This is a feast of ‘Yes’. Mary’s yes to the invitation to bear a child. Joseph’s yes to be with Mary and our yes to allow God to be born in our hearts.

The celebration of the Octave of Christmas allows us to celebrate both the divinity and the humanity of Jesus. The ‘Word made Flesh’ born of a woman. Very often the devotional depictions of idyllic crib scenes can diminish the drama that is played out at the birth of this child. The Mary we encounter at the birth of Jesus, is not the idealised image of a mature woman in white that we have in many of our churches.

Mary was a young Jewish woman, far from home and family, carrying a child that her ‘yes’ enabled to be born of a woman. There is great drama being played out here that we can gloss over quite glibly.  The faith of this young woman is for us a monumental example of stepping out in faith into the unknown. The question we can ask ourselves is, how strong is my faith?   Do I step out in faith at times in my life?

Our Christmas story tells us that after the shepherds left, Mary was left to ‘ponder and treasure’ all that she had heard.

Let our mantra today be: ‘Strengthen my ‘yes’ to your invitation this day.’

by Anne Surtees osu