Mary Watches Over Jesus as the Lord Watches Over Us

I have an elderly friend who took a hard fall. Now, nurses and family hover over her continually, watching for a brain bleed and signs of confusion. What will her future hold? 

I have a grandson who was recently born. His mother and father look at him continually, beholding his tiny hands and feet and admiring his shock of hair. What will this child be? 

In our reading, there is a lot of clamor surrounding the shepherds.  “They went with speed” and “they told everyone” and “all who heard it were astonished”—it sounds like a lot of noise, doesn’t it? Like the  steady stream of visitors to the hospital, they ask, “What does the  future hold?”

In the middle of the shepherds’ commotion are these few words  about Mary: “She [treasured] all these things, reflecting on them in  her heart.” She is the quiet anchor in the center of the tumult. She feeds the baby. She rocks him. He is near to her. In the midst of the chaos, she gives a maternal gaze of blessing upon that infant child.  Like the Virgin of Guadalupe, she wraps her mantle around him.  And all of these experiences remain in her memory. 

This same gaze of blessing is found in the blessing of Aaron in the book of Numbers. Watch over, keep, hover, safeguard—these are all images of protectiveness and care. We too are watched over. It is  a blessed hovering, a nearness that we should not fear: The Lord 

bless you and keep you, watch over you; The Lord let his face to shine upon you. Life can sometimes worry us. But no matter what the future holds, a gaze of love enfolds us. We know Who holds our future. 

Consider/Discuss 

• Put yourself into the Gospel story as a townsperson or a friend of one of the shepherds. How would you respond when he tells you this remarkable story of angels and a baby in the manger? 
• When a pregnant woman sits down with a group of older mothers, they suddenly and naturally start swapping birth stories. To whom do you think that Mary might have later told Jesus’ birth stories? What stories did your  mother tell about your birth? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Hover over us, Spirit of God. We want to be independent. We  want to believe that we can succeed in life all by ourselves. Yet when  we were children, we needed a mother’s care. Today, we need your  care, too. We cry out from our hearts, “Abba, Father!” You are the  source of our elation. Stir us to taste more deeply the sweetness of  your love.