The Holy Virgin becomes the Mother of God | 4th Sunday of Advent | Sunday Reflection

On this Sunday before Christmas, Isaiah and Matthew invite us to look again at the great mystery God places before us in these days: the Gift of Himself in the arms of the Virgin: “Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall name Him Emmanuel” (Matt 1:23; Isa 7:14). She is “the Virgin-Mother who presents her Son, Jesus Christ, to us” (Mater Populi Fidelis, 11). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary gives us God’s Son in the flesh. Through the Holy Spirit, the Church gives us that same Jesus in the Eucharist.

The Holy Spirit is mentioned several times in today’s liturgy, twice in the gospel, and again in the Prayer over the Offerings. The Prayer over the Offerings is striking in how it unites the Eucharist and the Incarnation. This prayer expresses how at Mass, the Holy Spirit sanctifies the bread and wine on the altar “just as He filled with His power the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” The gift given us at Mass is the gift given to us in Mary at the Annunciation. The gift is Christ the Lord, God-with-us, God for us. No wonder, then, that ancient churches depicted the Blessed Virgin giving us her Child because there, at the Eucharistic altar, that Child is given to us through the same Holy Spirit who filled Mary’s womb.

In some ancient churches, there was an image of Mary in the apse, that is, on the wall behind the altar. Such images were not merely signs of what today might be called “Marian devotion.” They were much more than that. The idea of Marian devotion as something separate would have seemed strange to earlier Christians. Mary was central. She was part of Christian life since she was an essential part of Christ’s life. Mary wasn’t an added extra. The Church, since Pentecost, gathered around the Mother of God who is also Mother of the Church. Indeed, since the Epiphany, the Church of all nations present in the magi, gathered around the Child and His Mother (Matt 2:11). No wonder every nation has its own tender depiction of the Holy Mother.

In ancient basilicas, Mary was often depicted above the altar, not as an added extra, but as the guarantee of the truth of the mysteries celebrated at the altar—the reality of the Lord’s Body and Blood offered up, given to us, and ever-present in the Most Holy Eucharist. Only through Mary did God truly become Emmanuel—“God with us” in the flesh. Bishop Eric Varden puts this well:

The Virgin Mary was given pride of place in the sanctuary, above the altar on which the Sacred Mysteries were enacted, not as an added extra to enliven piety, but as the Guarantor of the Mysteries’ embodied realism. Even as Christ our Lord was incarnate in the Virgin’s flesh at a given, datable moment of history, so too He is really present in the Eucharistic sacrifice.

Mary accompanies us closely these days before Christmas. She is the atmosphere of our faith. She is the “yes” without which the Incarnation and Redemption could not have happened. She is the “yes” to God in whom we make our “yes” to God. In her, God does the impossible from a natural point of view. Not only does the Virgin become mother, she becomes the Mother of God. She is the “Masterpiece of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism Compendium). The Holy Spirit fills her with God so that God can be with us entirely, so that He can fill His people again with His presence, His grace, and His healing. In her Divine Child, we recognize what we are to be. And before this mystery, we fall on our knees in wonder and gratitude.

We are grateful for your support of Saint John’s Seminary this year. Our wish for each of you this Christmas is best expressed in the words of Cardinal Newman:

May each Christmas, as it comes, find us more and more like Him, who at this time became a little Child for our sake—more humble, more holy, more affectionate, more resigned, more happy, more full of God.