Mary grew up in an extended family. She would have been accustomed to women being pregnant and having children. Women would have had their babies in the home. There was a great intimacy around a girl’s experience of pregnancy. Modern women might experience it as a time of little privacy but Mary would likely have experienced the attentiveness as comforting. Mary would have been surrounded by supportive family members, especially women, during her pregnancy and her birth. There may have been a particular midwife, someone skilled as a guide for bringing the mother and baby through the birthing process. It is also possible all the women in her family acted as midwife, in their turn, comforting her and supporting her as she needed. Mary is recorded in the Gospel as twice being away from her home during her pregnancy. The first time is her visit to her cousin Elizabeth written of in the Gospel according to Luke. Mary makes the journey to visit Elizabeth early on in her pregnancy. Luke highlights Mary’s vulnerability and ascribes to Mary a prayer, Mary’s Canticle. It begins, “My being proclaims your greatness, O God (who) has looked upon my lowliness with love.” Through Mary, all people’s vulnerability is highlighted in her prayer, “You God have deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places. You have filled the hungry with good things.” The second trip the Gospel records for Mary is one that took away from home, to Bethlehem. It is assumed in Matthew, “After Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem,” but explained in Luke, “In those days Caesar Augustus published a decree ordering a census.” “Joseph went from the town of Nazareth… to David’s town of Bethlehem.” Having Jesus born in Bethlehem may be a story devise by Matthew and Luke who write the Infancy Narratives. Scholars question if a census was ordered. If one had been ordered people would likely have registered for it in their own towns. This is especially likely for a woman so advanced in her pregnancy. It is also possible that a journey took place. The journey highlights people’s real life vulnerabilities under mighty ones who from their thrones make harmful decrees. The stories connect real people across history who have to undergo arduous experiences to bring new life to birth. Those born into lowliness experience in Mary’s story a confirmation of their blessedness. Every child born beckons us to seek and to find. If we are wise, we bow before women and children to receive their gifts and to bestow ours.
Prayer: Spirit of Pregnancy, guide us always in welcoming new life.
Question: Who are the persons experiencing hard times whom I can help support?
December 17, 2023 Gospel John 1:6-8 Third Sunday of Advent