Ave Maria by Pope Francis

Author:Pope Francis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2019-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

The Lord Became Incarnate in Mary

Mother of God is Our Lady’s most important title. But a question might arise: why do we say Mother of God and not Mother of Jesus? Some in the past wanted to stop there, but the Church has affirmed: Mary is Mother of God. We should be grateful, because these words contain a splendid truth about God and about us. Namely that ever since the Lord became incarnate in Mary, since then and forever he bears our humanity as an integral part of himself. No longer is God without man: the flesh that Jesus took from his Mother is his even now, and will be so forever. Saying Mother of God reminds us of this: God is close to humanity like a baby to the mother who carries him in her womb.

The word “mother” (mater) is also related to the word “matter.” In his Mother, the God of heaven, the infinite God, became small; he became matter, to be not only with us but also like us. Here is the miracle, here is the breakthrough: man is no longer alone, never an orphan again, he is forever a son. The year opens with this breakthrough. And we proclaim it like this, saying: “Mother of God!” It is the joy of knowing that our loneliness has been defeated. It is the beauty of knowing that we are beloved children, of knowing that this childhood of ours can never be taken away. It is to see ourselves in the mirror of the delicate infant God in his Mother’s arms, and to know that humanity is dear and sacred to the Lord. Therefore serving human life is serving God, and every life, from the mother’s womb to old age, in suffering and illness, when it is unsettling and even repugnant, must be welcomed, loved, and assisted.

[In the Gospel for Christmas], only one thing is said about the Mother of God: she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). She kept them. She simply kept them. Mary does not speak: the Gospel does not report so much as one word from her in the whole Christmas story. In this too the Mother is united with her Son: Jesus is an infant, meaning “without speech.” He, the Word of God who “in times past…spoke in partial and various ways” (Heb 1:1), now in the “fullness of time” (Gal 4:4) is mute. The God before whom one falls silent is a baby who cannot speak. His majesty is wordless, his mystery of love reveals itself in the small. Silent and small is the language of his kingship. The Mother follows her Son and keeps things in silence.

[…] Mary kept, the Gospel continues, “all these things, reflecting on them.” What were these things? They were joys and sorrows: on the one hand the birth of Jesus, the love of Joseph, the visit of the shepherds, that radiant night. But on the other hand: an uncertain future;

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