We get a sense of Mary, a woman who has been well-prepared for a role as homemaker by her mother. She is a woman who loves the world, loves life, and can see God in every part of it. Her parents thought that she would find it difficult to find a husband as she was too ‘headstrong’, but
I just wanted a strong love and a deep passion, and a way to channel this energy and faith and knowledge of God which was boiling inside me.
She describes herself as having a tremendous presence of God, the beliefs infusing everything that she’s doing, although they sometimes frighten her
I simply believe in God like I believe in the flowers and the trees and the birds and the seasons. God is there, with me and for me.
“God is not a thing… God is the lens through which I look upon everything and receive everything.” She suspects that others see her as mad, holy or deeply religious, but indicates that she’s simply a girl who wants to “seize hold of life and all its benefits”, living every moment as if its the only one she’ll ever have. We get a sense of the confusion as she takes in the import of the words, especially understanding how she can be with child as a virgin… it’s all too big to take in, but “it is as if heavy has reached down to earth, and touched me.”
This chapter is interwoven with lines from Christmas carols, as Mary seeks to understand, thinks how she’ll explain to Joseph, how the world will perceive what is happening, but the words of the angel she holds onto “nothing is impossible with God”.
#Advent20
Just picking the bit I love from Brian’s reflections from today - how are we being shaped by this journey:
Let your ‘inner quality of aliveness’ burn, like a candle.
Go with the waxing and waning of the spiritual life.
Celebrate beauty in a myriad shades and textures (it’s not all back and white!).
Hope, don’t keep wishing.
Nurture patience, and be ripened like a fruit
