Words of Hope: Marian Point of View
I am struck by the obedience and willingness of Mary to become the mother of Jesus. Her song of gratitude to God for this blessing stuns me. She must have had to grasp the reality of the intense suffering she could face. Pregnancy out of wedlock could have resulted in stoning. Women who were pregnant out of wedlock where shunned, unable to attend religious functions, unable to gather at the well with other women. They were outcasts. Mary never mentions this in her prayer.
Instead, Mary turns what so much of the world valued on its head. In her prayer in Luke 1, she glorifies God because He will fill the hungry and send the rich away empty handed. She tells how God scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts and brings down the powerful from their thrones. This is not what social media says. Right now, self-promotion is admired, social media recommends touting yourself.
What also gets promoted today is that the powerful will control the world. I consider ways my mind might be stuck in the temporal worry and fascination of our times. I remember when Communism fell. It seemed like it would reign for a thousand years. When I visited East Berlin in 1989, two people had just been shot a few days before I arrived attempting to cross from East to West. I wondered when it would end? I couldn’t believe the odds that I would be in Germany a year later watching the wall come down.
Mary isn’t caught in the wondering of the current political climate or how her vision of blessing through the generations would come to fruition. Mary speaks of life beyond the here and now. She sees with eternal eyes and an eternal mindset. She says, “From now on all generations will call me blessed.”
As I read her beautiful song of gratitude to God I ask, “What is God asking of me during this advent season? How can I set my mind on things above like Mary?”
“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” – Colossians 3:1-3
