TODAY IS THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT, a day on which Christians traditionally read the Magnificat, the prophetic song of Mary.
This post originally appeared in the Sojourners blog in 2008. That December, I opened a window on my Advent calendar every day and wrote an impromptu reflection about the surprise in the window that greeted me.
Window 19
As the days grow shorter, darker, and colder, our longing for the light intensifies. In these lengthened days of winter, the Advent calendar window opened to reveal Mary, the mother of Jesus, the one who carried light into the world.
When I was a child, I always loved unwrapping the crèche. It gave me special joy to find Mary, swaddled in last year's newspaper, resting in the box. I would tenderly free her, cradle the blue-clad figurine, give her a secret Protestant kiss, and place her in the manger. Her serene motherhood embodied holiness.
Over the years, Mary has not ceased being a compelling biblical hero to me — and I have learned how this woman reflects the hopes and longings of Christians through many ages. To me, and her countless admirers, she has been — among other images — the pious mother, the face of the divine feminine, a faithful disciple, and the even the queen of heaven.
Her glory, however, is almost always connected to her maternity. Mary is Mary because of Jesus. But before she was Jesus' mother, Mary was a prophet. In some ways, her story is like that of Isaiah, a person of humble circumstance who lived at a time of political turmoil and military oppression. An angel appears to the future prophet, who feels inadequate to bear God's word to the people. Yet, eventually, both Isaiah and Mary relent and submit to the Spirit's call on their lives.
And, long before the cry of the infant in the manger, Mary proclaims the in-breaking of God's reign, the political justice that will be born into the world:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever (Luke 1:46-55).
Yes, Mary is Mary because of Jesus. But Jesus was born Jesus because of Mary, who responded to the call of God, as did Isaiah of old: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord." Without her, the light would not have shined forth amid the oppression and injustice.
From Sojourners, December 22, 2008
No one can celebrate
a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have
everything, look down on others,
those who have no need
even of God — for them there
will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
those who need someone
to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God.
— Oscar Romero
As a woman in labour who longs for the birth,
I long for you, O God;
and as she is weary to see the face of her child,
so do I seek your deliverance.
She cries out, she pants, because her pain is great,
and her longing is beyond measure;
her whole body is groaning in travail
until she shall be delivered.
My soul hungers for you
as the child for her mother’s breast;
like the infant who cries out in the night,
who waits in the dark to be comforted.
At night I will cry for your justice,
and in the morning I will seek you early;
for you O God are the source of my salvation,
and all my nourishment is found in you.
— Janet Morley
God made known
in the friendship of women,
the word of greeting
and unseen life enwombed:
give us the courage
of the teenage mother
who brings into the world
a song of joyful revolt
and a God who needs her love;
through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come.
— Steven Shakespeare
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AMEN and thank you . It is a beautifuo way to begin this fourth Sunday in Advent. May her strength continue to shine through to the world in the coming year {s} through us and some of us our own prophetic voices for our times. Thank God for your prophetic voice ;Diana.
It seems to me that God has never sent the rich away empty but in the awful freedom of existence, God has allowed the rich themselves to reject the gift.