Mary's song of Faith

In a cold cave in a Palestinian backwater, Mary cradled her newborn. After a long, hard journey, despite the strain of a first and unexpected pregnancy, she joyfully welcomed the child Messiah. In creating a cradle for God, the circle of her arms changed this lost, sorrowful world forever!
Years later, on that horrible Friday, she stood by her son in the final moments of his agony. Betrayed and abandoned by his friends, abused and condemned for daring to speak of a loving God, he was hung on a cross. Mary completed the journey with her son to the bitter end. Before his body was consigned to a cave, she cradled it one last time.
Last Tuesday we celebrated the great feast of Mary’s Assumption. Now, the Mother of God becomes the daughter of God. The God she welcomed into the world now welcomes her into Heaven. The Christ who held her hand as a boy, now takes her hand and leads her into the dwelling place of his Father. Her song, her lullaby, that rocked the Child to sleep, the lullaby she whispered as she said goodbye, now comforts this confused, lost, angry world. She who gave life to the Christ child is now reborn in Christ’s resurrection!
As the “first disciple” of her son, Mary is a model for us as to what it means to truly be a disciple of Jesus. As she welcomed the Christ child, we are called to welcome the Christ of compassion and peace into our midst. As she journeyed with her son to Jerusalem, we are called to journey with him, and take up our crosses. As she held the broken body of her son, we are called to hold and support and heal one another in our brokenness and pain. As the faithful Mary realized the promise of her son’s resurrection, that same promise will be realized in our own lives, when her arms of love and generosity become our arms, when her song of faith and hope becomes our song!