Monday, June 6, 2022
Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Holy Mary, Theotokos (Mother of God)
On this earth Mary is the ultimate mom, the ultimate woman, the ultimate virgin … she is the mother of God. We don’t have a category for this, we just have Mary. No one else is the mother of God. She is the only one.
Standing by the cross of Jesus was his mother. When Jesus saw her there with John, he said, “Behold your mother.” And to his mother he said, “Behold your son.” And from that hour John took her into his home.
And now, two thousand years later, we can sing with the psalmist, not only of Zion but also of Mary:
One and all were born in her, and he who has established her is the Most High Lord. And all shall sing, in their festive dance: “My home is within you!”
In the beginning God walked peacefully and happy in his garden, along with his children Adam and Eve. Then, in an instant, everything changed. The children ate from one of the two forbidden trees, because the serpent told them they should. Adam hid, suddenly ashamed of what had been normal, now was not: his nakedness. God called him out, and Adam came out, and admitted his newfound knowledge.
I was afraid, I was ashamed, so I hid.
Tthen God spoke to Eve.
The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate the fruit from the tree.
And there was hell to pay. The serpent was banned from the garden first, and then the man and woman too. He spoke to the serpent:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head while you strike at his heel.
This is the world we have lived in ever since, until the angel came to Mary and said to her, “Hail Mary, full of grace. Blessed art thou among women.”
God invited Mary to focus on him and place his love for her above, below, and all around the “enmity.” She need not trouble herself with the serpent, that old foe the devil, and his accusations. They will slide off her and not stick. And her offspring? The baby? Oh yes, he will strike at that devil’s head, and he will not miss.
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the angel said, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
Eve looks into her Mother Mary’s eyes and says, “Thank you.” The gates of Eden are open again just a crack, and soon there will be no gates at all. No locks, no forbidding guards holding shimmering swords, and even fruit from the Tree of Life will be there for all of us to eat.
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, theotokos.
(Genesis 3, Acts 1, Psalm 87, John 19)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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