The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
I love the tradition of Christmas cards. While I have never been pulled together enough to send them, I am nevertheless grateful for the ones I do receive. These cards then adorn my mantle, each a reminder of a grace in my life. After the updates and stories have been read, it is these family photos on the mantle that tug at my heart. It's a joy to see the growing families, especially those from couples whose weddings I presided over or who I pastored for years. Love has borne fruit, and that love doesn’t just look like them; it smiles, stands, and even seems to share their personality traits. Each card is a chance to give thanks and to see a window into how the Lord enters into and shares his love.
When we celebrate Mary, mother of God, we celebrate the motherhood of Mary as a means to teach that Jesus Christ was truly divine and truly human. She is not merely the mother of His humanity, but because within her womb He chose to unite those two natures in his person, Mary is also the mother of God. It is in her womb that divinity united itself with human nature. In praising Mary as the mother of God, we’re proclaiming that she provided Him with a body that, by grace, was also truly divine. This day is a window, a small card to be placed on the mantle of our hearts pointing to his divinity; and, in the way He was truly human and shared Mary’s traits, it points to the fact that the Lord wanted to enter into our lowliness.
Embracing this desire of the Lord to unite Himself with us is difficult because so often we feel as though perfection means eliminating what makes us human and becoming angelic—or, when perfection seems so far off, as though the angels would never consort with the likes of us. The truth is, the Lord desired to unite Himself with us and go beyond consorting with us—to become like us. He knows us and does not distance himself from us. He’s not afraid to share our traits in our joys, and he does not run from our sorrow or pain. The Lord wants to be in our family photo for all to see and know.
Fr. Ryan Higdon is the pastor of St. Louis Catholic Church, Bishop Louis Reicher Catholic School, and St. Philip Mission in Waco, Texas. He has served at St. Mary’s at A&M and College Station, St. Joseph’s in Bryan, and currently serves on the college of consultors for the Diocese of Austin.
