Advent – The First Week

The Annunciation – Henry Ossawa Tanner

Wisdom and grace are so often connected to Mary.  That in the fiat she exercised the ultimate freedom in offering all she was to the service of God.  I think this is the great contradiction that so many modern atheists fail to grasp.  If you haven’t already heard about the controversy in Washington over the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s display you might want to watch this video:

The card reads “There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”  I am sorry (not really), but that is just so much willfully stupid post modern sentimentality and naivete.  There is the underlying supposition that if there was no religion that people would have no differences and nothing to fight over.  It is John Lennon’s simplistic ideology morphed into a misbegotten creed which ignores not only human nature but all the good that religious feeling and belief have added to the world and totally ignoring the real evils and wrongs committed by those individuals and regimes with no faith.  But somehow I don’t think these people really bother with thinking things through very far.  They have a belief and will not look at anything that might weaken that belief.  And they accuse people of faith of being the illogical ones… sort of funny in a sad way. 

And it is of course the exact opposite of Mary’s simple declaration of faith and submission..  It is somewhat ironic that (arguably) the most praised, honored and respected of woman in all history is a  girl who did nothing more important that have a baby.  I know that thought probably makes many woman bristle.   We girls are taught early on that having a baby is NOT what makes a woman important.  Certainly it is nothing to be proud of or take any satisfaction in.  Motherhood is fine if you really want to be ghettoized in the suburbs with endless boring days of play-dates and grocery shopping but it isn’t important or really fulfilling.  No woman really worth any notice, no one any girl should aspire to would be just a mom.  Anyone who praises motherhood or is happy being just a mom must be wrapped in the social constraints of a cruel misogynistic patriarchy that only values woman for their wombs.  Just look at the most important woman in the Catholic church who is only important for the babe she bore.

But then that pesky reality intrudes again and despite all the decrying of how life draining, unimportant, unfulfilling and useless to the world motherhood is there are plenty of us who embrace this life and love it.  How we ever managed to free our minds from the endless conditioning that we had in public schools and college is nothing short of a miracle.  For those of us called to this vocation Mary’s journey to Bethlehem is a model.  I don’t think all women are called to motherhood – or even called to it the same way – there are some woman who are called to balance career and family in unique ways for the glory of God and the betterment of the world.  But for many of us modern women who looking to fulfill this vocation in a small and simple way Mary is the ultimate example. We leave behind what we have been taught to desire career, fame, or economic independence, and find joy in the simple things, the small and poor things.  There is where we see our star and follow it, no matter where it might us led even to that lowly stable long ago and the mother who was brave enough to say yes.