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As the year comes to a close, my thoughts drift to the last holy day of the calendar, Christmas: Christ mass, the annual time people throughout the world unify to celebrate that sacred birth 2000 years past. As I contemplate Christ’s birth, though, my thoughts are more with Mary and the vital role this humble woman played throughout his life. Little is written in the Bible about the mother of Christ, and yet she has always enjoyed a place of honor among her many devotees. Mary herself is said to have been the result of an Immaculate Conception, a pure soul who began her life untainted by previous sin and unencumbered by karma. History paints a portrait of a simple, kind woman, steadfast in her faith and forbearing in the face of hardship, but like an old photograph, this picture always seems a bit faded and blurred to me. It is not the face of a real woman, alive in her love and in the certainty of her son’s divine mission. Who would God choose to carry this holy child, believed by many to have been the avatar of his time? What kind of soul could have been vibrationally drawn to such a lofty task, and, moreover, able to hold to it? Given the law of magnetic or vibrational affinity, she must have been a spiritual adept herself to be entrusted with this enormously important assignment. Not for the first time, I find myself wondering further about this woman, Mary. What was she really like, and how can she be found and known in a meaningful way today? I don’t believe that the artists’ renditions do Mary justice. I envision her as a strong and passionate woman, but one whose passion is a total faith in, and surrender to, the will of God. I imagine her a woman of great and powerful love. Her love had to be firm enough to hold, for the young Jesus through his growing years, a vision of the perfect outworking of a divine plan. She had to hold for him the Immaculate Concept of his life until he was mature enough to embrace and carry it himself. She had to embody a resonance of love so profound and strong that it would protect the developing Christ through the vicissitudes of his life. By her example, she showed him the ways of love and truth in the little actions taken daily over the course of their life together. No, she could not have been a passive or meek woman. She would have been vibrant and confident. Her love was grounded in her unswerving belief in God and was tested by attack, threats, and uncertainty. By our standards, much of her life would seem a tragedy. She was hunted by the most powerful man in her world, who was intent on murdering her newborn babe. She was driven from her homeland with little but the clothing she and her little family could carry, with no savings to cushion them or friends waiting in the new land to ease the difficulty of the arduous journey. No assurances, no guarantees, just the words of an angel whispered to Joseph in a dream to guide them forward. Later, she endured the unspeakable pain of witnessing her son’s torture and brutal murder. I imagine her, through all of this, an indomitable pillar of strength and reliable love, saddened by the events of her life, but through them deepening her reservoir of compassion and tenderness. It was through Mary that God prepared the world for the first coming of Christ. The angel appeared to Mary and announced to her that she would bear the Son of God. I wonder if he is preparing the world now, through Mary, for the Second Coming. Is Mary, like the prophets of old, alerting those willing to hear that Spirit is moving more deliberately in the world? Reports of Mary’s appearances are being chronicled throughout the globe. In Akita, Japan, she has appeared and spoken to a deaf Catholic nun; in Betania, Venezuela, she appeared first to a devout woman, Maria Esperanza, when she was 14 years old, foretelling her later apparitions at the grotto of Betania. She has since appeared to an estimated 250,000 eyewitnesses. On the other side of the world, in the farm village of Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, she has appeared daily for over twenty years to members of the same small group. In Zeitoun, Egypt, an Islamic stronghold, she is reported to appear as a luminous body that walks atop the domes of the local church. Her appearances there are marked as well by flashing lights and the release of flocks of white birds. In the United States, she is said to have appeared in states as far-flung as Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona. She has appeared in the village of Garabandal, Spain, and also in Nicaragua, the Philippines, Rwanda, Syria, South Korea, Ecuador, and the Ukraine. The list goes on, tracing an invisible line that links cities and countries throughout the world. The locales are varied, but the messages reported are startlingly similar. There is always a call to greater ecumenism, peace, love, and prayer. The visionaries in Medjugorje report that she has repeatedly said, "Above all, love. Every act must be motivated by love." In Betania, Venezuela she is reported to have said, "I am the Mother and Reconciler of all people. I am the Mother. I will be your refuge." All those who claim to have seen Mary say they feel an ineffable and pervasive love, and often the visions are accompanied by the scent of roses, beautiful blue butterflies, or white doves and miraculous healings. Mary comes to us 2000 years after the birth and death of her son to remind us once again of his message: to give greater love, tolerance, and forgiveness to one another, and to remember that we are all related, all children of the Divine, all part of one family. Many years ago, Swami Vivekenanda claimed that this was the age in which God would be worshipped as Mother. In India, God is often revered in the form of Divine Mother, with the devotee calling for the Mother’s unconditional love that rightfully belongs to her child. An old Hindu tale tells us that the goddess Durga has promised that in the most difficult times, if those who need her call sincerely, she will take form to relieve their suffering. Mary clearly tells all who witness her appearances that all peoples of all faiths in all parts of the world are her children, and that she takes joy in easing our distress. It has been said that as we sink into Mary, we inevitably find Christ, and that as we sink into Christ, we find Mary. Perhaps this is the greater part of her message, and one that is particularly relevant for our war-torn world this Christmastime: in finding the Christ of infinite peace and forgiveness within, I also find the Mother. And in Divine Mother’s spacious compassion and unconditional love, I find the Christ consciousness through which I can discover my own immaculate concept, that highest and truest vision of the divine plan for my life. Just as Mary and Joseph cherished and protected the young Jesus so that he could grow into maturity and fulfill the prophecy of his divine destiny, so must we also nourish and protect the seeds of divinity within that we, too, might fulfill our divine destiny. This, I believe, is what she calls us to. This is the birth that she beckons all of us to experience, the Christmas promise made so long ago. As my heart awakens to this message, and as I attempt to live my own highest vision, I become part of the holy family of humanity, contributing my part to the creation of a higher vision for all humankind. As you and I light the lamp of love within and add our flame to that of Christ, "the Light of the World," we are joining in the divine work of illuminating the world. The tree is an ancient symbol of the Great Mother, and was honored as such long ago. How interesting that we instinctively include this reminder of the Mother in our Christmas celebration, but how lovely it would be if, this year, our concern were to turn our inner lights on as well, one by one: the lights of peace, joy, forgiveness, love, and compassion! Barbara Boren is an investment professional in Seattle who has had a long-term interest in the many faces of Divine Mother represented throughout different cultures. She leads workshops on how to access Divine Mother within as well as workshops on making sacred art. For upcoming classes, please call (206) 782-3968. |