A group of clergy in a small U.S. town decided to put up a Christmas crib in the town square. They approached various individuals for a donation. On the priest’s list was the editor of the local weekly who favored the idea until the priest remarked, “Many people especially the children will be inspired to see Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the animals right here in the center of town.”
The editor snapped, “Mary must be left out. That would be promoting your denomination.” The priest countered, “Tell you what. You tell me how we can show a birth without a mother and I’ll agree to leave Mary out.” The mother was with her child in the town square. And why not? Mary was with Jesus from the very moment of conception to the moment when He ascended into heaven where she rejoined with him in her Assumption. You can’t think of Jesus without thinking of his mother just as you can’t think of any baby without thinking of its mother.
Mary, Jesus’ mother, was someone whose response to God had no hint of
2. doubtfulness, no uncertainty, no compromise, or ulterior motive. As a young woman from a very ordinary background, Mary had no sophisticated plans or ambitions for herself. Even before the Annunciation took place she must have been a person of deep faith and holiness, intent on cooperating with God’s will, whatever she might eventually discover that to be.
Mary receives the angel Gabriel’s message and agrees to bear Jesus into the world. It’s an image which highlights God’s action to carry out his plan of salvation and
2. also highlights the unique part played by Mary, as the woman who offered that free response and made the coming of our Savior possible.
St. Luke tells us, in today’s gospel passage, that after Jesus’ birth in what were, after all, rather uncomfortable and even squalid conditions, Mary’s attitude was nevertheless one of gratitude and joy and a calm, prayerful acceptance of whatever hardships followed from doing God’s will.
The scene is set-Jesus in the manger, Mary looking down at Him, Joseph next to her. Mary sees shepherds coming and going, stable animals eating hay, a star hovering overhead, three kings on their way to pay homage. There was a lot going on.
Mary is unruffled and serene-not bothered by all these excitements. What is the reason for her serenity? As the gospel says: “She has pondered all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” This is the key to her serenity and the gift of her simplicity. Her heart was uncluttered. Many people are caught up in a riot of desires and plans. They fasten onto various goals or objects and become agitated and frustrated as the obstacles to their supposed happiness inevitably pile up.
Mary was someone who, from her youngest days, concentrated purely on finding God and becoming open to his grace. She eliminated everything which interfered
with this aim. This was her quality of simplicity. A mentality that ceases to be attracted by anything that doesn’t lead further into the mystery of God.
Mary was above all a woman of contemplation. She was free from the mentality which is obsessed with analyzing and proving everything, often rooted in the desire to manipulate people and things and bring them under our own control. Her attitude was to meditate quietly on the gradual mysterious unfolding of God’s plans. With this type of prayer comes the sense that God is all we need, he 3. frees us from the spirit of attachment and possessiveness, and re-creates us in the pattern of his own self-giving service and love.
Mary’s unconditional saying, “Let it be done according to your word” changed the world. Imagine how this now confused world would be if we took Mary’s example of accepting God’s will. Ponder in your hearts how this world would be now; a world without abortion, without radical groups who take innocent lives because of their ideologies, teens loving their peers, not attacking them, a world where love and peace is the norm.
We have to admit that in our own lives, at times, our motives lay in pursuit of more or less selfish goals, with an untroubled conscience. I know that I have trouble with this from time to time, don’t you? And let’s concede that even in our own cases, as believers and professed followers of Christ, our response is sometimes ambiguous and comes with weakness and compromise.
As Mary had the simplicity of life and as she lived totally in the Spirit, we too have the grace to do so. Today’s second reading from Galatians tells us, “God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of his Son.” So we too are offered this position of grace, this graced life which brings the greatest sense of simplicity and serenity. We in turn have the means to turn back to Him who came into our world, taking upon Himself our humanity to save us so that we can live with Him forever. This is also the gift Mary has brought to all of us by her saying “Yes , let it be done according to your word”.
Now, New Years resolutions are great. But wouldn’t it be terrific if we resolved, in addition to stop being cranky, stop eating and drinking too much, which are good resolutions, but first to follow Mary in her simplicity of life?
4. First, simplicity allows us to be quiet, to slow down our busy lives to hear God. Mary was alone and quiet at the Annunciation. She had to be to receive the angel’s message. Each of us make those personal choices that shape and develop our personalities, that makes our way of life and we do this in the simplicity and quietness of our hearts. Mary Made her choices and each choice was a self-giving, first to God the Father, then her new born Son, then to all of us.
Secondly, Mary’s simplicity of life, helped her to discover the unshakeable confidence that God is the master of all circumstances, whether we can see meaning in events or not, or even if we see only confusion and disorder.
And finally, the strength behind her simplicity, her graced life, with its powers of obedience, trust in God, and her decision for good, is offered to all of us in the traditional Old Testament blessing in our first reading from Numbers which says,” The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you kindly and give you Peace!”
May you have a prosperous and blessed New Year!
Introduction for the next book discussion: The gospel of Matthew
Presenters: 5 P.M. Christine Schoeler
8 A.M. Maralie Johnsom
10:30 A.M. Bill Carruthers