Wednesday, December 19, 2012

3rd Wednesday of Advent


3rd week in Advent -- Wednesday                      Luke 1:30-38

                                           Mary


Mary . . . Mary holds the most unique place in human history -- the mother of the Messiah.  Human beings historically have reacted to Mary in one of two general ways.  We have either idealized and romanticized Mary into some sort of inhuman feminine “ideal” -- meek, quiet, submissive, unobvious; and made her into a semi-divine being.  Or else we have ignored her, not wanting to deal with the excesses given her by others.

But Mary will not be ignored.  She stands at the juncture of the divine/human encounter, in that mysterious place where “God became flesh and dwelled among us.”  Neither will she be relegated to obscure submissiveness.  It took a lot of faith and courage for that 14-year-old girl to announce to her fiancé, her parents, her friends, her community what she believed God was doing in her, with her, through her.

Mary thus provides for us an incredible model of faithfulness to God, of yielding to God’s will, of following God’s ways.


O God:
You chose a young girl in a small country to be the bearer of your Love for our world.  Help us to believe that you can do all things through us; as we live and pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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