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Saint Paul
Friday, March 29, 2024

Mary, the perfect model

Jacqui Skemp
Mary the perfect model
iStock/mbolina

Our first Christmas as a married couple, my husband and I stood side by side at the vigil Mass, both fully aware of the child growing within me.

I had never experienced such a kinship with Mary as I did that Christmas. And while we never got to meet that child who left us all too soon, it was a great gift to wait in secret anticipation with Mary. With my hand over my belly, I knew that something miraculous was stirring where no one else could see.

Jacqui Skemp
Jacqui Skemp

Today, we wait with Mary, on the brink of something so extraordinary that generation upon generation before her has prayed, sung and died for.

“The power of the Most High will overshadow you,” the angel told Mary. She knew of whom this angel was speaking. The history of her ancestors was filled with moments where God made his presence known by a cloud covering his people. In a particular way, his presence in their temples was made known by a cloud filling and surrounding the space.

And now, here she was, a young Jewish girl standing before an angel of the Lord, God’s presence over her, and she is becoming the new temple. God incarnate will reside inside of her very body for nine months, protected in the darkness and water of her womb. Surely, Mary ran her hand over her swelling belly, knowing the great gift that grew there.

Mary is the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to King David, because he has literally housed himself in David’s descendant. In Mary, humanity embraced the divine will. She does not just say yes in the moment; she says yes to all that God has in store for her life. She is the perfect model for us, especially during this season of anticipation and joy. We are also meant to offer ourselves up as temples, walking dwelling places for our Lord, brimming with miraculous potential and accepting all that he lays out before us.

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Skemp is a devotional writer for Blessed Is She, a ministry for Catholic women, and blogs at MexicanDomesticGoddess.com. Skemp, her husband and their three sons are parishioners of St. Agnes in St. Paul.


Sunday, Dec. 24
Fourth Sunday of Advent
2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
Rom 16:25-27
Lk 1:26-38

 


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