Thinking of the stable or the cave, wherever it was that teenage Mary gave birth to her son Jesus, one can't help wondering where she got her courage.
I have always been drawn to stories of what led people to become lovers of Mary. This year, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, I had the privilege of hearing a talk by one of these lovers, Jon Sweeney, associate publisher of Paraclete Press in Massachusetts. He devoted the day to underscoring Mary's "unique place between the earth and the divine."
Sweeney, a 40-year-old husband, father and Episcopalian, stated outright, "I fell in love with Mary a few years ago." As he began seeking to learn more of this young woman, it was evident that there were "generations of allusions in the Hebrew Scriptures and teachings in the synagogues" about the special mother to come.
He pointed out that Isaiah 7:14 proclaims: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the Virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."
When Sweeney was 19 he was a missionary in the Philippines who tried to get "devout Catholics" to become Baptists. But he found himself instead drawn to "the Catholic mind and way."
He explained, "The Catholic imagination is powerful in ways that the Protestant imagination cannot match.... While Protestant spirituality focuses on the word of God (preaching it, hearing it, applying it) in order to repair the separation that divides us from God, Catholic spirituality focuses on finding, lifting and releasing the Spirit of God that is sometimes hidden or latent in the world around us."
As Sweeney focused on Mary, he concluded that "the central act of Mary's life was one in which she was also acted upon by God. Did she have the option to say no? We'll never know for sure. But she didn't say no, and her womb became a "strange heaven," in the words of poet John Donne. This description perhaps best summarized the feeling that many people, all of us onlookers, have toward Mary's life and vocation. It was strange indeed."
Not surprisingly, Sweeney went deep into research about Mary, and his findings are in a beautiful book he titled "Strange Heaven: The Virgin Mary as Woman, Mother, Disciple and Advocate" (Paraclete Press).
"I encourage you to take a new look at who Mary was.... Mary is placed at the center of salvation history. Not only did Mary give birth to Jesus, and not only was she the first person to have faith in him and his mission, but also she was the one who presented Jesus to the world."
As Sweeney spoke to us about his experience of getting to know Mary, he revealed, "She changed my life."
That's what this teenage virgin who said yes to the most incredible invitation from heaven did for all of us, something we remember every beautiful Christmas Day.
Antoinette Bosco is an author and columnist with Catholic News Service. |