A Mother

     A mother is at the center of God's love note to us.
     We are like anguished lovers.  All human beings search for meaning and purpose--it is inherent to our dignity that we would know why we live and what makes us happy.  For all of human history, human persons and communities have sought answers to these questions, searching, like pining suitors, for the hidden power present in the midst of things, or even postulating a supreme dignity.  
     When the time came, he sent his love note to us.  God responded to us.  He answered our inquiries of love.  He said, "This is who I really am, and yes, I will be yours."  It is remarkable that in all this human searching and questioning, God would answer.  He gave us a definitive revelation of who he is and how he wants us to belong to him.
     His answer began with a tiny baby, born of a mother.  A mother was at the center of his answer to all of human longing.  The most important event of all of human history, the most powerful answer to our most central questions, the verification of our dignity and worth, that determines our eternal horizon and invites us to share in the divine nature, occurred through a woman.
     God could have revealed himself in any way.  Even coming as a man (which is in itself incredible and counterintuitive), he could have come as a full-grown man.  Coming as a baby, first conceived and then growing in utero of a woman with child, and then born, held and nurtured in a mother's arms--none of this needed to be.  Clearly it is part of the message, part of the response.  God is saying, "Motherhood is important.  I speak to my people through motherhood.  And you can come to know me through motherhood."  Through Mary and Jesus, God elevated motherhood and re-invented it as a sacred, spiritual reality.