The Most Holy Virgin Theotokos was born on this day. She rises like the sun from the tears of prayer, from the kindness of blessed old age and from sacred purity. The girl-child shines in the world as the fruit of God’s miracle, greater than the heavens, preparing to give birth to the Creator of all.
The little child, barely heard crying today, will become the Intercessor of the human race. The girl is light as a feather, yet more spacious than the heavens. She is but a tiny babe, pressed to the breast of the grandmother of the Lord, preparing to become the sanctified temple and spiritual paradise.
She is a church, because she was able to contain and give rest to the Heavenly King. She is the temple of eternity, because in her God Himself was clothed in human essence. The Creator of the galaxy through humble love is wholly contained in the small and virgin womb of His mother. She is the temple of the Immaculate Lamb of God, because she bears and cradles in her arms Him Who bears all creation.
The Mother of God is the Mother of the Church, because no one can ever inherit Christ if he does not give birth to Him in his soul, as the Virgin of heavenly love gave birth to Him in the flesh. No one can receive the Source of Life if he does not feel the fragrant, divine tears of virginity in the eyes of the one who gave birth to Him. No one can love the Lover of Mankind if he does not spiritually become a mother in soul, in order to give birth to Him mystically. Theosis of human nature is the image and unfolding of the Lord’s incarnation from the Virgin. When she cradles God in her arms, myriads of angels cry out in praise. When she kisses her Son, the universe is filled with divine love. When she tenderly whispers to the Infant, the whole world aprehends its own hidden meaning.
But even more than a temple, the Mother of God is a spiritual, mystical paradise, which speaks of man’s highest calling to eternal love. The Virgin is the bush that burns without being consumed, in which matter is sanctified and delivered forever from corruption, aflame with love for God, but not destroyed by corruption.
Her childbearing virginity represents the existence of paradise, in which matter is penetrated with grace and conquers the laws of nature by the laws of love. Her purity that gives birth to Life is a theological metaphor for paradise—the mystical image of the Kingdom of Heaven, the path on which the universe burdened with sins is directed. Every person who inherits paradise is actually one who has achieved a maternal love of God—not sleeping nights in care and vigilance for Him and growing Him in the depth of the heart, so that He would become one’s all.
The holy Virgin is the source of love, because she completes with herself the weeping love of man bereft of grace, and all of God’s desire to be united with us. Her mercies pour out upon mankind without waiting for agreement or request, unceasingly spreading the sweetness of love from her maternal heart. The whole universe, pregnant with God, looks with love at the one who gave birth to Him, and learns to be filled with the light that pours from the Eternal One. Mankind fathoms the mysteries of history and learns the Eucharistic transformation of a mother into energy by grace, as in the Nativity, which is virginal, and in death, which becomes the guarantee of life.
We see today the newborn Virgin and understand the grandeur of God’s love. We hear the crying of a little girl-child and learn of the Trinity’s unutterable wisdom. We look at the human child, and through our tears see how loftily a human being can ascend through love—to the shining light of the throne of Life. Let us kiss the Infant in our souls, and learn at the eternal school of theology.
Her silence is more precious than all the words of this world. After all, the greatest power in the universe is love, which gives life, offering itself in sacrifice, and which gives birth to a child. And the greatest light in all the universe is the strength to love, for all eternity, those who killed your Child.
