THOUGHTS OF A MONK

“Entry into the Temple”

November 2004

As I prepared these reflections, two songs kept running through my head. The first, from the Sound of Music, “What do we do with a problem like Maria?” a young maiden, a virgin who conceived a son who is also the Son of God, a mother who raised this child and who saw him suffer and die on the cross, and who was taken from this life by her resurrected son to the Kingdom of Heaven. The second, from the response to the ninth matins ode for Christmas, and I paraphrase, ‘it would be easier, and most likely safer were I to keep a respectful silence, for it is indeed difficult for me to speak about you in a way that is truthful and meaningful, but I am required to try’. In my preparation, I prayed that you would help me in this attempt.

When I was a young child, things were much simpler, I was raised a Roman Catholic.
Strongly influenced by my pious maternal grandmother, each May, a month devoted to Mary, I would make a little altar out of a wooden cigar box, cover it with a linen cloth and place on it a statue of Mary with a vigil light and pick little bouquets of violets and lilies of the valley and put them in a glass before her. I had my earthly mother, my grandmother and a mother in heaven, what more could a young child want?

But as all children must, I “grew up” and grew out of the simple pieties of childhood. My schooling and discovery of a much larger world did not seem to leave room for them. As I grew independent of mother and grandmother, I also seem to have left behind the need for Mary as a heavenly mother.

As I started to prepare this homily, I naturally turned to commentaries, and books about Mary, seeking material I could use, but though I found some interesting material I found nothing I wanted to use. A wise friend suggested that I try to follow my heart instead of my head in this preparation, so I began to think of the things I read about Mary in the Gospels that I could really identify with.

The first thing I thought of was joy. I have had many moments of joy in my life, as I know all of you have had as well, but I can only begin to imagine and relate to the joy that this young mother must have felt at the birth of her child, and all of the love, and hope for the future while watching him grow into a young man.

I can also relate to the consternation and confusion Mary may have felt when the promising young man, left home and family to begin life as an itinerant preacher. There have been many twists and turns in my own life that had me confused and fearful of where they might lead. My own parents weren’t exactly thrilled by the choices I made for my life. The norm for a young Jewish man would have been to marry, produce grandchildren, and take care of his parents in their old age. Instead, Jesus goes off to preach leaving his family to wonder if he was in his right mind. When Jesus is told that his mother, brother and sisters are here to see him, he replies, “My mother and my brothers and sisters are those who do the will of God.” I know how that would make me feel if I were one of his brothers.

We have all known the pain and sorrow of the loss of a loved one, a parent, a spouse, grandparents, and siblings, other close relatives or beloved friends. How do we measure the grief this mother must have felt to see her son rejected by the people he sought to help and tortured and killed by an alien occupying power for the sake of political expediency? We may not be able to scientifically define what a broken heart is but we can experience it.

So how do we, how do I connect with the mystery that is Mary? For me, dogmatic theology doesn’t do it. The beauty of an Icon, especially that of the Sign of the Theotokos, does help me to connect. Some of the beautiful imagery in the festal hymns does also, especially the image of Mary as the Ark of the Covenant and the Ladder bridging heaven and earth in Jacob’s dream. The Ark contained the Word of God on tablets, handed down to Moses. Mary held in her womb, as the icon above shows, the living Word made flesh. Jacob dreamed of a ladder reaching to the heavens with angels ascending and descending, while Mary is the bridge that enables heaven and earth to join in one person, Jesus.

When we look at Mary in her joy, consternation and sorrow, the Scriptures also show us her openness, her constancy, her love. These make it possible for me, and I hope for you, to see her as a model, a guide and an intercessor on our behalf.