As I grew in Motherhood I continued to look toward Mary for guidance. The love a mother has for her children gives us a small inkling in how much Mary loves us but more than that how much our Heavenly Father loves us. It is humbling. However, since this is a mothering blog I am going to continue my focus on Mary. As I birthed, nursed, and cared for more children one part of the Infancy Narratives began to annoy me. (Yes, I just said something in the gospels annoyed me, but I haven't been struck down yet.) It was the part about swaddling Jesus and placing him in the manger. My La Leche League friend will understand this train of thought even if others don't. All I kept thinking was "REALLY!? No way did Mary put down her brand new baby! She kangaroo cared him, nurse him on demand, and wore him 24/7. The gospel writers were OBVIOUSLY men!" This line of thought continued until this Advent. Mary, who has always guided me to her son was probably finally fed up with my fresh, arrogant attitude and was ready to set me straight.
A few weeks ago I started reading The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics. My almost 21 year old gave it to me a couple years ago and I never got around to reading it, until now. Coincidence, I think not. Although I am enjoying the book it is a slow read: not because it is difficult to understand but because each chapter leads you to ponder or muse. I really need to sit with what I have read before I move on. Last week I got to the infancy narrative. Here we go I thought. How could she put him down? In a manger no less! It was cold! The hay was itchy! He was just born! He needed his mother! I don't get it. Well, this my friends is Mary's job: to help us "get it". We Catholic are mistakenly accused of worshiping Mary. We don't. We venerate her as the Mother of God. We ask for her intercession with her son. And her job, her motherly vocation has always, from the beginning, been to lead us to her son; to point us in his direction and say, "Look, there is your Savior. Adore Him. Love Him. Trust Him." As I was reading and musing I finally got it (again). In my minds eye I saw Mary loving put the Son of God in the manger, next to her stood Saint Joseph and next to the manger was the Monstrance (the Monstrance is the vessel used in the Catholic Church to hold the Consecrated Eucharist). Just to be clear, there was no mystical vision here just an "aha" moment. I finally understood why Mary placed Jesus in the manger. The manger and the Monstrance are one. When we bow before the Monstrance we praise and adore our God. Mary placed Jesus in the manger so we ALL could bow and adore our God. The lyrics "O, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" took on a fuller, richer, meaning. Mary once again points us to Jesus as she and St. Joseph invite the shepherds, the wise men, the animals and all of us to adore Jesus. I know priest have been pointing this out every Christmas mass I have ever gone to but isn't amazing when you finally, finally "get it"? Once again Mary took my hand and led me where I needed to be: kneeling before her son adoring Him.
May your Advent be blessed as you wait to adore Christ the Lord!
