The Virgin Mother | Holy Trinity Church Webster, NY

The following article has appeared in this bulletin twice before and was read as part of the homily for the fourth Sunday of Advent this year. Several people have asked if a copy of it may be obtained and so it is offered here below.

During World War II, a French writer being held captive by the Nazis was asked by his fellow POW’s to write a Christmas play. This writer was an atheist, but his words speak profoundly. As he describes the characters in his play, he writes this about Mary:

“The Virgin is pale as she looks at the child. If I were a painter, I would paint an anxious amazement on her face that has only appeared once on a human face. For the Christ is her child, the flesh of her flesh and the fruit of her womb. She carried him for nine months and she will feed him at her breast. Her milk will become the blood of God. For a minute the temptation is so strong that she forgets that he is God. She squeezes him in her arms and says – “My little one.”

But, at other times she remains bewildered and she thinks “This is God!?!” and she is overcome with awe for this silent God, this unique child.

All mothers have a moment when they feel like exiles in the presence of their own children, when they realize that the new life created inside of them has his or her own foreign thoughts. This particular child, most of all, exceeds the limits that his mother, Mary, can imagine.

But there are other moments, rapid and fleeting, when Mary perceives by faith that the Christ is her son, her little one, and that he is God. She looks at him and she thinks: “This is my child. This is divine flesh. He is made from me. He has my eyes, and the shape of his mouth is the shape of mine. He looks like me. He is God and He looks like me.”

Remember Christmas lasts for eight days. Share your joy!.

Fr. Tim

The Incarnation . . .Impress Your Friends.

Do you like fancy words? They can be fun sometimes just because they sound cool . . . anaphora, oxymoron, protean (look ’em up!).
Here’s your word for the Christmas Season – – – Incarnation. It means “to become flesh”. It’s what happened when your dad winked at your mom and she smiled back. Their love became incarnate . . . in you!

And that’s what happened when Mary said “Yes” to the Holy Spirit. God became incarnate in the child Jesus. The whole Christmas Season echo’s this one astounding fact – God the Invisible One has become a human being . . . and that means “in the flesh”.