My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
–Luke 1:46-49
The watchword for the third week of Advent is “rejoice,” and it is connected with Mary whose “soul doth magnify the Lord” (Luke 1:46 KJV). This week also has a different color than the other weeks: pink, for joy.
Mary’s words and the change in liturgical colors remind us that this time of waiting and preparation is a joyful time, that even in the midst of fasting and penitence we can know joy because, as Mary sang in the Magnificat, “God has done great things for [us].”
In my Protestant upbringing, Mary was simply a Jewish peasant girl who was the mother of Jesus. I’ve since learned that Catholic and Orthodox Christians have a much richer and more symbolic understanding of Mary. They call her theotokos, Mother of God, God-bearer. She is the symbol of humanity itself, fallen but willingly entering into a restored relationship with God through her “yes” to the angel’s proclamation that she would be the mother of the Messiah….
By bearing in her womb the Son of God, Mary makes possible the Incarnation and, thus, later, the crucifixion and resurrection. In so doing, she turns the mourning of our fallenness into the rejoicing of our redemption. It is God who does these great things, to be sure, as Mary herself proclaims, but how great a God we serve, that he would allow us, invite us, long for us to participate in his redeeming work in the world….
During Advent, we are to be like Mary, waiting actively, joyfully, and expectantly for the new life that has been and will be born into the world. And also like Mary, we are to be agents of this birthing. We are to bring the Light of the world into the world.
From Kimberlee Conway Ireton, The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year (InterVarsity Press, 2008), p 21-23.
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Taproot Theatre Blogathon Update: Thanks to the generosity of Scott Cummins and Tiffany Werner, each comment will raise $3 for Taproot’s reconstruction efforts after the fire. If you haven’t yet, please go leave a comment on the blogathon post.
Wonderful Advent message! Your passionate personal touch in your writing inspires me!! I know that your first book, CIRCLE of SEASONS, will someday take off. We need to get it in the hands of more people. The world needs to know the importance of the Christ Child and how our ordinary days and years can be joyfully lived in serving Him.
As Luke said, “The Mighty One has done great things for me.” This is certainly true for me as exemplified through the happenings around my (benign) brain tumor surgery. But, more special, was the Baby Jesus epiphany I got several weeks before my diagnosis, which kept me at peace through the whole process.
I was in the kitchen breaking down some boxes for recycling, and on one was the word “mangiare,” Italian for “to eat,” or “consume.” Instantly, the word “manger” came to mind, and the fact that a manger is a plate for animals. It holds the food. I realized that Baby Jesus was not in bed in the manger, but on the plate! And the shepherds had to be the first to come because they are the ones who herd or guide the sheep (us) to the food.
When Mary, the Mother of God, placed the incarnate (“carne” is “flesh”) Lord in the manger – available for all sheep – instead of holding Him for herself, it was a foreshadow of the communion of the Last Supper, where we are invited to partake of the body and blood of Christ.
More than ever before, I felt the message that we are to take Christ into ourselves, such that He becomes a part of us and then His characteristics show through us.
This epiphany just Whooshed into my mind as I was recycling. I’ve told lots of people and none has thought or heard it before. I look at Christmas differently now, and certainly have much to Rejoice over as I “feed” at the manger.
Jean,
When I was at Chartes Cathedral outside of Paris (almost 7 years ago now!), one of the panels of stained glass at the back of the church shows the nativity scene, with the baby Jesus lying on an altar. That was when I made the connection you made: the French word “manger” means “to eat.” So from the very beginning of His life, Jesus was shown to be the bread of life, the food we eat so that we may live. Makes communion a whole lot more visceral, I think, and our faith a much more embodied experience.
Mary’s relationship with God wasn’t restored at her “yes.” The angel Gabriel greeted her before her yes with “Hail, full of grace.” If one is full of gracethere is no room for sin, original or otherwise. She was preserved from original sin by God since her Immaculate Conception.
Dear Rob, Thank you for stopping by my blog, and thank you for your patience and grace with me. Despite my love of liturgy, I am a plain vanilla evangelical, so my theology of Mary and understanding of the Immaculate Conception are sadly lacking. Please accept my apologies if my ignorance here caused offense.