Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
"Take your place on the great mandala, as it moves through your brief moment of time." The Boom generation remembers the song of Peter, Paul, and Mary, The Great Mandala, subtitled, The Wheel of Time. The speakers of that line were the parents, jailers, and unnamed millions who surrendered to the force compelling people, cities, and nations of every age into war.
Depending upon historians and their outlook, endless war seems inevitable and perhaps necessary on a dynamic planet. Climate change, mismanagement of resources, and overpopulation force people to migrate from place to place; and when the last arable site is claimed as property, immigrants use violence to take and occupy it for themselves.
The popular folksingers, of course, were protesting a war driven by ideological conflict between communism and capitalism. As Christians we can recognize the roots of those ideologies in the more familiar, less prosaic sins of fear, mistrust, greed, and selfishness. Today's ideologies, whether they be communism, capitalism, or the lastest, hottest idiocy -- transgenderism -- they are only window dressing for Original Sin. That is, the sin of Adam, Eve, and their children.
On the Feast of the Birth of Mary (her nativity) we celebrate the place she found not in the great mandala but in God's will. It was necessary but not inevitable. She had a choice, as Saint Luke clearly describes her response to the Angel's message. Although Gabriel seemed to give her no choice when he said, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus." she clearly had one. For we remember her response, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary heard God's voice in the Angel's words. They certainly sounded with the authority of God, but the Angel needed her response. Heaven and earth depended upon it, but she had a choice.
With her fiat -- "I am the handmaid of the Lord." -- Mary acknowledged her vocation in God's plan. It may have been inchoate until that moment -- which of us knows what we're called to, or capable of, until we do it? -- but she accepted the position with its privilege, dangers and mystery; as did Joseph, Jesus, Saint Paul, the Apostles and all the saints. She could not deny herself.
As Adam and Eve had. The first couple's decision set the pattern for the great mandala, but it was never inevitable. Everyone has a choice; every generation of every society, city, and nation has a choice.
Today we watch as American cities decide they should honor our American heritage and spirit as sanctuary cities against the crushing force of Trump's totalitarianism. Some will buckle; perhaps all. Catholics must not.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.