“For as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you” (Isaiah 62:5).
God fell in love with the faith of a young Jewish woman to the point of madness. It led him to be stunned, to betroth humanity and take the form of a servant within Mary’s womb (see Philippians 2:7). As soon as she said “Yes,” God began to save humanity. God began at that instant to proclaim the Good News, the joy of the Gospel — from that moment, God is in us, with us and among us.
Thanks to Mary, humanity became pregnant with the power of the Spirit to defeat Satan: Her offspring “will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel” (Genesis 3:15). “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41). “For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:50).
Let us ask the Spirit of God to continue filling all aspects of our existence in such a way that, like Mary, we can beget Jesus in our families, our society and our world. Mary bore Jesus for nine months in her womb. Like Mary and every pregnant woman, let’s experience sudden cravings for sweet tenderness and silence, sudden nausea from violence, dizziness from the lack of security and anguish in the face of a hazy future.
Let’s decorate the inner room with reasons of peace, joy, innocence and protection. Let’s dream hopefully that the new life, which is growing in our soul, will bring new wisdom to try unexplored forms of fraternity, justice and forgiveness like Mary, contemplating her belly swollen with joyful hope in the future.
May the shadow of the Divine Spirit also cover our minds to make us understand that nothing is impossible for our Father and Creator, who made a virginal womb fertile by preserving it in purity. “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now” (Romans 8:22).
As she did with the first disciples of her son, Mary continues and will continue forever accompanying each of us, the believers, to persevere with joy even when the pains of the pregnancy of our heart and soul seem, at times, unbearable. Like Mary, may the Divine Spirit of God’s love make us give birth in the Nativity scenes, the Nazareths and the Galilees of our lives, while we continue on pilgrimage in this global village, where today he will give birth to the son of Mary, who continues to redeem all creation.
From the depths of the loving bosom of the fertilized creation, the Spirit and the bride cry out: “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). Like Mary, the Spirit will undoubtedly make us unblemished.