December 20
The marriage between heaven and earth
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over …. and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived 13 a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Lk 1,26-38
The today’s gospel allows to ponder on the theological marriage between heaven and earth, between God and the humanity. The long engagement which began two thousand years earlier, with the “yes” of Abraham, is over and the marriage by the “yes” of Mary, who represents all mankind, is celebrated. It is a real marriage, because Jesus will be born from this union and, like every child, he will resemble either to the father and to the mother. In Jesus there are two natures: the human of Mary and the divine of God. Within few days we will celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Son, and it will be rejoicing in heaven and on earth; there will be invited people to the stable of Bethlehem, the heavenly angels and the earthly persons, the shepherds and the Magi. Today, however, we are called to meditate and to take part in the spiritual marriage between God and the man, which was celebrated in Mary’s house in the city of Nazareth. With that union, the marriage between God and the humanity is effective today and it will last forever; and we, through the baptism which we have received, became, as Saint Paul says, adopted children of God and Mary. Therefore we can call God by the name of Father and Mary by the name of Mother. We thank our parents who have given us the physical life and, by making us baptized, the have allowed that we became also sons of God. This is well known to our fried Renata, a woman of unfailing faith who, in fighting the many battles of her life, when she has to face some difficult confrontation, she is used to say to her interlocutor, by half-jokingly: “You do not know who is my Father!”.