Today,
the Church gratefully reflects on the Virgin's
maternity as a model of her own motherhood of all of us. Luke offers
the “meeting” of the shepherds and the Boy, who is with
Mary —His mother— and with Joseph. Joseph's discreet
presence reflects his important mission as guardian of the great
mystery of the Son of God. All together, shepherds, Mary and Joseph,
«with the baby lying in the manger» (Lk 2:16) form
a beautiful image of the Church in adoration.
“The
manger”: Jesus is placed there as a veiled reference to the
Eucharist. It was Mary who put Him there! Luke speaks of an
“encounter”, of a meeting between the shepherds and
Jesus. Faith does not materialize without the personal experience of
an encounter with the Lord. Only that meeting, which has brought with
it “seeing”, and in a way “touching”, allows
the shepherds to become witnesses of the Good News, true evangelists
who can «relate what they had been told about the child»
(Lk 2:17).
A
first fruit of the “encounter” is pointed out for us
here: «and all were astonished on hearing the shepherds»
(Lk 2:18). We need to ask for the grace of being able to
arouse that fascination, that admiration in those to with whom we
talk about the Gospel.
There
is still a second fruit of this encounter: «The
shepherds then returned giving glory and praise to God for all they
had heard and seen» (Lk 2:20). The adoration of the
Child fills their hearts with enthusiasm for communicating what they
have seen and felt, and the communication of what they have seen
leads them to prayer and thanksgiving, to the glorification of the
Lord.
Maria,
example of contemplation —«she treasured all these
messages and continually pondered over them» (Lk 2:19)—
gave us Jesus, whose name means “God Saves”. His name is
our Peace too. Let's accept his holy and sweet Name in our hearts and
have it on our lips often!
