We are each like our own mother in some way or another. Even if we have never known our real mother, we still share her DNA. Some part of her is written within us.
As Christians we are blessed to have two mothers: our biological, earthly mother who brought our life into this world and our heavenly mother, Mary, who sustains that life.
Mary is the mother of the Church, but she is more deeply connected with each one of us individually than we may think.
Through the Eucharist, we are assimilated into Jesus’ own body, transfiguring into His likeness. Therefore, Mary, who is biologically and spiritually Jesus’ real mother, in fact becomes just as real of a mother to us as our own biological mothers here on earth.
Filled with grace
The Angelus prayer reveals this truth.
As we pray the Angelus, we are reminded that Mary, who is full of grace, was able to receive the conception of Christ by the Holy Spirit. By this grace, she was able to give her assent to God’s plan of salvation.
So too, through this prayer, we ask to be filled with grace as Mary is, a grace freely given to us at our baptism.
It is by this grace that Christ can be more fully present within us. By this grace, the Holy Spirit can bring Christ to the world through our faith and charity.
It is also through faith-filled grace that we are saved by His passion and cross, for it is by the grace given us that we are able to fully assent to the Holy Spirit’s work within us, even the conception of Christ. We are one within Him, as He is in us. “As the Father is in me, so I am in the Father” (John 14:11).
Our “yes” mimics the “yes” of our mother. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your will.” Our “yes” will bring Christ here to earth, within us, to all humanity. It will bring His kingdom to our world, which by His death and resurrection has already been inaugurated. We are, in fact, already bringing Christ and His kingdom to others each day by our daily “yes.”
Scripture tells us that when we do something for the least of these – feed the poor, clothe the naked, satisfy the thirsty – we are doing so to Jesus Himself. We are acting as
Him in this life, patterning our life after Him, to attend to Him.
As Paul tells us, we are all one in Christ. The Church, with Mary as its mother, is one body. So what we do to the least of these, we are doing not only in Christ’s name, but to Christ Himself. Just as Mary cared for Him, nursed Him, clothed Him, fed Him, gave Him drink, we too serve Him daily with our humble “yes.”
Therefore, like our mother Mary, by our “yes” we are worthy of the glory of Christ’s resurrection.
Lives transformed
Mary’s purity, her fullness of grace, allowed her to ascend body and soul into heaven. She was sinless. Unfortunately, we are not. Yet, through our own free will and by the grace given to us at baptism, we can transform our life to be more and more like her in our response to others around us each day.
Mary protects us, prays for us, and directs us toward her Son. She is our new mother figure for Advent.
Imagine Mary in the stable at Bethlehem. You are the baby she holds in her arms as she looks at you lovingly through the lens of God. He is our Father, who is well pleased with us so long as we keep ourselves in Jesus Christ.
“As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem” (Isaiah 66:13).
This Advent, ask Mary to keep you in Christ, always watchful and humble and fully present to Him as He is in you.
April Parker is a member of St. Pius X Parish in Greensboro and the assistant principal of St. Pius X School.