The Interior Life

​A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, January 1st, 2023:
The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

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Luke
2.16-21

The shepherds went with haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the Angel before he was conceived in the womb.

January 1st has the distinction of being the day the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Quite an impressive title – one of many we assign to Mary. We have a lot of theology, teaching, and dogma around Mary, a woman who is mentioned more in the Qur’an than she is in the Bible.

What we do see of Mary in the Bible is rich and meaningful, but it’s more snapshots rather than a documentary. She receives the annunciation. She bursts out in the celebratory song of the Magnificat. She gives birth after a perilous journey. She loses Him during a journey to Jerusalem. She asks Him to turn water into wine at a wedding. She walks alongside Him and waits in agony at the foot of the Cross. 

Every part of Mary’s story is told entirely in the context of Jesus. Her story starts out big – the virgin Mother of God – and then we hear only bits and pieces. For the Mother of God (and Mother of the King), the outside of her life is essentially unchanged. She has no earthly castle or crown. She gets no earthly acclaim. Her faithfulness is seen by Heaven and not by men.

The Gospel for this Sunday reminds us of her rich interior life. After all of the drama leading up to this moment, she is silent, reflecting on the wonders happening around her. She doesn’t make a fuss, even though she has just given birth. She takes the amazement of the shepherds and later the three kings, and assumes no glory for herself. She treasures the moment in her heart, and does not grasp for attention.

Mary is the model of the perfect Christian. She gave everything without remainder to Jesus, and over the course of the Gospel she asks only for things that will benefit others. She is for Him and for others. I can but imagine how her heart overflowed with the Holy Spirit, infused with grace and love. It is through her “yes” that she found herself in that moment and through all that followed.

But her “yes” wasn’t a one-time thing. Her “yes” was an everyday acceptance of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in her very being. What a beautiful example she is, showing us that we should always seek God’s will and not ours, in good times and bad – and that, when we have God in us, anything is possible.

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Stephanie Potter

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