human. We see many sinners. We see much failure and disappointment. But it does not stop God from using them all to prepare the way for the Messiah. We see in this history that no one can stand in the way of God's plan. This should give us great confidence that he can use us for his kingdom as well.

For those he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
so that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers.

God wants to enter into the world and be present to his people. Mary is the gate through which he makes his entrance. Because of God's preparations for her birth she is born today. Because she is born she gives her fiat to God. She gives the unconditional yes for the sake of the rest of sinful humanity that cannot manage it. God responds to that yes and he comes.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us.”

So we see that God does not let the brokenness of humanity stand in the way of his plans. He doesn't let our inability to say yes keep him from coming to us. Maybe today our yes is partial or wavering. Maybe today we don't have the strength to say yes at all to that which God is asking of us. God gives us Mary for just such times. We turn to her and ask her to help us make her yes our own. 

Though I trusted in your mercy,
let my heart rejoice in your salvation.
Let me sing of the LORD, “He has been good to me.