Ave Maria Meditations
During advent, Christ rested in Mary; (He was) still, silent, helpless, utterly dependent. The Creator trusted Himself to His creature. He trusted to her the expression of His love, the expression of God’s love for the world and of His love for His Father, just as the work of His love would be trusted to us, in His life in us.
He was dumb; her voice was His voice. He was still; her footsteps were His journeys. He was blind; her eyes were His seeing. His hands were folded; her hands did the work of His hands. His life was her life; His heartbeat was the beating of her heart.
This was a foreshadowing of what the Incarnation would mean for us; for us, too, Christ rests as He rested in Mary. From the moment when the Christ life is conceived in us, our life is intended for one thing: the expression of His love, His love for God and for the world…
But there is the other aspect of Christ’s Advent. While He remained hidden in Mary, His rest was a tremendous activity; He was making her into Himself, making Himself from her. From her eyes, He was making the eyes that would weep over Jerusalem, that would shine upon the wildflowers, that would close in death and open on the morning of the Resurrection. From her hands, He was making the hands that would heal and raise the dead and be nailed to the Cross. From her heart, He was making the heart whose love would redeem the world.
The same thing occurs when, allowing the infant Christ to rest in us, we wait patiently on His own timing of His growth in us, and give Him just what He asks, the extremely simple things that are ourselves: our hands and feet, our eyes and ears, our words, our thoughts, our love. Not only does He grow in us, but we informed into Him.
+Caryl Houselander from Wood of the Cradle, Wood of the Cross
