Notebook
Dear Mary,
It’s Advent time again, which for you equates to the last month of your pregnancy all those years ago. Down through the years a lot has been said and written about your son’s birth in Bethlehem. Famous artists have tried to depict not only that famous night but also the day you first heard that you were going to be a mother to a very important baby boy. I have always been sceptical how most of those artists depicted your conversation with the Angel Gabriel. You always seemed to be so calm and serene, surrounded by beautiful flowers and gorgeous buildings. Then I came across a rather untypical painting of The Annunciation which I suspect was a little closer to how things really were for you. Henry Tanner’s painting shows you as a young girl sitting on a rather dishevelled bed, with a great light in front of you. The angel has just spoken to you and you are just sitting there with your mouth open, dumbfounded. You have this stunned look on your face which says: “You must be having me on. How can this be?” You are confused and even scared to the point that the angel is compelled to say to you: “Do not be afraid.”
Hence Tanner’s painting appeals to me. Afraid! How could you not have been afraid? Over the years we have tried to airbrush what it must have been really like for you and Joseph and your parents, Joachim and Anne. Living in a small village where everyone knew everyone’s business, you are engaged to Joseph but how are you going to tell him your news. He will know that it can’t be his child. How did you translate what Gabriel told you about your special child in a way that would make any kind of sense to Joseph and your parents not to mention the Nazarene neighbours? Honestly, it was all a bit too much to ask of you. What happened to you Mary and how you were able to cope with it could only have come about because you were so close to God. Only your extraordinary trust in God enabled you to say ‘Yes’, to this extraordinary request. You knew from your Jewish history that you were not the first that God had asked to do difficult things. Like yourself, Moses and Isaiah and others had been asked and they too had protested that they were not suitable. But when God calls it is not easy to turn him down. It had to be from an amazing place of faith and love and trust that you were able to say yes. You were so eloquent: “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me.”
Joys
I’m sure you had unspeakable joys as the mother of the most famous baby boy in history but that difficult ‘yes’ you gave to Gabriel was not the last one. And I’m not naive enough to think that your great faith and trust spared you the pain and the fear each time some new thing was asked of you. That image of you holding the lifeless body of your 33-year-old son, taken down from the cross has touched humanity for two thousand years.
Mary, this year, as I’m sure you know, six mothers died in my parish who had already buried one or more of their children. Three other young women died whose mothers are still alive and had to stand at their gravesides, brokenhearted. I felt helpless in the face of such terrible loss. On those very sad days I was drawn back to you and how you were the only one who could really understand their grief.
Mary, I know that your ‘yes’ brought you pain but they also brought you indescribable peace and joy. You said as much when you sang to your cousin Elizabeth: “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant…for the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is his name.”
This Advent, help me to follow your lead and say yes to God anew whatever the cost.
Mary did you know…
(Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan)
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm the storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God
Shop early!
l It was Christmas, and the judge was in a good mood as he asked the prisoner, “What are you charged with?”
“Doing my Christmas shopping early,” replied the defendant. “That’s no offence,” said the judge. “How early were you doing this shopping?”
“Before the shop opened,” said the prisoner.