Advent Reflections Week 4 – The God-bearer

The final of four Advent reflections centred on Mary and her song in Luke 1:46-55.

“My soul magnifies the Holy One,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for she has looked with favour on the lowliness of her servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is her name.”

In the Eastern Orthodox church, Mary is known as the Theotokos, meaning “the God-bearer.” In Orthodox Christian art, Mary as the God-bearer is associated with the burning bush that Moses encounters. The bush burned with the fiery presence of God but remained whole, just as Mary contained God within her body but wasn’t consumed. One of my favourite interpretations of Mary as the Theotokos is by Simeon the New Theologian, a 10^th-century Byzantine monk. He writes that we are related to Mary in three ways. First, we are both God’s creatures. Second, because we share in Jesus’ flesh and blood, we also share in Mary’s, because Jesus inherits his humanity through Mary. Thirdly, we are like Mary because we too contain God. The Spirit of Christ has made her home in us. We too become God-bearers.[1] Symeon writes “Blessed are they who have seen the light of the world take form within themselves, for they, having Christ as an embryo within, shall be reckoned His mother, as He Himself Who does not lie has promised, saying: ‘Here are my mother and brothers and friends.’”[2] This is what I hear in the words of the famous carol: “O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.”

At several points in the Christmas story, we read that Mary treasures and ponders the Christmas mystery in her heart. This week is an invitation to take time to reflect on what it means to have the Spirit of Christ abiding within you. Quietly treasure and ponder Christ’s presence in you. Christ is within you, waiting to be made visible in the world. In our world which values action and productivity, we might want to immediately think about what we can do. But before we can know what action we’re called to, we must know deep in our bones that Christ dwells in us, that God desires us and that we can be at rest in God. Action will come later. For now, take a moment to sit and contemplate the presence of the God who is Love in you.

God within us,
Thank you for your friend Mary and all those who birth Christ into the world.
Thank you that you desire to be at home in us, and that we can be at home in you.
Thank you for times of quietness, and stillness in a busy and exhausting world.
May we rest in your love and be filled with your presence.

Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash

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[1] Symeon the New Theologian, On The Mystical Life: The Ethical Discourses, trans. Alexander Golitzin, vol. 1 (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995), 60.

[2] Symeon the New Theologian, 1:168.