Prophets of Advent: Mary

The Sacred Scriptures have very little information on Mary, the mother of the Christ Child and wife of Joseph.  Luke has the most:  the angel Gabriel's appearance to announce to Mary that she will conceive a boy, not through her intended husband but by "the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit"; the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; her purification after childbirth; and the finding of Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem when he was 12 years old.  In Luke's Acts of the Apostles Mary joins the twelve apostles in prayer.  Matthew adds the worship of Jesus by the magi, with Mary looking on.  There are two appearance of Mary in the gospel of John, though not by her given name but only by title:  at the wedding in Cana and at the foot of the cross as Jesus is dying.

Mary's prayer to God, spoken after the praise of her family relative Elizabeth, is one of the most revered in the New Testament, or throughout the history of the Catholic Church.  Luke 1:46-55 is usually called the "Magnificat," after the Latin word for praise.  It is really a classically Jewish prayer, modeled after the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and other Old Testament texts.  Mary affirms the power of God, especially for the lowly, hungry and humble.  This payer is one of the components of evening prayer (vespers) in the Liturgy of the Hours.

The two basic Christian beliefs concerning Mary, that she gives birth to the son of God, and the virginal conception of Jesus, are clearly stated in the Gospels.  Other beliefs are developed from these two basic beliefs, or flow from the reflection and theology of the church over the centuries.

Mary's gift to God and to the church was her saying "yes" to the angel's announcement that she will conceive (by the Holy Spirit) and give birth to a son.  After getting over her shock, she affirms God's will for her.  "I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word."  Her "yes" continued through her marriage to Joesph, as the two of them raised Jesus in Nazareth.  She said "yes" when Jesus left her to begin his public ministry of preaching, teaching and healing.  The early church saw her as a disciple of Jesus, not because of biology as his mother but because of faith and saying "yes" to his Paschal Mystery.

Each year the celebration of the birth of Christ gives us the opportunity to imitate Mary, saying "yes" to the Christ child and "yes" to all he teaches and is.  Our "yes" is begun in baptism, and repeated when we come to Mass, receive Holy Communion, pray daily, support our parish community, care for the poor in our midst, and try to live justly and lovingly as Christ taught.  May we revere Mary for her continual and prophetic "yes" to Christ her son.