When Mary said "yes" to Gabriel, "yes" to God's gentle invitation to become the mother of God's Son, surrendering to God's Will for her, the Infant Jesus began to grow within her body, drawing life and nourishment from her. Whenever we say "yes" to God's gentle - or not so gentle - invitations to do His Will, whatever His Will is for us, God's Presence, which is always within us, becomes more visible to us, grows more powerful in us, is able to work more through us. The Infant Jesus took His nourishment from Mary. But, when we set God free to live more fully in us, God begins to nourish us!
Saying "yes" to God can be a frightening proposition. But if God gives us something to do and we say "yes," God gives us the help we need to accomplish His purpose with us and through us. Saying "yes" to God always brings us into greater and greater experiences of community. Mary probably wondered how she could possibly explain her pregnancy to Joseph. But God prepared Joseph to understand the miracle that was happening. So Mary was no longer alone with her miracle child - she had Joseph's support now. When Mary traveled to visit with her cousin Elizabeth, probably also to help her during her pregnancy and childbirth, she discovered that Elizabeth too knew about her miracle child. Again, Mary had support from a beloved cousin as she accepted God's Will for herself. When Mary had to travel far from family and friends because of the census, a complete stranger offered his stable for refuge.
Yet often saying "yes" to God means saying "yes" to carrying our personal. heavy crosses. When Jesus left his parents and family during their pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and they only found him after three days of searching, imagine the terror in Mary's and Joseph's hearts! Yet, when they found him in the Temple, Mary must have realized that she and Joseph had taught their child well: already he knew that God was his Father; already he knew that the holiest place in Jerusalem was the Temple. Yet I also wonder if, watching the faces of the priests as Jesus questioned them and debated with them, did Mary sense that any of them resented her child or feared her child? Part of the cross of being a good parent is realizing that, if you raise your children to love God, you are also raising them to carry the cross of not being part of the in - crowd, being the one to choose the harder and sometimes lonelier path climbing up the mountain to the Lord, being the one whose honesty and holiness is feared and resented.
If doing God's Will often brings us wonderful communities to live with and serve with, saying "yes" to God also leads us to incredible loneliness of spirit. Imagine how being Jesus' first, most faithful disciple and follower affected and changed Mary's life, as being a disciple changes ours. Imagine her loneliness! Where did she have to travel to in order to see him? How often did she have to listen to family and friends ridicule what Jesus was saying or doing, and even question her for believing in him? Especially when he was arrested, can you imagine how family and friends might have wanted to get her away from Jerusalem, out of fear for her life? I cannot even begin to imagine the horror of watching your child's torture and excruciating walk to Calvary, those hours of watching him slowly die. How surely a sword must have pierced her heart as a lance pierced his side.
Mary's life also teaches us that if we surrender to God, if we say "yes" to God's Will, if we accept heavy crosses in our lives, we too with Mary will also experience resurrection and new life. Imagine her joy and peace when our Risen Lord appeared to her! Recollect how often God gives us peace and joy even unexpectedly in the darkest hours of our lives: through the hand or voice of a friend, through an unexpected gift, through a turning in our life journey that we never would have dreamed was possible. The Holy Spirit always is doing something new in our lives to give us peace, joy, and the will to continue our own journey, whether it is a new job or ministry, a new life partner, a new way to be creative and share our gifts, a new community to love.
Mary never stopped being open to new people and places as she followed Jesus and God's Will for her. She opened her heart to Jesus' apostles and disciples. After Jesus' death, the apostle John took her into his home, and tradition tells us that, for John's sake and ministry, she left her home country, all her relatives and friends behind, and traveled with him to Ephesus. Bishop Robert Barron tells us in his Gospel meditation for today:
"We are told that “from that hour the disciple took her into his home.” This text supports an ancient tradition that the Apostle John would have taken Mary with him when he travelled to Ephesus in Asia Minor and that both ended their days in that city. Indeed, on the top of a high hill overlooking the Aegean Sea, just outside of Ephesus, there is a modest dwelling that tradition holds to be the house of Mary."
Mary knew that, even after her miraculous child left her body, he was still always with her. Wherever she went, whatever she was doing, God as Father, Son, and Spirit, was with her in her spirit, lifting her up, holding her fast, inspiring her with wisdom, creativity, and courage. Once she totally opened her heart to the Father as a child, He gave her the gift of his Son. Once she relinquished God's Son, her Son, back to the Father, the Father blessed her with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. We can learn, as Mary did, that once we surrender our lives to God, God is never outdone in generosity. We can learn, as Mary did, that our lives and hearts can hold as many people and places and experiences as God gives us. All we have to do is say "yes," over and over, every minute of every day.
We must never forget that the tradition of the Church is that when Jesus, dying on the cross, gave Mary to John as his mother, he also gave Mary to us as our mother. As Pope Francis says, there is room under Mary's cloak for every one of us. In her life, Mary was daughter, wife, mother, cousin, friend, disciple, someone who also traveled far from home and carried many burdens.
She understood - and understands - both laughter and tears. She is not only Queen of the world but mother of the world. May we remember to pray to her every day, because, if we do, she will bring us unfailingly during life and death to the tender embrace of her Son.