Brother and sisters, during the octave before Christmas, we prayed the following words from the preface: “…The Virgin Mother longed for him with love beyond all telling…” On this Christmas night, enveloped as we are by the great mystery of God become man, let us try to enter into Our Lady’s love beyond all telling: What moved her to so great a love? How did she express this love? And how can we share in this exchange of love? Her love beyond all telling includes her desire that we, too, should share in the great mystery of our religion, that is, her Child Jesus who is our God and savior, Christ and Lord.
Of course, Our Lady did not approach mystery of the incarnation with the erudition of a Church Father. She was a young woman, a simple Jewish maiden and wife, and in the last days of her pregnancy. I assume she would have been familiar, at least to some extent, having listened to her parents and the synagogue liturgy, with the words we have just heard proclaimed: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone.” Darkness and gloom are all too present in our world today, but what seems to have inspired her love beyond all telling was God’s fidelity. God is faithful. God wants to penetrate the gloom of this world and bring to light the mystery that surrounds us. He, indeed, shows his fidelity by binding the strong one, that is, the devil, retrieving his spoils, and smashing the rod of this taskmaster that afflicts us; but even more, he shows his fidelity by the gift of a little child, his only begotten Son. At the same time, he shows us the matching gift of a woman who accepted the call to bear this child. We have here a mutual exchange of love that is beyond all telling.
In the second reading we heard another reason for Our Lady’s love: “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation…” The Lord could not have made his grace more tangible then in this pregnant woman whose time had come to have her child. Who could understand this grace better than Mary. She never had relations with a man, but by God’s grace she was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit as in the days of old when the cloud covered the meeting tent and led the Israelites through the desert. Now, the glory of the Lord is manifested to us by a child in a manger lying beside his mother. This is the blessed hope we await, “the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ…” But why did our Lady long for this manifestation of God’s grace with such longing? I think she was inspired by God’s desire that “all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” God’s desire for our salvation was the source of Our Lady’s love beyond all telling. She realized she had received the grace to bear the Prince of Peace who could bring God’s desire to fulfillment despite all the efforts to destroy it. This holy virgin was the first to know this tangible, overwhelming grace that has appeared and she wants to share it.
Finally, after the child is born, we hear this phrase repeated in the Gospel narrative: “She wrapped him in swaddling clothes…you will find an infant in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger…” Women know how to care for newborns, to keep them warm and safe in swaddling bands. These bands serve as a transition from the warmth and security of the mother’s womb to the environment of the outside world. How intimate a scene. Mary was not a passive spectator, but an active cooperator. Our Lady’s time had finally come to see with her own eyes the mystery hidden for ages or at least for 9 months in her womb. The intimacy and care she lavished on her son were certainly love beyond all telling.
Today’s Christmas mystery is certainly an exchange of love beyond all telling, beginning with the fidelity of God’s mercy and the reciprocal fidelity of the Virgin Mother, who is full of grace and truth. With her help we, too, have seen a great light that drives out darkness and gloom. It is reflected back to us in the mutual love of Our Lady and her child. Let us rejoice in this exchange of love and join the angels in singing “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
